25+ Dinner Salad Recipes

Why You’ll Love These Dinner Salad Ideas

Why bother with turning in the stove when you can have a protein and vegetable-packed salad for dinner? I love salads because they are endlessly customizable. There are so many different ingredients you can toss in and dressing choices to drizzle over the top.

In this post, I’ve rounded up my favorite dinner salad recipes, from my summery take on a classic Cobb salad that’s packed with sliced strawberries, to a salad full of juicy shrimp, to a hearty chicken and quinoa salad, and more. These all make great options for nights when you’re more in the mood to assemble rather than cook. Plus, they’re great ways to use up any extra proteins you have in the fridge like leftover rotisserie chicken or hard-boiled eggs. Change the flavor of your salad by adding fruit or whipping up different dressings to suit your mood.

Tips For Making The Best Salads

A few tips outlined below can be used to make dinner salads – and any salad! A key point is to use fresh ingredients and if they’re in season, they’ll taste even better. Play around with different salad dressings and additions to elevate your dinner salad beyond the ordinary. You can also add a loaf of fresh gluten free bread on the side for the perfect accompaniment.

• Use fresh ingredients. This may seem obvious, but your salad is only as good as the ingredients that go into it. Choose fresh, crisp lettuce without any browning, ripe tomatoes, and soft-enough avocadoes, you get the idea.
• Prep in advance. To save time, you can prepare some of the components of your salad in advance, or make sure to set aside chicken from the next time you make a roast chicken so you can tuck it into salads later in the week. Store each in a separate container for up to 3 days in the fridge.
• Use a big bowl! Choose a bowl larger than you think you’ll need so that the ingredients have plenty of room to be tossed and assembled.
• Think beyond lettuce. Lettuce of all types is fantastic in salads, and so are other greens like baby spinach, radicchio, shredded cabbage, and baby chard.
• Use a mix of raw and cooked components. An interesting salad is one that contains variety – add roasted vegetables like beets, hard boiled eggs, shredded, cooked chicken, salmon, freshly-shucked corn kernels, berries, and more to your bowl along with fresh vegetables.
• Dress at the end. Save the dressing and add it just before serving the salad to prevent the salad from becoming soggy.
• Add extras. I love to add texture and flavor to my salads with a handful of add-ins! These can include toasted chopped nuts such as almonds, walnuts, and pecans, seeds like sesame or pumpkin seeds, soft or hard cheeses, and more.

Can You Prep Salad In Advance?

Many salads can be prepared in advance, but the best practice is to dress the salad just before you plan to serve it. You can also prep components of the salad – such as making the hard-boiled eggs, meat, or grains in advance – and store them in the fridge until you’re ready to make the salad. Vegetables can be peeled and chopped ahead of time and stored in airtight containers in the fridge.

Some tips to keep in mind: you can prepare a salad and store it, without dressing, in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days. Leave out any ingredients like tomatoes or cucumber that are on the juicier side – they can make the salad soggy – until you’re ready to eat. And of course, wait until you’re ready to serve the salad to add the dressing.

25+ Dinner Salad Recipes You Must Try

Strawberry Spinach Salad

Add a side of grilled cheese or enjoy this summery strawberry and spinach salad as a light yet filling meal!

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