Vegetable Salad Recipes

Some are good with an oil based dressing, and others a perfect with a simple splash of vinegar and some herbs.

Most vegetable salads are served cool or at room temperature, but you can serve some of them warm, like the Green beans and Tomatoes recipe below. I love vegetables, so I'm always experimenting... Here are some of my current favorite recipes.

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Vegetable Salad Recipes
Broccoli Salad with Sun-dried Tomatoes, Red Onion and Mustard Vinaigrette
Serves 4 – 6

This vegetable salad recipe is an immune system boost on a plate! It goes nicely with sauteed chicken breasts, grilled steaks, or simply seasoned fish and seafoods.

Ingredients:

1 bunch broccoli – stems peeled, sliced into thin rounds, then into matchsticks, tops cut into bite-sized florettes
½ cup marinated sun-dried tomatoes - drained, oil reserved separately – tomatoes sliced into thin strips
1 small red onion – sliced into very thin wedges – soaked in cold water for 30 minutes to mellow the flavor if desired and drained well
1/3 cup oil (start with the reserved sun-dried tomato oil, add more extra virgin olive oil as needed)
1/4 cup raw apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons homemade mustard
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 clove garlic – crushed and minced
good grey sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

Blanch the broccoli florettes and stems for 10 seconds in boiling water, drain and spread on a large plate or baking sheet. Immediately place in the fridge for 10 minutes to chill. When the broccoli has chilled, spin it dry if necessary and place in a mixing bowl. Add drained onion slices and sun-dried tomatoes.

In a small bowl whisk together the apple cider vinegar, mustard, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper. Add oil slowly and whisk to emulsify. Pour over vegetables and toss well to combine. Allow salad to marinate for one hour before serving, serve chilled or at room temperature.

Variations:

Add diced red bell pepper.

Add a sprinkle of crushed red chiles.

This is one of those vegetable salad recipes that goes with just about anything!

Ingredients:

1 lb ripe tomatoes – a colorful assortment is great – sliced
2 cloves garlic – crushed and minced
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
a large handful of fresh basil leaves – julienned
good grey sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

Arrange sliced tomatoes on a large serving platter. Sprinkle the chopped garlic over the slices, and then drizzle on the olive oil. Add salt and pepper, top with the basil leaves and serve at once.

Variations:

Substitute cilantro, chives or other herb in place of the basil.

Vegetable Salad Recipes
Nappa Cabbage, Sweet Onion and Tomato Salad with Zesty Garlic Vinaigrette
Serves 3 – 4

There is no oil in the dressing for this salad, so it’s a great match for fatty meats like roast lamb, or chicken legs.

Ingredients:

8 large nappa cabbage leaves – sliced in half lengthwise, and then into very thin slices
3 slightly under-ripe tomatoes –sliced in half, and then into half moon slices
1 vidalia or sweet maui onion – sliced into thin half moons
2 large cloves garlic – crushed and minced
1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
3 tablespoons raw apple cider vinegar
good grey sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

In a small bowl, combine the garlic, mustard powder, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Set aside. Place the nappa cabbage, tomatoes and onion slices into a mixing bowl. Pour the vinegar mixture over and toss well to combine. Serve at once.

Variation:

Substitute a handful of fresh mint leaves for the nappa cabbage, and serve with lamb or grilled shrimp.

This is one of the vegetable salad recipes which is just as good served warm as it is when chilled.

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh green beans – stem ends trimmed
3 or 4 roma tomatoes – sliced into thin wedges
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
finely grated zest of half a lemon
1 clove garlic – crushed and minced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley, dill, cilantro, arugula or chives
good grey sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

Steam green beans for 5 or 6 minutes, or until bright green and tender-crisp. Drain well and arrange on a large plate or baking sheet and place in the fridge to chill for 5 or 10 minutes. Place chilled green beans and tomato wedges in a mixing bowl. Add oil, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, fresh herb of your choice, salt and pepper. Toss well to combine. Serve at once.

Variation:

Skip the step of chilling the beans and serve this salad warm, its wonderful!

Substitute marinated sun-dried tomatoes for the fresh ones.

Vegetable Salad recipes
Thai Cucumber Salad
Serves 3 – 4

Here's a great version of the oil-free variety of vegetable salad recipes. It goes well with fish, chicken or grilled meats.

Ingredients:

2 medium cucumbers – sliced in half lengthwise, seeds removed if they are very large, sliced diagonally
1 small red onion – sliced into thin wedges – soaked in cold water for 30 minutes to mellow the flavor if you like, and drained well
1 small red bell pepper – seeded, quartered, and sliced diagonally into strips
1 small yellow pepper – seeded, quartered, and sliced diagonally into strips
½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
juice from one or two limes
3 or 4 drops liquid stevia extract or a generous pinch of dry powdered stevia leaves (optional)
fish sauce or good grey sea salt to taste

Preparation:

Place the cucumber, peppers, onions and cilantro into a mixing bowl. Mix together the lime juice, stevia and fish sauce or salt in a small bowl. Pour over the vegetables and mix well. Serve at once.

Variations:

Add fresh tomato wedges.

Add hot fresh chiles.

Add some freshly grated ginger juice.

Substitute fresh Thai basil for the cilantro.

Vegetable Salad Recipes
My Favorite Cole Slaw
Serves 3 - 4

This is based on my dad’s old recipe (mage with good old mayo out of a jar). It’s light, lemony and perfect with mild white fish, grilled chicken or hamburgers.

Ingredients

4 – 6 cups shredded green cabbage
½ cup homemade mayonnaise (recipe below)
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon celery seeds
good grey sea salt and plenty of fresh ground pepper to taste

Preparation:

Place cabbage in a mixing bowl, add remaning ingredients and toss well to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve at once.

Mayonnaise
Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients:

2 large egg yolks
1 small fresh garlic clove
½ teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar (or a mix of vinegar and lemon juice)
¼ teaspoon good grey sea salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup macadamia oil (a mild flavored oil to lessen the olive oil flavor)

Preparation:

Use a countertop blender to make this mayo in a snap. Or you can use a hand blender in a small wide mouth jar, then you can just screw the top on the jar and store it in the fridge (less cleanup).

Blend the egg yolks with the garlic, mustard powder, apple cider vinegar, & salt. Slowly add olive oil in a thin stream with the blender running, then add macadamia oil until the mixture gets light and creamy looking. I stop when it reaches a thick cake batter consistency.

Vegetable Salad Recipes
Blended Salad
1 serving

This is about the quickest to prepare out of all the vegetable salad recipes.

Blending all the raw ingredients into very small pieces makes it much easier to chew and digest. It's a great way to get the cleansing benefits of raw vegetables into your diet if you aren't used to eating a lot of raw foods. It reminds me of gazpacho soup!

There are endless variations -- here is the one I make often:

Ingredients:

1/2 large cucumber
1/2 red or yellow bell pepper
1 medium tomato
a few leaves of romaine or butter lettuce, roughly chopped
a slice of mild onion (vidalia or sweet red onion is nice)
a few snips of dried dulse seaweed (about 1/2 tablespoon)
juice of 1/2 lemon
sea salt (added to the finished salad)

Other optional ingredients - parsley or other fresh herbs, radishes, celery...

Preparation:

Coarsely chop all the vegetables, place in a food processor fitted with a double blade, add lemon juice and pulse until everything is chopped very fine, it will look like salsa! spoon into a serving bowl and sprinkle with sea salt to taste.You may like a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil as well, or some sliced avocado.

I like it topped with a few spoonfuls of tuna salad or salmon salad.

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