This simple garden salad with oregano vinaigrette is packed full of garden-fresh veggies and offers an incredible variety of textures. There's crisp romaine, hardy kale, crunchy radishes and almonds, plus vibrant roasted peppers and meaty white beans. It's studded with tangy kalamata olives for extra punch. My oregano vinaigrette is a simple dressing that tastes wicked good - sweet, zesty and full of zip.
What is the best dressing for a garden salad?
Garden salads are all about fresh ingredients. Ironically, they're often the most basic and boring of all salads. Most restaurants serve a version with iceberg lettuce, tomato, and cucumber.
While I love these veggies, they are the least exciting to add to a salad. When I hear the word "garden," I think of a colorful variety of fresh produce. That's why I wanted to share this recipe - loaded with texture, color, and flavor.
And the best dressing? One that tastes like it came straight from the garden. This one uses a fresh oregano vinaigrette, which infuses that herby, savory flavor into every single bite.
This "basic" garden salad will easily ruin all other for you. It's truly that good!
Why You Will Love This Easy Garden Salad recipe
- Super simple salad loaded with texture, color, and crunch
- Features everyday pantry staples like canned beans, olives, and roasted peppers
- The herby balsamic vinaigrette is drinkably delicious
- Way more fun than regular green salads
- Customizable with different fresh vegetables and ingredients
Salad Ingredients
This garden salad has fresh produce right from the garden, farmers market or supermarket. Plus it features easy pantry staple ingredients that are available year round. One of the best things about this salad is how remarkably versatile it is with the endless possibilities for substitutions.
Let's talk about the ingredients and some ideas on the best variations:
For the Fresh Garden Salad
This is a simple salad. We're focusing on common greens, lots of different vegetables, and a few pantry staples. Feel free to substitute as needed based on your favorite flavors and the ingredients you have on hand.
- Fresh greens - The base of this garden salad is fresh leafy greens, specifically romaine lettuce and curly kale. They're abundant, easy-to-find in the summer, and have great texture.
- Radishes - Radishes add such a welcome crunch, mild flavor and vibrant color to any salad. Use any kind you have. Easter egg Radishes, Breakfast Radishes, Watermelon Radishes will all be gorgeous here.
- Green onions - Green onions, scallions or Spring onions add a mild bite to this garden salad. If you are an onion lover, use chives, shallots or red onions to bump up the oniony goodness.
- Jarred roasted red peppers - For convenience sake, I always have a jar of roasted red peppers in my pantry to make foods more colorful and delicious. Roast fresh ones if you prefer.
- Canned white beans - Full of fiber and plat-based protein, these make any salad more satisfying.
- Pitted kalamata olives - Olives instantly bump up the flavor of any salad plus they look so pretty! Greek Kalamata olives are my favorite but sub any kind of olive you like! Black olives are much milder and are a popular choice for picky eaters. Just be careful of pits.
- Sliced almonds - Almonds bring crunch and healthy fats. Use walnuts, cashews, pine nuts, or seeds (sunflower or pumpkin) for nut-free options.
Oregano Salad Dressing Ingredients
This basic salad dressing is incredibly simple yet exceptionally flavorful. With just 6 ingredients, this one will be a favorite that you make on repeat.
- Extra virgin olive oil - Adds a nice smooth texture and helps distribute the flavors. If you prefer, use avocado oil or go oil free completely.
- Balsamic vinegar - I love how sweet, tangy and puckery balsamic vinegar is. You can sub apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, white balsamic or any other type of vinegar that you like. A little fresh lemon juice works, too!
- Pure maple syrup - Balances the acidity and adds a gentle sweetness. You can sub with date syrup, honey, or agave. Sugar works in a pinch, but the texture isn't ideal.
- Fresh oregano - Garden fresh oregano gives this vinaigrette a punch of flavor that is so herby and delicious. If it is not available you may use dried oregano or dry Italian seasoning. Or use your favorite copious fresh herbs from the garden, like mint, parsley or cilantro to kick up the flavors.
How to Make a Garden Salad
This summer salad can be yours in less than 15 minutes. It's so easy and beginner friendly that anyone can do it! Here is how:
- Make the Garden Salad Dressing: In a jar or bowl combine the oil, vinegar, salt and pepper, herbs and maple syrup. Easy peasy.
- Massage the kale: Massaging kale makes a world of difference. Simply dress the kale with some of the dressing and massage it in with your hands until the leaves are nice and tender.
- Assemble the salad: Add all the other veggies to the bowl of massaged kale.
- Dress the salad: simply for the dressing over the salad, toss and serve!
Storage Suggestions
If prepping the salad ahead of time, store it an airtight container in the fridge for 3-4 days with the dressing on the side. To meal prep for later, use all kale (no romaine) since it can handle sitting in the dressing.
Popular House Salad Variations
I have offered my favorite substitutes in the ingredient section. Let's focus on ways to add to or beef up this delicious summer salad recipe.
- Make it a pasta salad! Simply add some cooked farfalle, shells or rotini and toss it into the salad and you will have a pasta salad perfect for barbecues.
- Make it dinner! Add cooked grains like quinoa, brown rice, cous cous or wild rice to really make this a filling meal. I also like to add crunchy croutons whenever I have extra on hand.
- Add More Protein- This salad is so versatile it will go really well with any of your favorite proteins. Add some baked tofu cubes or seitan bacon. Vegan parmesan cheese of feta cheese can be wonderful, too. Or, if you are not vegan, add crumbled cheese or grilled chicken or fish.
- Make it a meal prep recipe! Instead fusing romaine in the recipe, make it all kale so that you can dress it and it will last for 3 days in the fridge.
Tips for Making the Best Garden Salad
- Choose the freshest produce possible and use what is in season. Seasonal veggies are always the most flavorful. And nobody wants to eat wilted veggies in a salad, save those for soup!
- Drain your produce well. Either spin the lettuce and kale in a salad spinner or leave them draining in the colander. My mentor Janice Chapler from the Westside Caffe in Berkeley Ca taught me that water is the enemy of flavor. And these words guide me in all my salad making.
- Be creative! If you want to deviate from the recipe do it! I love when people improvise my recipe. I call it Jazz cooking and I think it's wonderful.
- Dress the salad right before eating! If a salad has lettuce involved, you must wait until right before consuming to dress it. Otherwise it will be horribly wilted.
Garden Salad Substitutions
- Greens: Sub romaine with Spring mix, baby spinach, or green or red leaf lettuce. Try other kale varieties or greens like Swiss chard, mizuna, or mustard greens.
- Radishes: Try sliced apples, chopped celery or jicama.
- Roasted peppers: Use artichoke hearts, hearts of palm, or marinated eggplant.
- Beans: Lentils, chickpeas, kidney beans, or lupini beans work great.
- Dressing: I'm obsessed with the simple oregano dressing here, but you can use any of my homemade salad dressings.
- Add your favorite veggies: Add sliced red onion, cherry tomatoes, Persian cucumbers, fresh bell peppers, or whatever else is growing in your garden.
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Garden Salad with Oregano Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Ingredients For the Salad:
- 4 romaine hearts chopped
- 4 cups kale stemmed and chopped
- 4 radishes sliced thin
- 2 green onions sliced, white and green parts
- 4 jarred roasted red peppers chopped
- 15 oz can white beans drained
- 16 kalamata pitted olives sliced
- ½ cup almonds sliced
For Oregano Vinaigrette Dressing:
- 1 tbsp fresh oregano chopped
- 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp pure maple syrup
- 1 pinch salt
- fresh ground pepper to your liking
Instructions
- Make the dressing by combining olive oil, vinegar, pure maple syrup, salt, pepper and oregano in a jar or bowl. Shake or whisk until well combined.
- Optional Step: In a large salad bowl add the kale and 1 tbsp of the vinaigrette dressing. Massage the dressing into the kale with your hands to make the leaves tender and soft.
- Add romaine, bell peppers, radishes, green onions, olives, beans and almonds to the bowl with the massaged kale.
- Dress the salad by pouring the dressing over the top then tossing until well combined. Eat immediately.
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