Whether you’re vegetarian, eating right, watching your weight, or just generally love eating salad, we have a nice mix of flavors lined up for you! What’s more, there’s a short list of ingredients, most of which show up in two or more salads.
Win!
On this flavorful salad journey, we put together a nice mix of beans, veggies, cheese, and fresh herbs to delight your palate.
Enjoy these salads with your lettuce of choice (or whatever you have on hand). At Vegetariant, we really enjoy a nice, crisp romaine lettuce for these salads. Be sure to crisp them up for best results.
Salad Pro Tip
Soak your lettuce in ice cold water prior to serving.
Give it at least 15 minutes to soak or plan ahead and start your soak overnight. Just place filtered water in a container like an 8×8 glass dish or other dish large enough to accommodate your lettuce. Add a layer of ice cubes on top to make it nice and chilly.
Wash and trim your lettuce so it’s ready to serve and add to the ice bath.
Put it in the refrigerator overnight or while you prep everything for your salad. When you’re ready to use the lettuce, take out what you need and pat dry on paper towels.
Caprese Green Salad
For this salad, it’s great with a heart of romaine sliced in half long ways with chopped cherry tomatoes, purple onions, cucumber, mozzarella cheese, and fresh basil. Top with a balsamic vinaigrette and avocados, if you like.
Salad for Two
- 1 heart of romaine lettuce, sliced in half
- 8-10 cherry tomatoes, chopped
- 1/4 cup cucumber, chopped
- 2 Tbs red onion, diced
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (small balls or sliced string cheese work well)
- 2 Tbs fresh basil, chopped
- Balsamic vinaigrette dressing
Greek Green Salad
This Greek salad is very flavorful and pairs well with chopped romaine lettuce. It’s chock full of marinated artichoke hearts, chopped cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, purple onions, black olives, crumbled goat cheese, and fresh parsley. It’s great by itself, but is also yummy with a Greek dressing.
Salad for Two
- 1 heart of romaine lettuce, chopped
- 8-10 cherry tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 cup cucumber, chopped
- 1/4 cup black olives, sliced
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
- 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese (feta works too, but goat cheese is creamier)
- 2 Tbs fresh parsley, chopped
- Greek dressing
Green Fiesta Salad
There’s no need for a fried tortilla bowl here…you guessed it, we’re going green with romaine lettuce!
Chop the romaine and top with chopped cherry tomatoes, purple onions, black olives, avocado, black beans, kidney beans, shredded cheddar (or Mexican Mix) cheese, a few tortilla chips of choice, fresh cilantro, and a dollop of sour cream.
To save on calories, top with your favorite salsa or if you prefer more creaminess, Thousand Island dressing works well too.
Salad for Two
- 1 heart of romaine lettuce, chopped
- 8-10 cherry tomatoes, chopped
- 1/2 avocado, chopped
- 1/4 cup black olives, sliced
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed (low or no sodium preferred)
- 1/4 cup canned kidney beans, rinsed (low or no sodium preferred)
- 1/2 cup cheddar or Mexican Mix cheese, shredded
- 2 Tbs fresh cilantro, chopped
- 2 Tbs sour cream
- Tortilla chips, crumbled
- Salsa or Thousand Island dressing
Watermelon Party Green Salad
We’re so excited about the flavors and textures in this new creation so we decided to call it a Watermelon Party!
Lay out 3-4 romaine lettuce leaves on a plate and top with bite sized pieces of watermelon, sliced artichoke hearts, purple onions, black beans, crumbled goat cheese, and fresh basil.
It might sound strange, but trust us, it’s a winning combo and truly a party in your mouth! Enjoy this truly flavor filled salad on its own or top with a little balsamic vinaigrette.
Salad for Two
- 6-8 heart of romaine lettuce leaves, whole
- 1/4 cup red onion, diced
- 1/4 cup marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
- 1 cup watermelon, chopped (bite size)
- 1/4 cup canned black beans, rinsed (low or no sodium preferred)
- 1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese (feta works too, but goat cheese is creamier)
- 2 Tbs fresh basil, chopped
- Balsamic dressing
Want to make all four of these salads? Here’s a shopping list to make two servings of each. If you’d like to make larger portions to feed more people, remember to increase the quantities below.
Shopping List
- 1 (15.5 oz) can Kidney beans (low or no sodium preferred)
- 1 (15.5 oz) Black beans (low or no sodium preferred)
- 1 can black olives (sliced or large)
- 1 small jar marinated artichokes
- 1 avocado
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 cucumber
- 4 hearts of Romaine lettuce
- 1 red onion
- 1 small watermelon (mini personal size works great)
- Fresh basil
- Fresh cilantro
- Fresh parsley
- 4 oz Cheddar or Mexican Mix Cheese, shredded
- 4 oz Goat Cheese, crumbled
- 4 oz Mozzarella (marinated small balls or string cheese)
- Sour Cream (only need a dollop)
- Tortilla chips
- Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Greek Dressing
- Salsa or Thousand Island Dressing
I hope you enjoy these salads and would love to hear your feedback, so please comment and let me know what you think!
And don’t forget, if you loved these recipes, share ’em!
Author Bio:
Carissa is a long time vegetarian who’s been producing non-meat recipes most of her life. She’s the owner and author of Vegetariant, a variant vegetarian cooking site for vegetarians and pescatarians. You can also follow Vegetariant on Twitter or Pinterest.
