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Home / Recipes for Dinner Salads

Recipes for Dinner Salads

Having a few delicious recipes for dinner salads handy makes dinner prep even easier. Because, let’s be honest: dinner salads do not typically excite people. Once you learn our 7 insider salad tips, you may just skip the dinner all together.

 A Quick Intro to Creating Recipes for Dinner Salads

I really didn’t get all that enthused about them either until I took a Dinner Salad 101 cooking class a few years ago. The chef teaching the class showed us seven secrets to making incredible salads.

I don’t always take the time to follow all seven tips. However, if I am trying to make an extra special salad for a dinner party or holiday I always include all seven things and it never lets me down. My favorite is when hosting, our guests rave more the salad than the rest of the meal.

So, first let me share these seven incredible salad tips from my Dinner Salad 101 class. Then, I’ll share my favorite recipes for dinner salads!

recipes for dinner salads

7 Things to Include for Perfect Recipes for Dinner Salads

The whole idea behind this blog post is really more about sharing the seven dinner salad secrets. Once you know the secrets you can go off and make your own delicious recipes for dinner salads without having to follow a recipe. The variations are truly endless.

Depending on your dietary restrictions, you may have to substitute or remove one of the items below. Ok, so here’s what you need to do to make a super special dinner salad:

1. Choose the Best and Freshest Lettuce

Start with the absolute best and freshest lettuce you can find and stick with either soft greens or crunchy greens or a combination of both.

The idea is that you just don’t want to use two soft lettuces or two crunchy lettuces together, go with one or the other OR a combination of the two for best results. 

recipes for dinner salads

Soft greens include butterhead lettuce, oak leaf lettuce, mache (my favorite! This is a super soft and mild-tasting lettuce with a distinct ever so slightly sweet flavor) or watercress. Crunchy greens include romaine, gem lettuces, Belgian endive or radicchio. For our Christmas Dinner Salad I went with all mache greens.

2. Add Roasted Vegetables for Sweetness

Roasting brings out the natural sweetness of vegetables and does wonders for adding interest to any salad. I also of course love the fact that this step adds extra vegetables to the meal too.

For best results, the roasted vegetables should be at room temperature when you add them to your salad. You can really use just about any vegetable too. I have tried everything from roasted diced eggplant, butternut squash, red peppers, corn, carrots, onions, mushrooms, fennel, etc.

3. Pair Fruit with your Vegetable Selection

Just like with the vegetables, pretty much any fruit will work. Of course you want to try and choose a fruit that pairs well with the vegetable you are using.

Fruit and Vegetable Pairing Ideas

Apple and butternut squash are particularly good together. Since tomatoes are technically a fruit, I like to combine them with roasted eggplant or onions. You can also try roasted corn with peaches or blueberries. Get creative mixing and matching fruit and vegetable combos.

For my dinner salad recipe, I went with oranges, which pair perfectly with the roasted fennel.

4. Go Nuts, Literally!

Not only do nuts contribute great texture to salads, they also make them more satisfying. Pretty much any nut will work, but you will definitely want to chop them first. Sometimes I like to sprinkle on “nut crumbs” as a substitute for Parmesan Cheese.

To make nut “crumbs” you simply put whatever nut you are using in a mini food processor and process until crumb-like. If you really want to bring the flavor out, you can try toasting your nuts in a dry pan over medium heat.

recipes for dinner salads

And if you want to go all out, you can make candied pecans which is made without refined sugar. For our favorite dinner salad I just used chopped raw pecans.

5. Toast up Homemade Croutons

Homemade croutons are beyond easy to make and they really do wonders for making recipes for dinner salads extra special. You can pretty much use any bread you like, although my favorite is Canyon Bakehouse’s Gluten Free Whole Grain or 7 Grain. Get a $1.00 off coupon here!

All you have to do to make the croutons is use kitchen shears to remove the crusts and cut the bread into small bite-sized pieces. Then toss the bread pieces with extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil, spread them out on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and toast in a 425 degree oven for about 12 minutes, or until just crispy.

6. A Bit of High Quality Cheese

A teensy bit of really good cheese goes a very long way. You can definitely be creative in the cheese department and use whatever cheese you like. If you are strict about eating clean or following an anti-inflammatory diet then you can try using a plant-based soft nut cheese like Dr. Cow.

A great substitute for cheese is using sliced avocado, olives instead or our homemade diary free/vegan “Cheese” recipe. For our favorite Dinner Salad I used Manchego. This is a sheep’s milk cheese, which is easier for most people to digest than cow’s milk.

7. Make Your Own Salad Dressing

Of course you can always just drizzle on a really good oil and vinegar, but if you take just 5 extra minutes you can make a homemade salad dressing recipe that will take your dinner salad over the top.

I have a number of different dressing recipes for you to try including my Caesar salad (made with hemp seeds!), Turmeric Vinaigrette, Ranch Dressing, a Creamy Herb Dressing,  Dijon Dressing, and several others HERE.

But you can also find plenty of creative and delicious salad dressing recipes online. This Balsamic Orange Vinaigrette with Avocado Oil looks especially good. I used the Lemon Tarragon Vinaigrette for our salad below.

recipes for dinner salads

Did you Follow the 7 Steps?

If you build your salad and adhere to all seven steps you may just find yourself falling in love with your creation so much that you forget about the main course. Be sure to let us know by commenting below or send us a photo on Instagram.

How to Make Perfect Recipes for Dinner Salads

Follow the instructions below so you’ll know how to make your own recipes for dinner salads. You definitely will want to serve your dinner salad at room temperature for best results. I know a lot of people think an ice cold salad is the way to go, but you loose a lot of flavor if you go with a super cold salad.

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Recipes for Dinner Salads

Recipes for Dinner Salads makes all the difference when preparing dinner. With our 7 Salad Tips, you’ll fall in love with your salad so much!

recipes for dinner salads
Save Recipe
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4 1x

Ingredients

  • 6 cups mache lettuce
  • 2 cups chopped fennel, roasted (see notes below)
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped oranges
  • 1/2 cup chopped raw pecans
  • 8 tablespoons shredded Manchego cheese
  • Lemon Tarragon Dressing
  • 4 slices Canyon Bakehouse Whole Grain or 7 Grain, made into croutons (see notes below)

Instructions

How to Roast Fennel:

Remove the feathery fronds and chop the fennel. Spread the fennel out onto a baking sheet, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Roast at 400 degrees for about 12 minutes, or until fork tender.

How to Make Croutons:

Use kitchen shears to remove the crusts from the bread and cut the bread into small bite-sized pieces. Then toss the bread pieces with extra virgin olive oil or avocado oil, spread them out on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with salt and toast in a 425 degree oven for about 12 minutes, or until just crispy.

How to Plate the Salad:

Divide the lettuce among 4 salad plates. Divide the fennel, oranges, pecans and cheese and arrange on top of the lettuce. Drizzle the Lemon Tarragon dressing on top. Add the croutons.

Serve at room temperature.

Last Step! If you loved our recipe, leave us a review below. This helps future recipe makers and ensures continued high-quality recipes for years to come!

© 2024 clean cuisine Recipe by:

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Ivy Larson

In 2010, Clean Cuisine was launched because Ivy Larson wanted to share her anti-inflammatory lifestyle and delicious recipes using ingredients in their most natural and nutrient-rich state. In 2020, Ivy passed the website to Aimee and Madison. Since then, they have been adding new recipes and nutrition posts while updating old recipes and articles. Thanks for visiting Clean Cuisine!

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