29 Epic Salad Recipes

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This time of year, all I want to eat are big, fresh, colorful salads. So, I rounded up a casual twenty-nine of my favorites for you to enjoy. You can always view my full salad archives here.

If you have a copy of my cookbook, crack open the salads chapter! You’ll find eleven more of my favorite salads, plus 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.

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?

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) Favorite Quinoa Salad

Gluten free and vegan

“Wow! This salad is superb. I’ve tried to concoct a quinoa salad before with, at best, lackluster results. Eating healthy never tasted better!!! This will be my go to for summer salads. Thanks” – Beth

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) Layered Panzanella Salad

Easily vegan

“This evening I made your layered panzanella salad with fresh ingredients from the farmers market. Fast and easy to make. Amazing flavor! It is a fast favorite with my family and me. Love this salad!” – Karen

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) The Best Tabbouleh

Vegan

“I’ve made Tabbouleh quite a few times but was in the mood to check out a different recipe. THIS is the one I’ll be making from now on. Thank you for the extra hints about salting and draining the cucumbers and tomatoes and especially for the idea of using the food processor to finely chop the parsley and mint. Genius! I’d never made it with lime before and it’s so wonderful. I know my guests will love it!” – Jean

21) Watermelon Salad with Herbed Yogurt Sauce

Gluten free and easily vegan

“This was SUPER good. Can’t wait to make this for a summer get-together! Didn’t change a thing in the recipe. Thanks much! I think I’ve made most of your salad recipes! Love them all!” – Fran

22) Heirloom Caprese Salad

Gluten free and easily vegan

“I made this delicious and beautiful salad. I usually make little towers with the tomatoes, cheese and basil but this was so much better and the flavors married better. Using the heirloom tomatoes was a wonderful new element and added more flavor and of course the presentation was almost too pretty to eat! Thank for a new twist on an old favorite.” – Gayle

23) Fattoush Salad with Mint Dressing

Easily gluten free and easily vegan

“This is the best Fattoush I’ve tried so far – and, living in the UAE for over 6 years, I have tried MANY of them :) The dressing is so wonderful in taste, I definitely am saving it to my favorites.” – Tatiana

24) Colorful Strawberry Arugula Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

Gluten free and easily vegan

“I made this salad for my sister’s birthday BBQ and it was a big hit! Everyone thought it was very refreshing and that the flavor was perfect. I couldn’t get my bottle of regular balsamic vinegar open, so subbed white balsamic and it was great. I think this recipe will become one of my BBQ standards as it really was excellent and it looks really pretty too. Thanks Kate for the great recipe!” – Mo

25) French Carrot Salad

Gluten free and easily vegan

“I just wanted to let you know how much I loved the French Carrot Salad. It was so easy to make and the salad dressing is just amazing. Thank you so much for sharing these wonderful, healthy recipes!” – Yvette

26) 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

27) Garden-Fresh Corn Salad

Gluten free and easily vegan

“Oh my gosh I love this salad. I never review anything but it is just so good! The taste of summer in all of its raw herby goodness.” – Tess

28) Greek Kale Salad with Creamy Tahini Dressing

Gluten free and easily vegan

“I’m trying to get the world (aka my friends) to love kale salads as much as i do. I have a few go-tos, and this just became my favorite. Or maybe tied for first, but still. I used feta instead of parmesan because I already had it but other than that I followed the recipe pretty closely. IT’S PERFECT. The creamy tahini mixed with the salty greek flavors is just insane. So so so so happy to have this in my collection.” – Abby

29) Mexican Green Salad with Jalapeño-Cilantro Dressing

Gluten free and easily vegan

“Made this as a side to bring to a party that had Mexican as the main dish. It was loved by all and guests asked for the recipe. Thank you for the well-written instructions and great pictures. I did do all the chopping the day ahead and took the fruit/veges separately which were added at the party just before serving. The dressing was a side along with the pepitas. It came out as pretty as your pictures!” – Gail

More resources you might appreciate: 23 healthy make-ahead breakfast recipes, 45 recipes that pack well for lunch and 20 simple weeknight dinners. You might also like my monthly seasonal produce guides and essential kitchen tools. View all roundups and resource posts here.