Make Restaurant Quality Salads at Home

How do you make a restaurant quality salad at home?

A good restaurant quality salad is easy to make, inexpensive, and, best of all, impressive and delicious when served.

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My Story

I love a good salad, and it is often what I order when I go out to eat.

Recently however, when my salad arrived, each ingredient was in its own little pile, artfully arranged on the outer edges of the bed of lettuce.

This is not the first time my salad has been served that way.

Maybe it’s a trend, maybe it’s because it looks pretty.

I have no idea.

What I do know is that I don’t eat a salad one ingredient at a time and mixing it after it’s been served usually results in a mess.

As I sat attempting to mix all those little piles, I thought to myself, “my salads are a hundred percent better and a fraction of the cost”.

Although I don’t consider myself a foodie, creating restaurant quality salads at home is something I have found I truly enjoy doing.

Creating a Restaurant Quality Salad at Home

Start by gathering the ingredients for your salad.

The Greens

The foundational building block of any good salad are the greens you choose to use.

While we typically think of salad as being lettuce based, many people prefer other kinds of greens, such as kale or spinach.

There is no right or wrong. Use whatever you prefer, or a combination.

My personal go-to is a mix of iceberg and spring mix lettuce.

However, if I only happen to have one on hand, that’s what I use.

Pay attention to what you like and what’s served when you eat out, and eventually you will hit on your go to for your choice of greens.

The Fresh Vegetables

The possibilities of what kind of vegetables to add are limited only by what’s available.

Have a few standards that you keep on hand, so a salad is an anytime possibility.

My standard fresh vegetables are sweet peppers, cherry tomatoes, matchstick carrots, and onions (if I know everyone likes onions).

If I happen to have them on hand, I also include cauliflower and cucumbers.

Lots of color makes a boring salad pop.

The Other Stuff

There are so many options when it comes to salad fixings.

Cheese, croutons, sunflower seeds, hard boiled eggs…endless possibilities.

If you want to turn your salad into a meal, load up on meats, seafoods, and/or cheese.

For a simple salad, stick with the greens and a few fresh vegetables.

Assembling the Salad

There are really only three simple steps to creating a restaurant quality salad; clean, chop and mix.

Clean

Wash and dry the fresh vegetables (and fruit if you happen to be adding fruit).

There are a couple of equally effective ways to wash produce.

One way is to run it under cool water, rubbing the produce gently with your hand to remove dirt and debris.

If you prefer a more thorough wash, put the produce in a colander and immerse it in a bowl of cool water with a small amount of white vinegar added.

Swish it around and let it set for about two minutes, remove and rinse.

Lay everything on a cookie sheet lined with a clean dish towel or paper towels and pat to dry.

The easiest way to really dry lettuce is by using a salad spinner.

I’ve tried multiple other methods and finally just decided a salad spinner was a necessity.

Chop

Start with the greens.

Chop or tear the greens into small pieces and place them in the serving bowl.

Here’s my dirty little secret. I use a knife and cut the lettuce. That goes against almost everything you read about preparing a restaurant quality salad.

However, it works for me and there’s no harm, no foul, since I serve it before it ever has a chance to turn brown from using a knife.

Chop the remaining ingredients and add them to the serving bowl as you chop.

The only tool you need for chopping is a really sharp knife.

Years ago, my sister introduced me to Rada knives. They are affordable and work great.

Mix as you go

It is totally aggravating to be served a beautiful salad only to realize that all the fixings are only on top of the salad.

Toss as you go to ensure that all the fixings are evenly spread throughout the salad.

When all the fixings have been added, use a few of the more colorful fixings as a garnish for the top of the salad.

Once you’ve cleaned, chopped, and mixed, you’re all ready to serve.

An ordinary pair of tongs make a great salad server.

Don’t add the dressing. Let everyone add their own dressing of choice to their individual salad.

There are some things I’ve learned about making and taking salads.

If I am making a large salad, such as for Thanksgiving, I prep everything the day before.

Wash only the produce you will be using. Once it’s washed, it goes bad much quicker.

For large gatherings, consider putting some of the fixings in individual containers where guests can choose their toppings. This is especially true for onions.