Salad Recipes: Munch Your Way Through Summer With 10 Easy & Popular Salads

A simple lunch, a winner of a dinner, a great party, or an elaborate hangout session with friends over great food and wine, all would be incomplete without a great salad. Salads for dinner, salads for breakfast, salads for lunch - Salads are our favourite course and we keep our experiments on by trying as many salad recipes from across the country and around the world as we can.

If you love salads as much as we do, lucky for you, we at Yummefy, just completed compiling a super list of the best salad recipes including healthy salads. We’ve often been asked - what are the different kinds of salads? There are healthy salads, salads that can be a full meal, leafy salads, vegetarian salads, non-vegetarian salads, salads for weight loss; salads that simply add freshness to your everyday meals and of course, give you your daily dose of fibre.

Healthy Salads:

What salads help you lose weight? Salads which don’t have unhealthy fats and are minimally dressed help you lose weight. Stay healthy and fit with our easy and healthy Apple Cauliflower and Peanut Salad. It is quick and delicious. All you need to make this salad are chopped apples, blanched cauliflower florets, and roasted peanuts. An easy-peasy sweet and sour vinaigrette with olive oil, castor sugar, balsamic vinegar and seasonings is added to complete this salad. Head over to our Yummefy-ed video which details the process step-by-step. If you like making it, swap the peanuts with any nuts of your choice the next time for a variation.
 

Summer Watermelon Salad is the perfect pick-me-up on a scorching summer day. Sweet watermelons, crunchy salad and rocket leaves, salty feta cheese, and roasted nuts are combined with the herby goodness of coriander and cooling mint, and rounded off with a homemade dressing with a twist of ginger, soy, sesame oil, olive oil, lime juice, green chillies and seasonings. The end result is a refreshing salad which is as pleasing to the taste buds as it is to the eyes. Try it and we can guarantee it will become the most-demanded salad on your table. 
 

A chilled Indian-style Kachumber Salad is great when you are serving pulaos, biryanis, and even the Parsi dhansak. Toss chopped cucumbers, tomatoes, and onions, throw in herbs such as mint and coriander, add deseeded chillies, lime juice, and seasoning, and you are done. This Kachumber Salad recipe packs in taste and potassium, Vitamin C and other nutrients from tomatoes and cucumbers, and the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of onions. Chill it before serving with your favourite dishes. Some of our readers asked ‘Can I eat salad every day?’ The answer is yes. A bowlful of salad a day goes a long way in nourishing your body.
 

Protein Packed Salads:

Our trio of salads — Indian Egg Salad, Chicken Salad, and Tiranga Paneer Salad, promise you a protein-packed intake of freshness.

For the Indian Egg Salad, pull out some ‘always available in the pantry’ eggs, hard boil them, chop the egg whites, mash ‘em yolks, some freshly grated coconut for great flavour, chopped onions and chillies, roasted peanuts for texture, seasoning, tamarind paste and mix well to get a flavour-packed salad which you can never have enough of.
 

The next one is a sumptuous Chicken Salad which is a favourite of kids and adults alike. When the heat is getting to you and you want a complete meal sans too much time in front of the gas stove, it is time to make use of our Chicken Salad recipe. To boiled and shredded chicken, add diced celery stalk, finely chopped onions, chopped dill, diced and pickled gherkins, diced apples, almond slivers, quartered red grapes, dried cranberries, seasoning, mustard and lime juice, and mix well. To this, add mayonnaise and garlic powder, and your very filling and appetizing summer meal is ready to serve. If there are leftovers, make a filling for sandwiches for breakfast the next morning.
 

Our Tiranga Paneer Salad is India’s answer to the Italian Caprese Salad. If you’ve had enough of paneer sabzi and curries, rediscover paneer with this easy salad done under 10 minutes. Tava fry slabs of paneer and slices of tomato, slather the paneer slices with homemade hari chutney, top with fried tomatoes, sprinkle salt, chaat masala and green chillies, add a final tempering of ghee and zeera, sit back and enjoy!  
 

Salads that are great with a sandwich or a continental meal:

There are salads that go well with sandwiches, pita bread and falafels, or a meal of grilled or fried chicken, and barbecued meats. Throw in a salad and some artisanal bread and cheese and your meal is complete. But these salad recipes, though extremely delicious, are not great for weight watchers due to ingredients such as mayonnaise and vegetable oil. They are not salads for weight loss.

Coleslaw: Chilled Coleslaw is a delight to savour with warm food. It can be made in a jiffy if you have all the ingredients at hand. The term "coleslaw" was coined sometime in the 18th century. It is the anglicised version of the Dutch word for cabbage salad, 'koolsla'. The recipe for coleslaw changes as your travel across Europe. Some include red cabbage, others cheese, apples, and pineapples, and yet others call for addition of cream. Our recipe calls for mustard powder, grated onion, apple cider vinegar, and mayonnaise, mixed together with seasoning and shredded cabbage and carrots. You could even stuff it in sandwich bread and have it with a side of potato wafers. Or try it as a side to our best Burger recipe.
 

Our easy Potato Salad also goes well as a side with meals of chicken and meat, as also any veggie meals. It can be eaten on its own as well. Potato Salad was first made in Germany. Today, it is made all across European countries and the form changes slightly wherever you go. Though mostly a potato salad is served warm, Americans make an exception and serve it chilled. Our version of chilled potato salad has vinegar and oil-marinated and seasoned onions and cubed potatoes along with boiled eggs. This breeze of a recipe yields an unputdownable salad.
 

If you’ve wondered ‘What veggies go in salad?’ Let us answer your question by telling you that besides cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, onions, and cabbage, as seen above, green papaya, zucchini, string beans and mostly any vegetables which can be eaten raw or blanched, can be used in making salads.

Salads with a Coastal Touch:

A Spicy Konkani Carrot Salad from India’s western coast is delectable and pleasing, especially with rice meals. This gorgeous looking salad can also be had on its own or served as a side with appetizers. Shredded red carrots are tossed in salt, lime juice, coriander leaves, and a tad bit of sugar. They are topped with a spicy tempering or tadka of black mustard seeds, urad dal (black gram), cumin seeds, garlic, asafoetida powder, green chillies and curry leaves, and finally garnished with roasted peanuts for crunch and texture. Needless to say carrots pack in your daily dose of Vitamin A as well as anti-oxidants.
 

Thai green papaya salad

Though Som Tam originated from an ethnic Lao dish called Tom Sam (literally meaning 'pounding sour'), it is the Thai version of Green Papaya Salad that has gained popularity all over the world. In Thailand when one orders a Som Tam salad it is customized according to the taste of the customer. This Thai salad is super spicy because of the addition of local bird's eye chillies. Variations to the Som Tam abound, including the addition of asparagus, shrimp paste, fish seasoning, and tomatoes amongst other variations.
 

Green Papaya or unripe papaya has a tangy flavour profile and is fresh and crunchy. It is great for digestion, for the skin, and promotes healing of wounds. For the Thai Green Papaya Salad, garlic chillies, salt, peanuts, lime juice, palm sugar, tamarind paste, and fish sauce are crushed using a heavy mortar and pestle and finally shredded papaya is also lightly beaten in the mortar-pestle. The dish is tangy, sour, sweet, and spicy.

Prepare these salads all summer long for a refreshing addition to your tables.