Nothing beats the heat when it’s time to eat like a great salad! You’re gonna love these healthy summer salads that are so easy to make!
I love salad any time of the year, but when the temperatures rise, a salad is frequently my meal of choice.
It’s important to me to have a lot of variety in my meals, and salad is no exception.
In fact, you can find a roundup of 11 Keto Salad Ideas here!
While salad may be what I want to eat, it’s not always what my husband and kids crave.
I’m sharing some of my favorite healthy summer salads, and some tips to make a meal that satisfies your whole family.
I’ve got a special trick that I use year-round that makes putting these salads together even faster! You’re gonna want to check that out over here.
All of these salads fit the Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle (get more information about that here) and Weight Watchers.
Many of these salads are perfect for a low-carb or keto lifestyle.
And many work with the Whole 30 and Paleo lifestyles.
I’m not including exact quantities for the ingredients in these salads.
Everyone has unique needs for their macros and nutrients, so add the amounts of ingredients that work for your nutritional requirements.
You can customize any of these healthy salad ideas to suit your personal tastes.
Of course, I’ve saved my current favorite salad for last!
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Healthy Summer Salad Ideas
Adding delicious and nutritious salads to your day is easy when you keep your kitchen stocked with a few key ingredients.
Most importantly, keep a variety of leafy greens on hand and your favorite raw veggies on hand!
A few other items I keep in my pantry at all times:
- High quality extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- MCT oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Crumbly cheese like goat cheese, cotija cheese, feta cheese, or blue cheese
- Pepitas, walnuts or pecans, Whisps
You can substitute the greens used in most of these salads for whatever leafy green you have on hand or prefer.
However, please note that some kinds of greens really do make the salad! Hello, kale, I’m looking at you…
Mixed Berry Chicken Salad
As pictured:
- Bed of mixed baby greens
- Shredded rotisserie chicken
- Fresh raspberries and blackberries
- Crumbled goat cheese
- Finely chopped pecans
I prefer a light, sweet dressing on salads topped with fruit, and since I don’t eat sugar, I make my own.
I keep this homemade dressing on hand all the time!
Grilled Salmon Kale Salad
As pictured:
The base and dressing for this salad is my chopped kale salad recipe.
Instead of grilled chicken, a grilled salmon filet is a delicious source of protein.
Not to mention Omega 3 fatty acids.
I marinate my salmon in a 2:1 marinade of extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice with salt and pepper (also great for shrimp!).
Flank Steak Kale Salad
As pictured:
- Kale, sliced in thin strips
- Grilled, blackened green beans
- Strips of steak
Dress this salad with extra virgin olive oil, a shake of Worcestershire sauce, and some salt and pepper. You can add a little balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of Adobo seasoning if you want a little more flavor.
Family Friendly:
My family loves grilled green beans and steak. I make them some french fries in the air fryer or some garlic bread.
The Best Big Salad
Any Seinfeld fans out there?
Before the Big Salad episode, salads were always pretty puny, right?
But now restaurants all offer amazing big entre salads!
This big salad is my everything but the kitchen sink salad.
If it’s in my fridge, there’s a good chance it’ll end up on top!
As pictured:
- Bed of torn Romaine lettuce
- Sliced green bell pepper
- Diced red bell pepper
- Diced cucumber
- Thinly shaved red onion
- Chopped avocado
- Hard boiled egg
- Grilled chicken
The dressing is just extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar with some garlic, salt, and pepper. Easy!
Tuna Salad Salad
Tuna salad is delicious and healthy on its own!
But put it on top of a bed of greens and throw in more veggies to fill you up: no sandwich required.
As pictured:
- Bed of sliced kale
- Sliced mini bell peppers
- Hard boiled egg whites
- Tuna salad
If you’re following a high fat lifestyle, leave the yolks in the hard boiled eggs.
But, if you need to reduce fat due to your doctor’s recommendation, or a weight loss stall, or menopause, egg whites are a delicious option to add extra protein and texture.
When I put a mayonnaise-based salad on top of a bed of greens, I skip dressing on the greens.
Just mix it all together and the dressing from the tuna (or chicken, or seafood) salad dresses the greens too.
Refreshing Watermelon Salad
Watermelon is such a delicious addition on a salad!
And is anything more summery than watermelon?
Just be mindful of how much watermelon you use because it does have a lot of natural sugars.
As pictured:
- Torn hearts of Romaine lettuce
- Chopped cucumber
- Diced watermelon
- Sliced mini bell peppers
- Chicken
One key part of Trim Healthy Mama is not eating fats and carbs at the same time. I drizzled this salad with a little bit of MCT oil and some lemon-infused white balsamic vinegar.
If you’re not concerned about mixing fats and carbs, this sweet keto dressing would be great!
Low Carb Vietnamese Noodle Salad
This is one of my family’s favorite meals!
So many flavors that play nicely together.
Family friendly:
Everyone gets to customize what goes in their bowl!
I like putting mine on a bed of lettuce, but that’s totally optional.
Get the full recipe to make this noodle salad here.
Simple Greek Chicken Salad
This salad has so many of my favorite things!
As pictured:
- Chopped Romaine lettuce
- Sliced red onion
- Chopped cucumber
- Diced tomato
- Sliced black olives
- Sliced pepperoncini
- Grilled chicken
Sometimes I use Girard’s store bought Greek salad dressing. But I typically make my own using this recipe.
Barbecue Chicken Salad
There’s nothing like a good barbecue during the summer, is there?
So why not bring those flavors to your salad!
As pictured:
- Chopped Romaine lettuce
- Sliced red bell mini peppers
- Chopped cucumbers
- Shredded chicken
- Sweet and Smoky Low Carb Barbecue Sauce
I don’t feel the need for additional dressing with this salad. The barbecue sauce adds enough flavor for me.
If you prefer more dressing on your salads, I recommend the dressing I used in the Mixed Berry salad.
Boursin Burger Salad
This didn’t start as a salad, but everything tasted so good mixed together that it’s my preferred way to eat burgers!
As pictured:
- Baby Romaine lettuce
- Fresh mozzarella cheese
- Chopped tomatoes
- Grilled asparagus
- Grilled mushrooms
- Burger
- Boursin cheese
The greens are dressed with extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.
The asparagus and mushrooms were tossed with EVOO, salt, and garlic powder before being grilled.
The burger is seasoned with Montreal steak seasoning.
Family friendly:
All I add for the family are buns for the burgers!
Caribbean Chicken Quinoa Salad
This salad is another family favorite!
Not only is it easy to prepare thanks to the Instant Pot, it’s served “bar style” so each family member gets to choose what they want in their bowl.
To keep this salad keto-friendly, skip the quinoa and the corn.
You can get the full recipe to prepare the chicken and quinoa here.
As pictured:
- Chopped Romaine lettuce
- Instant Pot Salsa chicken
- Cilantro lime quinoa
- Chopped tomatoes
- Chopped avocados
- Roasted corn
- Fresh cilantro
- Lime juice
“Hold the Bun” Chili Dog Salad
My son and husband love chili dogs.
And since we live in North Carolina, they love chili slaw dogs!
After all, we put coleslaw on our barbecue here, and it’s just as good on hot dog chili.
This salad includes all the flavors of their favorite, hold the bun.
As pictured:
- Chopped Romaine lettuce
- Low Carb Coleslaw
- Hot Dog
- Hot Dog Chili
- Chopped onion
- Yellow mustard
Loaded Mediterranean Salad
I’ve already mentioned that I love Greek salads.
So I had to include another variation of that favorite in this roundup!
There are some similarities, but the ingredients are different enough to make this salad unique from the first.
As pictured:
- Baby kale
- Sliced roasted red pepper
- Sliced tomato
- Pitted Kalamata olives
- Crumbled feta cheese
- Marinated grilled chicken
You can dress this salad with Greek dressing, but I prefer just extra virgin olive oil, salt, and fresh ground pepper. That lets the flavors of the roasted red peppers, Kalamata olives, and feta cheese really shine!
Marinated Steak Salad
Confession.
I had this salad at a restaurant. And it was wonderful!
So I have to share it with you here.
As pictured:
- Chopped Romaine lettuce
- Hard boiled egg
- Sliced marinated flank steak
- Grilled onions
- Corn relish
Something that made this salad unique is the combination of savory ingredients with a sweet dressing. I make this recipe, with a few changes. Reduce the olive oil by 1 Tbsp and add 1 Tbsp toasted sesame oil and add 2 Tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp. ground ginger and 1/4 tsp. garlic powder.
Puerto Rican Bean Salad
I told you I saved my current favorite for last, and here it is!
As I’ve gotten older, my body has become less effective at digesting fat, and I’ve made a few adjustments to my macros.
I created this Caribbean Bean Salad recipe after our trip to Puerto Rico.
It’s a delicious side dish, but it takes the starring role in this salad!
As pictured:
- Chopped Romaine lettuce
- Sliced mini bell pepper
- Chopped tomato
- Chopped cucumber
- Caribbean bean salad
The dressing from the bean salad is sufficient to dress the entire green salad.
And that’s it for this latest roundup of healthy summer salads!
For now.
Because I’m a salad-making fiend.
I’m sure I’ll have more salad roundups to share with you in the future…
So be sure to subscribe to our blog so you’ll be the first to find out when I have more ideas to share!
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