I have never liked salads. There, I said it! But that was before I discovered that there were dressings other than ranch and lettuces other than iceberg. It's really only been in the past few months that I discovered that salads can be flavorful, interesting, and most surprising to me, filling. Here are my ten favorite salad add-ins. What are yours?
A good salad starts with a base of mixed greens. I love the pre-mixed bags at the grocery store for their variety and convenience. During the summer, I duplicate the same mixes with fresh greens at the farmers market.
For every salad I made, I usually pick three or four of the add-ins from this list. Fewer and the salad doesn't quite satisfy me for lunch. More and I find that the flavors get muddled.
1. Apples, Pears, and Grapes - Essentially, any fruit that's juicy and crunchy.
2. Leftover Pasta - Any pasta will do. I love the chewiness!
3. Chickpeas - Tender and nutty, I find that chickpeas also make salads more filling.
4. Nuts - Walnuts, pine nuts, almonds, or pecans - whatever I grab from the pantry!
5. Avocado - Avocado's mild sweetness is terrific with bitter greens.
6. Dried Fruit - Apricots and cranberries are my favorite.
7. Hardboiled Eggs - A little protein goes a long way to making salads more satisfying.
8. Toast - Rather than making croutons, I usually toast a piece of bread and tear it into chunks.
9. Cheese - I usually go for a fairly firm cheese like cubes of smoked gouda or curls of parmesan, but I also like tangy goat cheese and sharp feta.
10. Leftovers - My favorite add-in! A bit of last night's poached chicken or roasted cauliflower side dish are an excellent way to add interest to salads and use up small containers of leftovers.
What are your favorite add-ins to salads?
Related: How Dorie Greenspan Keeps Her Salad Greens Fresh
(Images: Roasted Beet Salad from Kasey of Turntable Kitchen and Fennel and Radicchio Winter Salad from Faith Durand)
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I like to add a base layer of leftover grains: quinoa, wild or brown rice. And a mild sea vegetable like arame or crumbled tempeh bacon for a veggie option...yum!
My favorite salad additions are raisins, toasted or raw nuts, and fresh herbs.
my fav is craisins, syrup cooked pecans & goat cheese. others I enjoy are: oranges, apples, homemade bread coutrons, green peppers, bean sprouts or any sprouts.
I love to add nasturtium blossoms and other edible flowers! they always make my flowers more exciting.
Romano beans. My in-laws make a bean salad that's really radicchio (red and green), romaine and Romano beans. Served with a red wine vinaigrette. Bitter and yummy.
Try toasting your nut-topping, then adding the vinaigrette to the off-the heat pan. Allow it to cool then add it to your salad. Completely different flavour.
Another great topping is dried fruit. Not the in-syrup kind, but dried (and dry) blueberries, cranberries or even apple slices.
My favorite additions to salads are toasted nuts, tempeh cubes that have been crisped in olive oil with a tiny bit of soy sauce tossed in the pan at the very end of cooking (gives the pieces a wonderful savory crust), dried cranberries, small pieces of tasty cheese, and homemade garlic croutons.
What are the small seeds that you can find on some salad bars? Whatever they are, I love'em and would love to be able to add them to home salads.
My favorite base is an equal parts mix of spring/herb salad mix, spinach and basil. The only non-standard toppings I tend to go with (because I don't make salads often) are nuts, seeds, egg, wakame, corn and grilled non-meat protein.
My mom likes to make a salad with jicama, orange chunks, and pomegranate seeds over a bed of greens, which is very yummy, and very pretty. One of the tastiest (and most unusual) salads I have had was persimmon and jalapeno. The two bring out each other's flavors like you would not believe. On the savory side, I love me a good Salade Nicoise with perfect potatoes, waxy green beans, tangy capers and tuna/anchovies.
nuts, beans or leftovers (even pasta!)
EC - are you thinking of sunflower seeds?
pears
alfalfa sprouts
orange slices
walnuts
Leftover beans and grains help make the salad hearty enough to keep me full. Grated sweet potatoes are also yummy, especially with a peanut dressing.
Dates are my new favorite salad add-in. Toss with spring mix, goat chevre and homemade balsamic vinaigrette.. Delish!!
Sunflower seeds, finely chopped cashews, (better yet, finely chopped Trader Joe's Thai Lime & Chili Cashews), fresh sugar snap peas, cherry tomatoes, fresh dill...
OLIVES!
Also hard boiled eggs are great, but there's nothing better than a warm salad topped with a poached or easy over egg in the winter time with some soup...mmm warm salads.
@cgups - yep, I've never bought them without shells, so it never even occurred to me!
Another favorite: using flax seed oil for the oil in O&V, with lots of fresh chopped herbs mixed in. The taste isn't as....pungent....as it can be when you take flax oil as a supplement, but you still get enough to be beneficial.
this week I've been tossing roasted beets, smoked salmon, and sun dried tomatoes with spring greens. so good!
OMG -- how has no one said bacon?
One to one and 1/2 well done slice crumbled per person. Adds so much to any salad.
How about 10 favorite easy yet absolutely divine homemade salad dressings? Need advice plz!
HUMMUS!!! roasted garlic or red peppers....
love a BLT salad too... mixed greens and arugula, a couple strips of bacon chopped. tons of tomatoes, avocado, and top it all with a over-easy egg! delish!
My favourites include sunflower seeds, grated beets, stalks of broccoli and a few others listed here, my own blog entry on the topic: http://benchpressingonabudget.com/2011/05/12/from-sunflomy-10-favourite-cheap-salad-add-ins/
Whoops. Here's the correct link: http://benchpressingonabudget.com/2011/05/12/10-favourite-cheap-salad-add-ins/