This garden salad makes your taste buds dance. It has a rich array of refreshing flavor in each bite and captures that delicious “fresh from the garden” taste.
Whenever I make dinner (especially chicken), this is my go-to side salad. Growing up, my mom kept a thriving garden and we had fresh veggies available almost all summer long. We would take the ripe veggies straight from the garden and make this garden salad — each time the salad tasted slightly different due to using different vegetables, yet it was equally delicious.
Garden Salad Video
How To Make A Garden Salad
What’s involved in making a garden salad? Honestly, it’s as simple as tossing the ingredients together and mixing in the dressing — crazy easy, right?!
- Combine the dressing ingredients: Combine the olive oil, white vinegar, salt, and pepper and whisk with a fork. Or, make it in a small jar and shake to combine.
- Mix the salad: Prepare all the veggies, then begin layering the salad in a large bowl. Place the leafy greens on the bottom, then layer on the rest of the ingredients.
- Drizzle the dressing on top: Right before serving, drizzle the dressing onto the garden salad and mix it all together.
Hot tip: The vegetables in this salad are available in stores year round, but if you’re making the salad during the summer months, head on over to a farmer’s market for the freshest garden veggies.
Ingredient Variations
While this salad is perfect just the way it is, feel free to change up the ingredients to elevate your game. The salad will truly become “ultimate” when you find your favorite combination of all the ingredients!
- Leafy greens: “Mixed greens” or “leafy greens” refers to any combination of green leafy vegetables. Buy a pre-mixed bag of mixed greens, or make your own combination with romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, spinach, arugula, or any other leafy vegetables.
- Protein: Add more protein to the salad with sliced or cubed chicken breast, air fryer bacon, or hard boiled eggs.
- Croutons: If you love crunchy croutons, toss them in with no reservations!
- Onions: Green onions are a must, but a few slivers of red onion add a wonderful flavor and purple color.
- Olives: If you like the taste of olives, toss in a few black olives to the salad. Make sure to remove any pits.
- Nuts: Do you love crunchy nuts in your salads? Add almonds, walnuts, or pecans.
- Salad dressing: For a garlicky flavor, add finely minced garlic or garlic powder to the dressing. Then, add in finely minced fresh herbs like dill or parsley.
Serving Suggestions
Whether this ultimate garden salad is your main or side dish for your meal, you’re sure to love every bite. Make it a whole meal with scalloped potatoes or pasta Bolognese. For a lighter summer meal, pair with cedar plank salmon. If you’re looking for a soup and salad combo, make a pot of tomato basil soup, cabbage soup, or chicken gizzard mushroom soup.
Two Methods to Store This Garden Salad
Salads are a great lunch option, but it can be tough to keep them fresh. Check out these two methods of storage for preserving the freshest flavor of your salad.
- In a large jar: Create your salad in a jar. First, pour the salad dressing in the bottom of the jar, then add the salad toppings. Make sure the greens are placed last into the jar to keep them crisp. When you’re ready to eat, dump the ingredients onto a plate and toss.
- Kept separately: Wash and prep the greens for the salad, then wrap them in paper towels. Keep them in a storage container separate from the other chopped vegetable toppings. Combine the containers and assemble the salad when you’re ready to enjoy.
More Salads To Try
- Broccoli Cauliflower Salad — A variety of veggie textures, bacon, and sunflower seeds
- Antipasto Salad — Your favorite antipasto platter in salad format tossed in a refreshing Italian balsamic vinaigrette
- Creamy Cucumber Radish Salad — Crisp cucumbers and radish tossed in sour cream.
- Broccoli Crab Salad Recipe — A crunchy, citrusy, crab-based salad
- Broccoli Cucumber and Tomato Salad — Tossed in a tangy Greek yogurt dressing
- Quinoa Kale Salad — Leafy kale mixed with quinoa seeds and fresh veggies
- Cobb Salad — Chicken, bacon, eggs and the classic dressing
Recipe
Ingredients
Garden Salad Dressing
- 1/4 cup olive oil or sunflower
- 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp salt
Garden Salad
- 1 lb mixed greens
- 1 large avocado
- 1 cup cucumbers sliced
- 1 cup tomatoes sliced
- 1/4 cup green onions sliced
- 3 tbsp fresh dill or other herbs
Instructions
- Combine the olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper together by whisking with a fork. Set aside.
- Prepare all the veggies for the salad.
- Place the leafy greens in the bottom of a bowl, then top them off with the rest of the ingredients.
- Drizzle the dressing on top right before serving and toss everything together. Serve and enjoy!
I’m taking this to a party. Should I add the avocado just before serving? How do you prevent it browning?
Hey Jodie, Adding the avocado just before serving is best to keep it fresh and prevent browning. You can also avoid browning by tossing the avocado pieces in lemon or lime juice.
If you need to prepare it slightly in advance, store the avocado pieces separately in an airtight container with a bit of citrus juice until you're ready to mix it into the salad. I hope this helps! Enjoy!
Do you add balsamic vinegar and white vinegar? Cause the balsamic isn't in the ingredients list but is is the instructions. And also the lemon juice or feta cheese wasn't in the ingredients , was wondering how much you add. Thanks.
Hi Lana, I recently updated this recipe and removed a few ingredients, and it looks like we forgot to remove some of them from the post. Thank you for pointing that out. The dressing should just be oil, white vinegar, salt and pepper. And no feta cheese. Hope this helps!
Was better the old way/ rave reviews
Thanks for sharing your love for the salad! Have you tried the updated version?
Yes and people asked about the previous salad… I brought it to several family gatherings and they preferred the previous dish. Literally had more than 12 people asking me ….the salad parts are delicious, I just liked the lemony dressing:)
Hey Shelly, I wanted to make it more authentic to the way I grew up. I will add the one with feta and balsamic vinegar. We didn't grow up with feta or balsamic and I felt like it wasn't really the "ultimate gardens salad". Stay tuned, the old one is coming back 🙂
Hi, just wondering if the old one is up yet? I would love to make for Christmas tomorrow!!! It sounds like it’s a hit 😊
Hey Abby, not yet but here are the ingredients:
Garden Salad Dressing
1/4 cup Olive oil
2 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 tbsp Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1/2 tsp Salt
Garden Salad
1 lb Mixed Greens
1 Avocado
4 Cucumbers
3 Tomatoes
2 Green Onions
1/4 cup Crumbled Feta Cheese
Hope this helps for now!
What is the serving size? Thank you
Hello, Shahnaz- this recipe will make enough for 6 servings, but if you serve it with additional sides or entrees it'll probably feed more! Here is a link to a soup you can serve it with: https://momsdish.com/tomato-b…
Enjoy!
My new go to, well done
Hi Brett - That's great! Such a solid, classic side salad. Happy New Year! 🙂
Thanks for the recipe intend to add black olive's to accompany a lasagne. Awesome
That's a great addition to this salad! Enjoy your dinner 😊
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I made this at one of our party and it was a hit!Everyone loves it . It's tasty and flavorful. It's also very easy and simple to make. Thanks again!
Hey Anne, I am so glad to hear this! Thanks for sharing!
I am a tech dummy...but I love these great recipes for garden salad! I am going to make for a grad party this weekend...thank you!!
I am so happy to hear! Garden salads are so awesome, especially in the summer months!