Even if you are good about eating your veggies, having the same old salad daily is boring. You need to know how to make salad taste good so you will eat more of it. Salads offer an excellent way to take in more nutrition with each meal.
However, some salads seem more desirable than others. If you need proof, look at salads on the menus of some of the most esteemed restaurants. The Brown Derby’s Cobb Salad is an icon, as is the legendary 1905 Salad from the Columbia Restaurant. Follow these tips below, and you’ll know how to make salad taste good, just like these restaurants!
How to Make Salads Taste Good
Stop Going for the Same Base
Do you always use iceberg lettuce or romaine? Well, stop with that sadness. No wonder no one gathering around your table wants to eat salad anymore. There are many other options to use as your base for your salad. You can use spinach, kale, arugula, radicchio, mixed greens, endives, and plenty more. Even better, mix several kinds together, and you’ll have not only a more flavorful salad base but also a more nutritious one too.
Tinker with Textures
Now, if all you do is dump lettuce into a bowl and pour a store-bought blob of dressing on top, it’s little wonder you think salads don’t taste good. You need to give salads some texture. And this is where the fun comes in!
Think about crunchy items like nuts, cabbage, and croutons. Go with soft items like chickpeas, feta cheese, or craisins. Put them all together so that there are different texture levels throughout your salad, and you will know how to make salad taste good.
Freshen It Up with Fruit
Fruits have the potential to brighten up any salad’s flavor. And they can absolutely make a ho-hum salad turn into a seasonally delicious treat. In winter, add blood oranges or clementines. In summer, berries will be a bounty you can throw with reckless abandon onto your salads. Take a cue from above and then throw in some crunchy walnuts, and you will be onto something!
Pop In Protein
Proteins go a long way to making your salad taste good. If you’d prefer plant-based, you can choose beans or cooked grains. Even lentils will give it a wonderful taste. You can also go for blackened grilled chicken, spicy shrimp, tender steak slices, or seared ahi tuna. This helps you turn your salad into a palatable meal that you’ll want to eat.
Add Herbs and Spices
Herbs and spices aren’t just for the dressing. You can use fresh basil, parsley, thyme, cilantro, chives, mint, or dill. These all perk up flavors in a natural way, plus they add more nutrition too.
Dress Things Up
Hopefully, you’re not using that processed store-bought stuff to dress your salad. It’s easy to make fresh and delicious salad dressings at home. You need quality ingredients like good olive oil, real mayonnaise, and vinegar to create the perfect flavors. While oil and vinegar are a classic combo, it gets boring. Add citrus zest, stone-ground mustard, minced anchovies, red chili flakes, or citrus juice.
Try different types of vinegar too, and when it comes to creamy dressings, liven them with fresh citrus juices and a combination of fresh herbs and dried spices. By making your own salad dressings, you will know how to make salad taste good every time.
Surprise Your Taste Buds
Let’s talk about those restaurant salads again for a minute…what makes them so good that people will actually go out for salad? It’s those surprising flavors. Full-flavored blue cheese and crispy, smoky bacon are why that cobb salad makes everyone crave it. Zesty, lemony dressing with top-quality slices of ham and Swiss and briny Spanish olives are the reason that 1905 Salad has won awards.
Your salad can win everyone over by adding these wow-worthy additions. Look through gourmet ingredients for unique flavors and pay attention to contrasting textures. In doing so, you will create an epic salad.
Fuel with Healthy Fats
Somewhere along the way, fats got a bad reputation. But there are fats that are good for you, and you need to eat them. Think about adding avocado, olive oil, nuts, seeds, or meats to get those healthy fats into your salad for a more robust flavor that fills you up.
Make Your Salad Picture Perfect
And finally, you may be more inclined to eat a salad at a restaurant because it looks more inviting. If your salad looks like a boring pile of one type of lettuce, you will not want to eat it. You can trick yourself into eating more salads by plating them prettily with an array of inviting ingredients, like the ones discussed above.
Visual presentation can impact the way you perceive the flavors and aromas. So when your salad looks pretty, you will want to eat it. Adding more colors to it definitely helps with that visual stimulation. You can also dress up your salads by using a fancier bowl or arranging your colorful ingredients in a decorative way.
Now that you know how to make salad taste good, take these tips and make it your resolution to eat more of them. There’s much fun to be had in putting these flavors together to make a delicious and nutritious side or meal that everyone will want to pile into their mouths!
