Healthy Salad Recipes

Salad is the staple meal for many mediterranean countries, and can go much farther than you think. The standard lettuce, tomato and cucumber salad has certainly had its day, and now they feature very rarely in salads.

Instead opt for exciting vegetables, cheese and fruit, and combine hot and cold, raw and cooked, grated and sliced ingredients to concoct the most tastebud tingling salad ever. Check out this post about how to create an interesting salad from Not Just Apples for more ideas.

♥ Ultimate Feel-Good Salad

This salad is full of superfoods that will make your body very appreciative, and make you feel amazingly vibrant and alive.

Place washed, fresh spinach in a salad bowl, followed by halved mini tomatoes, chunks of red pepper, strips of mackerel, loads of olive oil and sliced black olives. Mix these around and eat straight away. Feel free to be inventive with this salad and add any extras you desire, for example, cubed goats/feta cheese or sliced nuts/seeds.

♥ Healthy Greek Salad

Place finely sliced red onion in a bowl with chopped plum tomatoes, diced cucumber and Greek Kalamata olives. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and Greek olive oil, season, then toss well. Serve in a large salad bowl topped with chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley.

Don't forget to serve it with some chunks of grilled wholegrain bread drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with herbs. A little tzatziki or dill dip on the side wouldn't hurt either.

♥ Avocado Herb Salad

Tip lamb's lettuce into a serving dish. Scatter over some coriander leaves, mint leaves and snipped chives and gently mix into the lettuce. Peel, stone and cube or slice an avocado and arrange over the leaves. Whisk together lime juice and avocado oil and season well. Drizzle over the salad. Serve straight away.

♥ Tuna and Bean Salad

Place a can of cannellini beans in a bowl. Flake a jar of tuna and add it to the beans. Add a pack of fresh basil to the bowl, with half a diced cucumber, some halved radishes and half a red onion. Season and mix well.

Just before serving, drizzle the salad with some balsamic vinegar and some olive oil. Serve with crusty bread, such as poppy seeded batard.

♥ Watermelon and Feta Salad

Cut half a melon into large wedges and cut away the skin. Cut the melon into 2.5cm chunks. Arrange these in a dish and then crumble 200g feta over the top. Scatter over 50g toasted pine nuts. Tear a bunch of basil leaves roughly and add these, then drizzle over 1 tbsp olive oil. Season with pepper (you shouldn't need any extra salt as the feta is very salty). Serve straight away.

Healthy salad combinations are sometimes difficult to come up with, so if you have any suggestions to make, please go to our contact us page and feel free to share any salad recipes or combinations you may have.

For more satisfying salad recipes see:

• Healthy Chicken Salad by Not Just Apples
• Dandelion Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes, Feta and Rye Croutons by Scandi Foodie
• Hazelnut and Chard Ravioli Salad by 101 Cookbooks