Description
This simple green lettuce salad is an easy garden salad that’s packed with fresh veggies and a homemade vinaigrette dressing. It’s the perfect side dish for any meal.
Ingredients
Scale
For the salad:
- 1 large head of green leaf lettuce, chopped
- 1/2 English cucumber, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 1/2 red onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced into small strips
- 2 tablespoons fresh chopped basil (or parsley)
For the vinaigrette dressing:
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon maple syrup (or honey)
- 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
- Fine sea salt and black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Prep the greens: Start by separating the lettuce leaves and rinsing them under cool running water. I use a salad spinner to thoroughly wash and dry the lettuce leaves. This makes it super easy. Use a paper towel to gently dry any area of the lettuce leaves that still have water on them. This will keep the leaves crisp and help the salad dressing evenly coat everything.
- Make the dressing: In a jar with a fitted lid, add the red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, maple syrup (or honey), extra virgin olive oil, dried oregano, and a sprinkle of salt and black pepper. Seal the jar and give it a good shake until the dressing emulsifies and everything is well combined. Don’t have a jar? Add all the ingredients to a small bowl and whisk until thoroughly combined.
- Toss and serve: In a large salad bowl (or mixing bowl), add the washed chopped lettuce, veggies and herbs (cucumber, tomato, red onion, bell pepper, and fresh basil). Drizzle the prepared dressing over the salad and gently toss to mix all the ingredients. Serve immediately.
Notes
- Leftovers? This salad tastes best immediately after it has been made. If you want to keep leftovers, keep the salad dressing and salad ingredients separately in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 day.
- Lettuce variations: I use a mix of both green and red leaf lettuce in this recipe. Romaine, mixed greens, iceberg lettuce or butter lettuce would work as well.
- Swap the veggies: Other veggies that would taste good in this salad include shredded carrot, shredded or pickled beets, radish, green onions, thinly sliced white mushrooms, celery, microgreens, sprouts, or finely chopped broccoli.
- Swap the herbs: Parsley, chives, or mint leaves would go well in this salad.
- Nutrition information is a rough estimate based on 4 servings.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Salad
- Method: Chopped
- Cuisine: Italian
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bowl
- Calories: 126
- Sugar: 3.6g
- Sodium: 51mg
- Fat: 10.4g
- Saturated Fat: 1.4g
- Unsaturated Fat: 7.4g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 7.4g
- Fiber: 2.3g
- Protein: 2.1g
- Cholesterol: 0mg