Happy Sunday! This time of year, all I want to eat are big, fresh, colorful salads. I’m still finalizing the details on my next “giant salad challenge” recipe but enjoyed the latest rendition all week long. For now, I thought I’d round up, oh, twenty of my favorites for you all to enjoy. You can always view my full salad archives here.
I’m so glad my cookbook is finally available, because I’ve had to keep eleven of my new favorite big salad recipes secret for the past year. In the book, you’ll also find four of my go-to homemade salad dressings, side salad suggestions for each season, and a five-step guide to designing your own epic salad.
Remember, salads keep best when the dressing is stored separately from the rest. I like to make a big batch of salad and keep it in the fridge for whenever hunger strikes. Just drizzle dressing into individual portions and enjoy. What kind of salad would you like to see next?!
Fun book stuff:
- Laura of A Beautiful Plate made my Carrot Cake Breakfast Cookies
- Kelly of Just a Taste made my Fresh Greek Nachos
- Love Real Food is officially bunny approved!
- Loving all your #loverealfood Instagrams, please keep them coming!
- Thank you so much for your kind Amazon reviews.
1) Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad
Gluten free and easily vegan
“I made your vegetarian Italian chop salad recipe. I loved it. The Italian dressing was better the second day. Great recipe! I added some chopped grilled chicken for my husband who is not vegetarian. It is one of the best vegetable salads I have eaten. I will make it often” – Donna
2) Chickpea Salad with Carrots and Dill
Gluten free and vegan
“Love this recipe! It is great for meal prepping and easily doubles or triples. I make one big container full and it lasts my husband and I all week. I use fresh dill PLUS dill infused olive oil instead of regular olive oil. It is such an inexpensive meal to make and totally beats the store bought salads or fast food for lunches. Thanks again for another fantastic recipe.” – Marie
3) Mega Crunchy Romaine Salad with Quinoa
Gluten free and easily vegan
“I love this salad! I crave it regularly, and it is always so satisfying! The dressing is almost better the second day, once all the flavors meld together. This is a definite favorite in our house.” – Kelsey
4) Herbed Quinoa & Chickpea Salad with Lemon-Tahini Dressing
Gluten free and easily vegan
“This salad is so good, definitely one of the best I’ve had or made in a long time. It’s the perfect post-workout meal for a vegetarian because it is packed with protein and greens! And the dressing is delicious!” – Sophia
5) Greek Wedge Salad
Gluten free and vegan
“I made this last night for dinner and it was SO good!!!!! Thank you!!! I can’t wait for your cookbook to come out.” – Tamar
6) Mediterranean Pasta Salad with Raw Squash and Feta
Easily gluten free and easily vegan
“Made it and loved it! As I am currently obsessed with spiralizing my vegetables, I turned the squash into thin noodles. Otherwise I did everything as instructed and absolutely loved this yummy and satisfying salad! :)” – Paige
7) Thai Mango Salad with Peanut Dressing
Gluten free and easily vegan
“Another great recipe! Just the right amount of sweet,heat,and crunch! We live in Cape Coral FL and have been looking for some new mango recipes. The trees are full of ripe mangoes now. Thanks for the recipe!” – Ann
8) Mayo-Free Red Potato Salad
Gluten free and vegan
“Love, love, love this potato salad! This recipe is definitely a keeper. The flavors are spot-on. Didn’t change a thing. My husband, who has always been a mayo potato salad kind of guy, says he will be making this for his company’s next potluck cookout.” – Susan
9) Anything-Goes Kale Salad with Green Tahini Dressing
Easily gluten free and easily vegan
“The dressing is spectacular! Didn’t have cilantro so replaced it with parsley. Had this salad even the next day for breakfast ;)” – Karolina
10) Lebanese Lemon-Parsley Bean Salad
Gluten free and vegan
“Love this salad!! As a student I need to pack lunches to get me through the day without having to buy something expensive on campus each time. This salad is filling, healthy and super yum! Thanks for the recipe!” – Jenny
11) Autumn Kale Salad with Fennel, Honeycrisp and Goat Cheese
Gluten free and easily vegan
“This salad is delicious and to my surprise it was devoured by my 2 and 4 year olds, who rarely eat salads. Thank you” – Bridget
12) Sun-Dried Tomato, Spinach and Quinoa Salad
Gluten free and vegan
“This salad is delicious! Shared with many friends. Big hit! Thanks for your amazing recipes. They make eating vegetarian easy!” – Meg
13) Arugula, Dried Cherry and Wild Rice Salad with a Zippy Lemon Dressing
Gluten free and easily vegan
“Just made this as a trial run for a Thanksgiving side salad option and my whole family LOVED it. What I appreciate most about the salad is how easy it is to make, but how complex and multi-layered the flavors are! And my pups loved cleaning up the leftovers :). Thanks for another great recipe!” – Amy
14) Colorful Beet Salad with Carrot, Quinoa & Spinach
Gluten free and easily vegan
“I’m a guy who doesn’t really cook. But my sister-in-law made this and it blew my mind. Best salad I’ve ever had. I plan to make it a staple in my weekly diet. Like – every day. I can eat the same thing daily if I like it enough. This one is there with so much health in such a tight package of amazingness.” – Jason
15) Favorite Green Salad with Apples, Cranberries and Pepitas
Gluten free and easily vegan
“Delicious salad! I’ve never toasted pepitas like that before. My son and husband liked it. They told me to make it everyday!. Thanks for sharing.” – Lily
16) Greek Broccoli Salad
Gluten free and easily vegan
“Made this last night and it was amazing! My bf loved it so much he had 3rds, and he is not usually a huge salad guy. What a delicious way to eat veggies. I used pepitas instead of almonds for allergy reasons. I will 100% make this again. Thank you for all your wonderful, plant-centric recipes!” – Lara
17) Ashley’s Sun-Dried Tomato Caesar Salad
Vegetarian and delicious
“This salad is my new fave!! It’s amazing!! I even have the Date Night In cookbook and somehow this recipe slipped by me.” – Ashley
18) Colorful Chopped Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing
Gluten free and easily vegan
“I can’t believe it never dawned on me to make one big salad! I’ve been trying to motivate my fiance to make his own lunches for work and this has made all the difference. We’ve been loving your recipes since we decided to eat more plant-based and this is the first of your salad recipes I’ve tried. Besides being delicious, it’s so pretty. I’m planning on making it for my fiance’s surprise 30th birthday party this weekend!” – Samantha
19) Roasted Cauliflower and Farro Salad with Feta and Avocado
Easily vegan
“One of my absolute favorite lunches- cook a big batch and it lasts all week with fresh greens and avocado! Serious win.” – Julie
20) Arugula, Carrot and Chickpea Salad with Wheat Berries
Easily vegan
“Hello! I made this salad for dinner tonight with arugula from my CSA. Terrific recipe! I especially LOVED the dressing. Thanks!” – Ann
More resources you might appreciate: 13 healthy make-ahead breakfast recipes, 16 recipes that pack well for lunch and 20 simple weeknight dinners. You might also like my monthly seasonal produce guides and healthy kitchen essentials. View all roundups and resource posts here.
