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 salad is a helpful tool for weight loss because it provides a good balance of fiber, protein and healthy fats from loads of veggies and beans, all tossed in a tangy apple-cider vinaigrette. To meal-prep these for lunch throughout the week, pack the dressing and the salad separately and make sure your veggies are throughly dried before packing them together.

Classic coleslaw goes vegan in this easy barbecue side dish recipe. Eggless or vegan mayonnaise's mild flavor is indistinguishable from regular mayo in this coleslaw flavored with Dijon and cider vinegar. Look for it in the condiment section of large grocery stores or natural-foods stores.

Impress your guests with this stunning beet salad that's quick and easy to make. Because the beets are sliced so thinly by the spiralizer, you don't have to worry about cooking or painstakingly chopping veggies. Regular red beets look great, but striped Chioggia beets, golden beets or a mix of any of the three would make the presentation even more gorgeous.

Protein-packed quinoa pairs with creamy avocado in this refreshing grain salad. It's the perfect make-ahead side dish to bring on a picnic or take to a potluck. Or pack it for lunch or enjoy it as a light dinner.

We love fresh summer corn when it's in season, but frozen corn makes a great year-round substitute in this quick and easy side dish.

With this easy tomato salad, more is more--so if you want, go wild with an outrageous selection of tomatoes. Look for big gnarly tomatoes, plum-shaped varieties, smooth or peach-fuzzed skins, zebra stripes, not to mention the miniatures at the summer farmers' market. All the visual variation means you'll get a range of flavors as well.

Creamy avocado, salty feta cheese and sweet-bitter caramelized lemon slices make this vegetarian bean salad recipe a standout. Using different colors, sizes and shapes of beans makes this salad extra special. But any bean that interests you, even canned, will work.

You can use most types of barley for this veggie-loaded grain salad--hulled, pearled (which will cook the quickest) or hull-less. Serve this salad as a side for grilled chicken, topped with grilled shrimp or as an impressive potluck dish.

In this hearty spinach salad recipe, asparagus and potatoes star next to bold morel mushrooms, bacon and blue cheese. Mature spinach works best here--it'll hold up better than baby spinach when tossed with warm vegetables and a sharp, mustardy vinaigrette.

Larb is a classic salad with roots in Laos and Thailand. It typically features seasoned ground meat and lots of herbs and vegetables, but our healthy vegetarian version swaps red beets for meat, reduces the sodium by adding more lime juice and makes it more substantial by serving it as part of a grain bowl. Spoon it over lettuce for a lighter take.

Raw beets and turnips, you ask? Oh, yes! They're quite delicious and crunchy as long as you use small ones and slice them thin. An inexpensive mandoline makes this a quick and easy salad. Use the leftover vinaigrette to dress up simple grilled chicken, steak or shrimp.

Yep, there's cauliflower in this potato salad. It cuts down on the carbs and calories, and is a perfect match for our tangy horseradish dressing.

Seek out several varieties of heirloom tomatoes for this simple salad. Sweeter and juicier than conventional tomatoes, they add the perfect pop of color.

Store-bought tortellini and frozen peas keep things quick in this healthy 30-minute meal. Jazzed-up bottled salad dressing helps you go even faster. Look for one with 200 mg or less of sodium and 3 g or less of sugar per serving.

Good-quality canned salmon is high in protein and brain-loving omega-3 fatty acids. Mix it with pesto-spiked yogurt and pile it old-school style into a halved avocado for a quick healthy lunch.

We love the retro vibe of these egg salad lettuce wraps. Iceberg lettuce makes a perfect low-carb swap for bread to serve the egg salad.

This power salad will keep you fueled for hours, thanks to 26 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber. Tossing the dressing and kale, and then letting it stand in the jar, softens it enough so you don't need to massage or cook it to make it tender.

Get the flavors of spicy Buffalo chicken wings, without frying, in this nutritious couscous bowl loaded with protein and crisp veggies.

This single-serving recipe for Cobb salad swaps chicken in for bacon, which makes it a great source of protein for lunch. If you prefer another salad dressing, feel free to use that instead of our honey-mustard vinaigrette.

Cooked couscous and canned chickpeas come together in this quick lunch salad. The basil vinaigrette makes it taste anything but basic! When in season, we recommend adding fresh chopped tomatoes for a spin on tabbouleh.