When the weather gets hot, the very last thing I want to do is turn on a heavy oven and overheat my kitchen. That’s why, for me, summer is officially Salad Season.
Now, you know me—sometimes I’m in a rush and I just raid the fridge. I’ll toss together whatever I can find—creamy avocado, some leftover hard-boiled egg whites, a handful of crunchy nuts, a sprinkle of craisins for that sweet chew—throw it over a bed of crisp lettuce, and dive right in. And other times? Simple is perfection. Give me a bowl of beautiful, mixed baby greens with a generous drizzle of good extra virgin olive oil, a sprinkle of kosher salt, and a fresh squeeze of lemon juice, and I am one happy woman.
Salads are the ultimate chameleon. They are perfect for lunch, incredible for dinner, and let’s be honest—I’ve totally eaten them for breakfast and snacks, too! The secret to turning a simple salad into a true showstopping, full-on meal is just loading it up with a great, lean protein.
Here are five of my absolute favorite, vibrant, crowd-pleasing summer salads to keep you cool and completely satisfied all season long:
If you love a classic Sunday brunch but want to skip the heavy, carb-loaded bagels and rows of cream cheese, this is your answer! We are pulling all those incredible, upscale deli flavors right off the bread and turning them into a gorgeous, light-as-air salad.
New tip: Garnish with a few chopped candied almonds at the end. Trust me, that sweet crunch against the salty salmon is pure magic!
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Bring on the fiesta! This salad is bright, colorful, and packed with contrasting textures. It’s fresh, vibrantly colored, and the kind of dish that makes you feel instantly healthy and energetic just looking at it.
Toss it all in a super easy, zesty cumin-lime dressing, and right before serving, top the whole thing off with a heavy sprinkle of crushed tortilla chips. The extra crunch is everything!
Forget waiting in those mile-long lines at the deli counters on a hot day. You can make a high-protein, incredibly satisfying lunch right at home that tastes even better.
Keep the mayo light and add a tiny splash of fresh lemon juice and a pinch of sugar to the dressing. It totally ups the flavor profile and gives it that professional gourmet touch!
This is the ultimate way to use up leftover turkey breast (or even thick-cut deli turkey if you’re in a pinch). Mix it with finely diced celery, scallions, and fresh dill.
Do you have leftover grilled chicken or a Sunday night roast chicken sitting in the fridge? Don’t you dare throw it out! This salad is an absolute flavor bomb and the perfect way to breathe new life into leftovers.
Toss your chicken in a rich, velvety peanut-honey-soy dressing with plenty of fresh cilantro, and top it all off with plenty of roasted salted peanuts and crunchy wonton strips. It’s fast, fresh, and fabulous.
A base of shredded green and purple cabbage gives this the ultimate, satisfying crunch.
If you want a fantastic plant-based option that still packs a major protein punch, this is a total winner. Standard coleslaw gets a massive, main-dish upgrade.
Tangy, creamy, classic shredded cabbage slaw meets warm, golden cubes of pan-seared or air-fried tofu.
Season the tofu well with a little garlic and soy sauce before crisping it up. The contrast of the warm, savory tofu against the cold, crisp, tangy slaw is a total game-changer for summer lunches.
The basis of my salads are romaine lettuce, kale and grape tomatoes to which I add other veggies (peppers, cukes), chumus or tehina as dressing and top with tuna. I feel fullest when I eat the tuna. I love your smoked salmon salad and will definitely try it. I find smoked salmon filling too. I lost 12 pounds before my son’s wedding eating these salads.
I love salads with lettuce, bacon bits, croutons, tomatoes, onion, cheese and blue cheese dressing.
I love to always keep grilled eggplant and peppers in my fridge. So then I just add it to whatever greens and staples I have in the fridge like feta, hearts of palm, tuna, avocado etc and then I get a fancy restaurant salad for much cheaper!
I like salads with cheese, fruit and nuts for lunch with a vinaigrette dressing.
Fresh salad…..flavorful lettuces, strawberries, avocado, sliced almonds, goat cheese, mango, cucumber, grape tomatoes…..whatever is in it, had to be fresh…. and very little if any dressing (home made of course)
Favorite salad is Romaine with mushrooms, tomatoes and olives with a vinegrette dressing.
Jamie,
My favorite way to eat salad is baby spinach leaves with sliced strawberry and diced mango, slivered almonds, topped with a orange juice and honey dressing. Toss lightly and enjoy.
My favorite way to eat salad is with Spinach, Endive, tomato, red onion, chives and egg with French dressing!
I love salads with caramelized almonds – yum!
Our favorite way to eat salad is for Shabbat lunch; we rotate between grain and veggie salads and chicken salads. This week it’s Chicken with Blackberries and Nectarines in a berry vinaigrette.
WHAT!? They make ou chalave Israel Pecorino Romano! Why can’t we get that in L.A.! Where can I buy some online!
So for the salad: Baby spring mix, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocados, corn, dried cranberries, feta, peppitas, Good Season’s brand garlic & herb dressing.
mmm. . .my favorite way to eat salad is with my homegrown tomatoes and peppers from my patio pots w/ homemade italian salad dressing.
My favorite way to eat salad is when someone else washes the lettuce for me 🙂 then it’s fun to add in any chopped veggies with chicken or boiled eggs or cheese with some olive oil, lemon juice, splash of vinegar, maybe salt and pepper
I love to eat salad with no dressing
My favorite salads are a really a dinner plate thrown together. When I’m tired of the dish separation, I throw the veggies, meat, sauces together to make the best combinations. My current favorite is southern style crispy chicken with summer fresh from the garden veggies and light dressing to tie it together. The best!
I love to eat salad as a main dish and throw in a little bit of everything! I also enjoy a light fruit salad instead of dessert 😉
Thanks for the giveaway!
I make salads many ways…favorite is chopped salad.
Eating it one veggie at a time
I prepare a salad for lunch every day for my husband and I. I cut the basic vegetables and throw in a protein. Anything from Salmon, Gefilte Fish, leftover cold cuts (not together!), to Feta cheese. I either make my own dressing or use something I purchased. My favorite though is Romaine with fresh tomatoes and grilled chicken. The best dressing – a bit of lemon juice, oil, salt and pepper. Light and delicious.
I like a salad that balances multiple flavor and texture profiles. Dark greens with fruits, nuts, cheeses- salty, sweet, crunchy, creamy- yum!
Cheese! Especially goat cheese. I love julienned vegetables and a good vinaigrette. Croutons are also fabulous, and I prefer my lettuce chopped or in smaller bites. If it’s a meat salad it needs lots of veggies!
Mmm…I love salad!! My favorite way to prepare it is to just put in whatever vegetables I have in the kitchen: mixed greens, tomatoes, cooked broccoli, cooked green beans, kidney beans, olives, etc. and top it off with some feta cheese and some balsamic vinaigrette. It’s a great way to use leftover ingredients. YUM!!
I like a variety of lettuce chopped with lots of fresh veggies and a sprinkle of sunflower seeds.
Yum, would love to see a pictures of this too.
My favorite dinner: Salad & Sushi. You get the lightness from the salad and greens, which perfectly compliment the somewhat heavier (but still light) sushi and fish! Yummm…
like eating salads plain, for lunch, dinner or a snack. My current fave- mango papaya avocado salad sometimes with a bit of fresh mozarella
I love digging into a colorful salad — so summer fruits combined with lettuce is ideal for me. Light sweet vinagrette & it’s a meal from heaven!
I like to eat it on stuff, I make pizzas that go well with green salads, and put arugula/romaine salads on turkey sandwiches. There’s a way to fit salad on almost anything if you try enough!
Shalom!
I like to eat all kinds of salads. My current favorite, though, is potato salad, especially when it is made with bleu cheese dressing. Yum!!!!
Leftover quinoa makes a yummy salad. I add grape tomatoes and chopped parsley, some fresh lemon juice, olive oil and cumin dressing, and crumbled feta cheese. It’s a great make-ahead salad for seudah shlishit.
I like to eat a salad with toasted pine nuts, strawberries, and feta with a strawberry balsamic dressing.
jjsell76 at yahoo dot com
I love making a fresh cobb salad! I grill up some chicken breast, boil the eggs, slice up fresh avocados, radishes and any other yummy veggies I have toss it together with crisp romaine and homemade russian dressing. Delicious!
I have been eating salads for lunch. I’m trying to lose a few pounds and it’s a delicious lunch choice 🙂 Today I splurged on orzo salad to add a few carbs.
vac 924 at gmail dot com
texture and variety is the key! a salad that has crispy (lettuce), crunchy (cucumber, red pepper), smushy (beans/chickpeas, avacado), juicy (tomatoes), chewy (craisins), tangy (hearts of palm) and sweet (carmelized nuts) is ideal…and a yummy dressing, of course!
I like making macaroni salad with fresh tomatoes, green and red peppers and sharp cheese.
I like garden salad with light dressing
I love salad. I could eat salad 3 times a day. I like black olives, feta cheese, bacon and ranch dressing on mine.
traymona[at]aol.com
My latest salad craze is deconstructed falafel. Big bed of romaine topped with cucumbers, tomatoes, a big dollop of hummus, and falafel balls. Garnished with pita wedges, greek olives, turkish eggplant, avocado or whatever else I have around, and then drizzled with a tehini dressing. Goes great with borekas. Yum!
My favorite salad is mixed greens, dried cranberries, mandarine orange slices, and any kind of nut………..yum!
my favorite way to eat salad is a big bowl loaded with tons of different veggies, and a light vinaigrette dressing!
I love fruity salads with honey in the dressing — my husband is a huge fan of savory salads, which I can totally get behind if it’s to accompany a dinner 🙂
i love a good salad with grilled chicken. i also love something crunchy some chow mein noodles or chopped almonds. on the dairy side i love adding feta cheese!
I love a salad that has crunch and smoothness. For instance, I like to add almonds and pieces of avocado.
Our typical summer shabbat lunch includes many different kinds of salad. Usually we begin with either mock crab salad or fruit salad, then on to 2 or 3 veggie salads, home made chummous and a chicken salad. Dessert is usually “cookie salad” with a variety of cookies instead of just one kind at a time.
My biggest regret is that our local farmers market is on Sunday. Which I do visit so regularly that the ‘knife sharpener guy’ Tony, tells me he misses me if I skip a week!
A local restaurant feature salad on pizza. We started doing this too. Toss just greens with very light dressing and put on top of the pizza. it’s amazing!i
I love making salads with ancient grains like quinoa and farro!
As the farmers market is bursting we like this mix of chopped uncooked broccoli and cauliflower, pistachio nuts, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, chopped red pepper, chopped sweet onion, and a vinegrette made with rice wine vinegar, olive oil, dash of sugar, salt and pepper. Let it chill for one hour. It is so colorful!
This is great as a side or add cold julienned meats or fish.
During the summer I like grilled chicken breast over a Vietnamese-style rice noodle salad – shredded lettuce, sliced cucumbers, chopped peanuts.
I usually make my own vinaigrettes, especially when my tarragon is exploding out of the yard.
I also like to make my own croutons. It’s a great way to use up mediocre bread. Make a garlic oil with waaaaay too many cloves of garlic, toss with bread cubes, sprinkle with salt and coarsely ground black pepper and a few shakes of jalapeno hot sauce, and bake until crisp on the outside, tossing once or twice. Remember to bake the garlic cloves, too. Either toss them in the salad or sneak them as a snack when no one is looking.
My fave is a BBQ Chicken salad with black beans and tortilla strips
I love making chinese chicken salad, cut up finely and serving them to my family or guests in a Chinese rice takeout box with chopsticks!