Salad Recipes & Ideas

It’s delicious!

It makes me actually excited to eat salad.

If you’re a Thousand Island fan, it’s likely you’ll love this Russian dressing just as much, if not more. Both sauces have similar origins and start with that delicious combination of mayonnaise and ketchup or tomato-based chili sauce (such as Heinz Chili Sauce). It’s super easy to make and won’t take more than five minutes to prepare, but it’ll substantially increase the tastiness of whatever you’re slathering it on.

Seed crackle is the new crouton.

Make a big batch, and add it to everything.

Three words: crushed barbecue chips.

The perfect winter salad.

There's a reason it has 5 stars.

What's a bowl?

These salads, savory tarts, and more are a welcome addition to the spread.

Do you ever struggle to use up the milk in your fridge? Sometimes we buy milk for a recipe or a weekend brunch, and then it lingers in the fridge, half-used, with the expiration date barreling down upon our guilty heads. It’s a sad waste to pour sour milk down the drain, and we’re here to tell you that you never need to do that again.

Set yourself up for a great week ahead.

Here's how I round out pasta night.

Take a plate of greens from blah to ooh-la-la.

The salad that will steal the show.

It's worth making room.

It turned me from a grape skeptic into a voracious grape eater. 

Just stick to this simple formula.

Never buy a bottle again.

And don't even get us started on how good the dressing tastes.

Today, let's pare it down to the basics and talk about how to make an easy, classic, all-American potato salad.

It's the secret to a perfectly crisp coating.

The winning chicken salad is savory, sweet, tangy, and crunchy — and a total shock to all of us.

Some don't even have lettuce!

It's got a secret for guaranteeing extra-crunchy cabbage.

It's all about the sweet, creamy dressing.

When you need a simple salad to make the meal complete, this tumble of arugula and shaved fennel is all you need. I find the combo of peppery arugula and sweet, crunchy fennel so delightfully addictive — so much so that I’ll sometimes eat a big bowlful with just a wedge of toasted baguette and call that dinner. The salad takes seconds to make, even counting the time to shake together the easy vinaigrette of lemon juice and olive oil.

One bite and you'll wonder why you haven't been making fruit salad this way all along.

It's all wrapped up in an easy Dijon vinaigrette.

With winter out of the way, one vegetable I’ve been seeing in abundance at Bay Area farmers markets is the sputnik-like vegetable with the funny name, kohlrabi. Eaten raw, it’s fresh, crisp, and the ideal ingredient for a summer slaw. This kohlrabi slaw is actually one of my favorite summer recipes. Quick and easy to make, it’s a nice cool side dish to eat after a long, warm day of working in the garden, or at a sunny picnic under flowering fruit trees.

The result is easy, lightened-up, and still oh-so-crunchy.

It's inspired by one of YouTube star TJ Lee's favorite restaurants.

One time during fall, I tagged along with my husband on a work trip to Toulouse, France (as one does when one’s spouse has meetings in such nice places). It was our first time in Toulouse, and it was stressful. I feel like the first trip to any new city is a kind of sacrifice to the travel gods, seasoned with blunders and bad maps and jet lag, especially when you don’t speak the language or have a credit card with the right kind of chip inside.

Poppy seed dressing has a balance of sweet and tangy that I find completely irresistible. The ingredients are easy-to-find; you need white wine vinegar, sugar, and some finely shredded shallot or onion. It’s great on a spinach and strawberry salad, makes a fun spin in a coleslaw, and also does wonders as a marinade for chicken. It’s the jack-of-all-trades of the salad dressing world. This dressing is also surprisingly easy to make yourself.

It's summer in a bowl.

You'll want to make room at your next potluck or barbecue for this fast side.

They're easy enough to shake up on a weeknight and go with any kind of salad.

If you're looking to skip the mayo, here's what to reach for instead.

A classic Caesar salad combines crisp romaine, croutons, parmesan cheese, and that briny-tangy dressing you get from egg yolks, lemon juice, and anchovies. Once you’ve figured out those core ingredients, you can give way to a bevy of variations: use different greens, add chicken or pasta, or roll it all up in a wrap. These 11 stunning salads are proof that Caesar salad is truly anything but boring.

A refreshing, light slaw fragrant with roasted peanuts you can serve on a weeknight or on a buffet.

It's tangy, it's sweet, and it pops (literally).

Save money *and* eat well!

Or cookout side ... or light dinner.

My grandfather's recipe has a secret ingredient that makes all the difference.

This is the one potato salad to know.

When the dimmer seasons turn you inward toward big pots of braising things or simmering batches of slow-cooker meals, match those recipes with a sturdy side dish that won’t cower behind their homey hardiness. Chili, for example, with its robust kick and bulky beany, meaty sauciness would use a “mixed greens salad” as a footrest, stomping out the side’s subtlety.

It's a one-bowl affair that'll happily play sidekick.

Spoiler: It levels up so much more than salad.

Oh, and it's the perfect make-ahead lunch.

It beats any other version.

I always forget how amazing panzanella is. This classic Italian salad seems somehow too simple — and too improbable — to be as good as it is. We’re talking about a mix of day-old bread and juicy ripe tomatoes with whatever veggies might be in need of using, all tossed with a light vinaigrette.

For starters, she’s a genius.

It goes with almost everything.

Now this is a salad I can get behind.

That's right — there's no cheese!

She calls it the “definition of summer.”