Discover 25 salads that slay. Some are simple starters with super-fresh vegetables while other double as hearty meals in a bowl. The best ones are impossible to resist.
1. Cobb Salad (USA)
Some salads are dainty starters filled with vegetables typically eaten by rabbits and vegetarians alike. The cobb salad isn’t one of those salads. Instead, it’s a protein-laden main course dish that offers a different taste in every forkful.
2. Salade Niçoise (France)
Originally a simple salad featuring tomatoes and anchovies, the salade niçoise has come a long way since its 19th century debut in Nice. Modern-day versions include additional ingredients like tuna, green beans, olives and potatoes.
3. Caesar Salad (USA via Mexico)
Despite the fact that it was invented just over the border in Tijuana, the caesar is a popular American salad made with romaine lettuce, black pepper, croutons, Dijon mustard, eggs, garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese and Worcestershire sauce. Anchovies are an optional ingredient that people either love or hate.
4. Som Tam (Thailand)
Som tam is Thailand’s most iconic salad. However, this salad isn’t like most salads served in western countries. Instead of lettuce and croutons, Som tam’s ingredients include shredded and pounded green papaya, carrots, tomatoes, beans and peanuts. Additional ingredients like chili peppers, garlic, palm sugar, tamarind, fish sauce and lime juice give the crunchy salad a burst of complex flavor.
Dig Deeper: More Thai Food Favorites
5. Horiatiki (Greece)
Leave your perceptions about Greek salad at home when you’re in Athens or a Greek island. Greek salads known as horiatiki don’t include lettuce. Instead, these rustic salads feature a bounty of local ingredients like tomato, cucumber, onion, feta cheese and olives finished with oregano, salt and olive oil.
Dig Deeper: More Greek Food Favorites
6. Insalata Caprese (Italy)
Italy’s Insalata caprese, also known as a caprese salad, proves that simple salads can be the best salads. Invented on the Isle of Capri near Naples, this salad layers sliced tomatoes with mozzarella and tops the melange with fresh basil, olive oil and salt.
Dig Deeper: More Italian Food Favorites
7. Falafel Salad (Egypt And Israel)
The falafel salad deconstructs the traditional Falafel by artfully placing all of the ingredients on a plate instead of inside a pita. Though substantial enough to be a main course, this salad is a great starter at Middle Eastern restaurants around the world. Don’t forget to add hot sauce if that’s how you roll.
Dig Deeper: More Egyptian Food Favorites
8. Salade Lyonnaise (France)
Popular in Lyon, the lyonnaise salad has a short list of ingredients – frisée, bacon lardons, crispy croutons and a poached egg. Tangy vinaigrette brings those ingredients together in a harmony that makes will make you say “oui” with glee. As a bonus, the more salad you eat, the more room you have for French pastries.
Dig Deeper: More Lyon Restaurants
9. Crab Louie (USA)
There’s not just one way to make a crab louie. While lettuce and crab meat (either real or imitation) are a must, other ingredients vary depending on the chef. Typical elements include asparagus, eggs and tomato. Some chefs go further by adding olives, onions and even avocado.
10. Chopped Salad (USA)
Almost any salad can be chopped but not every salad is a chopped salad. The delineation is whether or not the chef chooses to chop up all the ingredients instead of mixing different shapes, sizes and textures in a bowl.
11. Gargouillou de Jeunes Légume (France)
The opposite of a simple salad, each gargouillou de jeunes légume incorporates 50-60 flowers, herbs and vegetables in varying forms of doneness. Chef Michel Bras created the original gargouillou in 1978. Today, Maison Bras’ team prepares the dish based on what’s available in the Chef’s garden, at local markets and in Aubrac’s vast forests and fields.
Dig Deeper: What It’s Like to Eat at Maison Bras
12. Kritikos Dakos (Greece)
Kritikos dakos takes the Greek Horiatiki salad to new heights – literally. Invented in Crete and popular on islands like Santorini, the dakos salad starts with a crunchy barley rusk and piles chopped tomatoes and cheese, typically mitzithra or feta, on top. Olive oil, capers and olives provide the finishing touches.
Dig Deeper: Excellent Santorini Restaurants
13. Roasted Vegetable Salad (Various)
Proving that not all salads are raw, the roasted vegetable salad takes vegetables to the next level by serving them roasted. Root vegetables like carrots, beets and squash work great in this comforting salad that doubles as both a starter and side dish.
14. Wedge (USA)
It’s difficult to mess up a wedge salad, the steakhouse staple that tops a wedge of iceberg lettuce with crumbled blue cheese, crispy bacon and dressing. It’s also difficult not to love this simple salad that packs a wallop in terms of both roughage and calories.
15. Larb (Thailand)
Thailand’s larb is a spicy salad with Isaan roots. However, unlike som tam, this dish’s main ingredient is minced meat instead of green papaya. Yes, larb is a meat salad seasoned with typical Thai ingredients like fish sauce, red chilis and fresh herbs.
16. Potato Salad (Germany)
Germany isn’t the only country where people love potato salad, but Germans seem to love the chunky, starchy salad just a little bit more than their European peers in France, Italy, Scandinavia and Russia. In cities like Berlin and Hamburg, locals eat warm potato salad with schnitzel, currywurst and pretty much everything else.
Dig Deeper: German Food Favorites
17. Eggplant Salad (Various)
Although eggplant salad isn’t typical in the United States, it’s easy to find in Eastern Europe, India and the Middle East. In those parts of the world, eggplant salad is more of the norm than an exception.
18. Salad Chèvre Chaud (France)
Adding goat cheese to a salad is a no-brainer. Heating it for the salad chèvre chaud is ingenious. You can eat this salad in France where it originated. Another option is to eat it at a bistro in Montreal.
Dig Deeper: Iconic Montreal Restaurants
19. Tomato Salad
There’s not much better than a simple tomato salad in the summer. But, thanks to modern technology, tomato salads are great to eat all year round. But why not go further? The addition of luscious mortadella and creamy ricotta kicks up the simple tomato salad to full meal status.
20. Beet Salad (Various)
While beet salads don’t require goat cheese to taste good, the combination of roated beets and goat cheese is a winner. However, don’t expect goat cheese in countries like Russia and Turkey where the root vegetable is extremely popular but goat cheese not so much.
21. Shrimp Salad (Various)
The shrimp salad is one of those salads that has a different meaning depending on where you eat it. Thai versions frequently involve large prawns and chili peppers whereas New Orleans versions often feature herbaceous remoulade sauce. Then there are Scandinavians shrimp salads filled with extras like potatoes and fresh dill.
Dig Deeper: New Orleans Food Favorites
22. Chicken Salad (USA)
Home cooks commonly make chicken salad by combining the cooked bird with mayonnaise and serve it on a bed of lettuce or between two slices of bread. Additions like curry powder, apples and cashews turn the simple chicken salad into a more exotic dish.
Dig Deeper: Mouthwatering Chicken Recipes
23. Octopus Salad (Various)
Eating octopus salad is always an adventure since most chefs add their personality to the dish. Some octopus salads are chilled while other are served warm. The best ones feature meaty octopus cooked to an ideal level of tenderness.
24. Wurstsalat (Germany)
Germans take their love for meat to the next level when they add strips of sausage to salad to create wurstsalat. Literally translating to sausage salad, this meaty salads typically has additional ingredients like pickles, cheese and veggies added to the mix.
25. Fruit Salad (Various)
Although fruitsSalads are popular wherever fruit is available, each fruit salad is different based on ingredients which can include a myriad of fruits or just one solitary fruit. Some fruit salads have additional elements like nuts and whipped cream which techically turns the salad into dessert.
Dig Deeper: More Global Desserts
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It’s a big world with lots of great food. Eat as much of it as you can!
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