Healthy Salad Recipes

Skip the cleanse and eat this instead. Packed with veggies, avocado and seeds, this healthy salad recipe is bursting with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Everything can be prepared ahead of time except the avocado. If you love beets, shred one raw and add it to the salad for extra color, crunch and flavor. Excerpted from The Dinner Plan by Kathy Brennan and Caroline Campion, published by ABRAMS © 2017.

This Japanese-inspired cool, crisp salad is as elegant and well balanced as it is simple.

This chicken Caesar salad wrap recipe is elevated by the irresistible smoky flavor of grilled chicken and grilled romaine. Whisk together this easy Caesar salad dressing, toss with the grilled chicken and romaine and wrap it all together for a delicious lunch or dinner.

In this healthy and creamy potato salad recipe, yogurt replaces half of the mayo and we keep the potato skins on for more fiber and potassium. Red bell pepper and green peas add even more color to the yellow-tinted potato salad.

A picnic favorite, this salad combines broccoli, water chestnuts, cranberries and just a little bacon for delicious results. Our version has plenty of creaminess without all the fat. Make it once and it will become a regular on your backyard barbecue menu.

Here a pungent garlicky dressing is infused into kale by massaging the greens and the dressing together with your hands. Any type of kale will work in this kale salad recipe, just remember to remove the tough stems before you start.

This vibrantly colorful and healthy make-ahead salad is sure to become a go-to weekday lunch, though it's pretty enough to serve to guests. Fresh ginger gives a pleasant bite to the toasted sesame salad dressing, which is inspired by the dressings served at Japanese hibachi restaurants.

This healthy zucchini noodle salad has all the flavors you love in a classic Mediterranean pasta salad but we've swapped in zoodles for wheat pasta, which makes the salad lighter, lower in carbs and gluten-free. Serve it with grilled chicken or fish for a light and healthy summer dinner.

Here's a healthy salad recipe to make at the height of summer when watermelon and cucumbers are at their juiciest and most flavorful. Feta adds the perfect creamy, salty, tangy edge, and mint makes this salad taste even brighter. This is one easy side salad you'll want to serve at all your summer BBQs.

This gorgeous and healthy summer vegetable salad is loaded with pretty produce, including golden beets, avocado, corn, microgreens and radishes. Chickpeas and edamame add substance, and an herb-filled buttermilk-avocado dressing makes this salad really special. Serve it on its own for a light vegetarian meal or add grilled chicken for an easy weeknight dinner.

This healthy salad recipe calls for tiny carrots, harvested in spring when young, with their tops still attached. If you can't find them, use 2 cups julienned carrots and substitute arugula for the carrot tops. Pea greens, also known as pea shoots, are the leaves, tendrils and flowers of a mature pea plant. Look for them at farmers' markets or Asian markets.

Cucumbers, tomato, parsley and feta are the basics of an Israeli salad, which is as common at breakfast as at any other meal. Here, fluffy challah croutons make the dish a sort of mash-up of the Lebanese bread salad fattoush, made with pita, and a Tuscan panzanella. It's just the kind of cross-pollination modern Israeli food is known for. And for you, it's a healthy meal that's ready in 25 minutes!

The big punch of this healthy salad with asparagus and smoked salmon comes from gribiche, a creamy French herb sauce with chopped egg. The greens get a toss in a vinaigrette made floral with Meyer lemon. Can't find a Meyer lemon? Substitute with regular lemon.

The buttermilk dressing for this easy and healthy chicken salad recipe calls for using dried herbs, which gives you a more intense flavor blast and cuts down on prep time. But if you prefer the flavor of fresh, use 3 tablespoons fresh for each 1 tablespoon dried. Using leftover cooked chicken further speeds prep in this 20-minute dinner recipe.

The toppings for this meal-on-a-slice go way beyond the typical smattering of sliced mushrooms or peppers and into the realm of complete servings of vegetables. Needless to say, grab a fork and knife for this healthy and easy dinner, which comes together with just 20 minutes of active time.

A nice option for a light lunch, these seared scallops are served with a fresh tomato, cucumber, and corn salad, and drizzled with a tasty basil vinaigrette.

Spiralized cucumbers stand in for rice noodles in this pretty and healthy salad recipe. The dressing for our cool cucumber noodle salad is inspired by the Vietnamese dipping sauce nuoc cham. Use your spiralizer's thick noodle attachment to keep the vegetables crisp and prevent the salad from getting too soggy.

The creamy citrus dressing on this healthy autumn-inspired salad brings out the intense flavors of sweet fennel and bold radicchio.

Perfect for a lunch or light dinner, this beef salad has a Southwestern flair. It's served over peppery arugula and dressed with a sauce that utilizes the pan-drippings, delivering extra flavor to the salad.

Low-fat yogurt and light sour cream make this caraway-flavored coleslaw creamy and rich. It's a low-carb side dish that's ideal for a diabetic meal plan.

This roasted Buffalo cauliflower salad tastes indulgent but is absolutely virtuous. The salad is packed with all the Buffalo wing essentials--carrots, celery, a creamy dressing and blue cheese. And cauliflower, with all its nooks and crannies, is even better at soaking up Buffalo sauce than chicken wings!

This pretty slaw recipe is a celebration of spring produce. The celery seed in the recipe is inspired by traditional Texas-style coleslaw, while the snap peas and radishes stand in for cabbage. Serve this healthy side dish with grilled or roasted chicken and new potato salad for a fresh dinner.

This Texas-inspired potato salad takes advantage of spring's sweet new potatoes and early onions. Partially mashing the spuds makes for an extra-creamy potato salad. In Texas you'd dish this out with an ice cream scoop.

For this easy healthy salad, chef Hugh Acheson shows the power of charring vegetables as a way to add interest to a salad. This flexible recipe can be made with a variety of whole grains, such as wheat berries, farro or pearl barley. The salad revels in the spring arrival of radishes, spring onions and bright green parsley. Sumac, which is commonly used in Middle Eastern cooking, adds a touch of tartness. Look for it in well-stocked spice sections at your market.

Enjoy this fresh-tasting and healthy slaw with Asian flavors as an accompaniment to grilled chicken and fish. If you have a mandoline-style vegetable slicer, use it to slice the radishes easily, but you can also slice them by hand. Using an assortment of colored radishes makes an interesting presentation. Like broccoli, Brussels and other crucifers, radishes boast potent plant compounds credited with anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties. The easy sesame dressing is great on all sorts of salads and veggies, such as spinach, broccoli or asparagus.

Swap out store-bought for this tangy homemade buttermilk and poppy seed dressing to take this healthy salad recipe to the next level. For an even more impressive meal, make your own crunchy cheese crisps in a snap, using phyllo dough, for a delicious accompaniment to this dinner salad. Make extra dressing to keep on hand for other salads throughout the week.