Salad Recipes

Recipe adapted from "Food From Many Greek Kitchens," by Tessa Kiros. Copyright 2011 by Tessa Kiros. Used with permission of Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Apples and walnuts add crunch to this chicken salad that makes for the perfect midday meal. 

Quick-cooking quinoa is a nutritional powerhouse, packed with protein, iron, and fiber. It is also the foundation for a main-course salad with chicken and springy vegetables. This one-pan recipe comes from our book "One Pot."

Using vinegar and mustard in addition to the usual mayonnaise is the secret to a perfectly balanced potato salad. To save time, chop the celery, scallions, and cornichons for the dressing while the spuds cool.

Beets, which are rich in folic acid and vitamin C, are the primary ingredient of this simple salad.

Channel your inner goddess with this herbaceous take on the classic potato salad.

Composing a great dinner salad is all about achieving the right balance of textures and flavors. Here, it's the juicy seared shrimp and crunchy tortilla strips that make this healthy entrée seem like a special occasion treat, even though it's quick and easy enough to make on a weeknight. 

Our recipe is a variation on classic American-style potato salad. Warm potatoes are sprinkled with vinegar, dressed in mayonnaise, and mixed with hard-boiled eggs, celery, cornichons, and scallions.

Finely chopped lemon mixed with grainy mustard, sugar, and olive oil makes a stellar dressing for this radicchio-and-mint salad.

Georgian home cook Louise Brescia of Atlanta shares an herbed potato salad that's great with burgers and barbecue.

Our glorious grain bowl calls for making the brown rice in advance, but even if you start from scratch, you can get the whole dish on the table in under an hour.

While beef broth might seem like an unexpected ingredient, it's a must for authentic German potato salad. Mixed with sauteed onions, it gives the vinegary slices of Yukon Golds an extra savory touch.

This tangle of cabbage and carrot is dressed with a balance of tangy mustard, mayonnaise, and creamy sour cream to create the standard slaw.

Seafood is a must for the Feast of the Seven Fishes, an Italian Christmas Eve tradition. This salad with squid, shrimp, mussels, and crab is a delicious way to kick off the meal.

Dandelions' sawtooth leaves bring a pleasant bitterness to the table. They're best picked when tender, before the plant blooms, and they can be served raw or cooked.

For a different take on a healthy vegetarian meal, consider the artichoke. Steamed and then seared, the halves are both meaty and satisfying. The rest of this dish cooks in the same pan: you fry two slices of torn-up bread, then make the warm white bean salad.

You can prep the components of this Pasta Salad with Goat Cheese and Arugula in advance—toss together just before serving. The spicy arugula, creamy goat cheese, and a touch of Dijon mustard give the dish plenty of flavor.

The packaged mix makes this fast, but throwing a small green cabbage and a carrot into a food processor is almost as fast.

Flavorful chicken thighs are oven-poached in an ancho chili powder-seasoned mixture of citrus juices before being pulled and shredded for topping on this hearty taco salad perfect for lunch or dinner.

Turn leftovers into Asian-inspired pulled-pork sandwiches.

A Nicoise-inspired main-course salad (tossed with grilled salmon, eight-minute eggs, fresh sugar snap peas, watercress, and boiled new potatoes) is a reliable crowd-pleaser.

Classic cacio e pepe—pasta swirled in copious amounts of cheese and cracked black pepper—is heavenly, but undeniably heavy. Those bold flavors are airy on blanched peas and “noodles” of thinly sliced cucumbers and broiled asparagus. Drizzle on a quick dressing of lemon juice, grated garlic cloves, and extra-virgin olive oil for a comfort-food update that puts even more spring in your step. This recipe is featured in the cookbook Salad Freak: Recipes to Feed a Healthy Obsession ($26.99, amazon.com). 

Whether you prefer a traditional mayonnaise base or a pesto remix, these chicken salad recipes are sure to satisfy.