Ideas for making salads more interesting without using cheese

[Ladybird69]

Bored over eating the same old salad again and again. Can I have some ideas of making them more exciting and enjoyable. I like pretty much everything except cheese 🤮 tia

I gave up cheese 2 years ago as it was making me so fat, so in my salads now I use:

Pasta
Tuna
Beetroot
A hard boiled egg
Grapes
Apple
Red onion

Raspberries are a great addition with a balsamic dressing.
Grilled pear is lovely in a crisp salad with chicken and cheese.

Olives or capers.

My dh does an incredible cucumber salad with minced garlic, peanuts and vinegar and oil. Cucumber and garlic is such a yummy combination

Think in terms of making several different salads, one a day. That way, you can mix and match across the week. Some of them get better with age, especially the vinegar ones.

I make a cucumber/yogurt/dill one (salt and drain the cucumber first).

A general chopped one- spring onions, tomato, sweetcorn, lettuce, peppers etc, but all chopped small including the lettuce.

Rice salad with peas sweetcorn and peanuts

Florida salad, with fruit and mayo.

pasta salad

Shredded carrot and sweetcorn and peanut butter salad.

coleslaw with or without apple and walnuts

5 bean salad with chopped tomatoes, onions and a sugar/vinegar dressing.

Salad toppers- seeds, peanuts, fried onions (in packets).

Quick pickles- things like courgette ribbons, shredded cabbage, mushrooms, packed into a jar and topped off with seasoned vinegar. Leave it a couple of days then add it to your salads.

Oh, and sauerkraut and kimchi!

Olives, brings a bit of saltiness. Also roasted & salted seeds or nuts. Egg or smoked salmon for satiety. In the winter I put chunks of pomelo into salads and it was very good. Just out of season now I guess.

And oh yes, edamame beans for some protein. I quickly boil frozen ones in salty water so they get some extra salty flavor.

Olives
Capers
Ayvar
Jarred peppers
Pickled chillis
Walnuts
Pine nuts
Tzatziki
Hummus
Pears
Grapes
Anchovies
Tuna
Eggs
Crispy onions (the ones in a packet)
Croutons
Tahini
Sriracha

Omg I love these! Game changer 😄

Chicken breast, cut into strips, dip in seasoned natural yogurt and coat in panko crumbs. (Your choice of seasoning, I go for spicy). Shallow fry.

Make up a simple dressed salad :- leaves, tomato, cucumber, radishes etc. Dress with whatever dressing you want

Plate up salad and warm chicken, drizzle honey on the chicken, sprinkle with sesame seeds and pomegranate seeds.

(Homemade potato salad and homemade coleslaw is also amazing if you're feeding hungry people).

Thats a great idea👍😃

First post nails it

Ooo I’ve written my shopping list! Thanks so much everyone I’m really looking forward to trying out these new salads 🥗

Watermelon mint cucumber and red onion is nice (I add feta though 😁)

This salad has been going down very well with my family and I took it to a neighbour's BBQ and spent a lot of time sharing the recipe with people. If you're using it over a couple of days I recommend keeping the ingredients and the dressing separately and mixing them as you serve them.

Otherwise any kind of fruit (strawberries with a little black pepper work very well with steak), walnuts and pear, dried fruit tooCrunchy Cabbage Salad {with Peanut Dressing} - Taming Twins https://share.google/0mnnFALNaqqz4lJIO

Fresh herbs for me.

My favourite salad is a middle Eastern one. Also a Thai one with roasted cashew nuts

Nuts and seeds, either as they are or toasted
Roasted chickpeas or beans
Sourdough croutons
Fruit eg strawberries, peaches, grapes, apples

I have a few dressings on to go at once to mix things up!

This size of chopped salad really makes a difference, imo. Even us8ng lettuce, not cabbage, you get different flavours and textures in every mouthful rather than alternating lump of tomato, limp lettuce leaf etc.

Another real game change is garden herbs. I’ll often make a leafy salad with any boring leaf, but add mint, chives, parsley, celery tops if I have them. Add edible flowers as well and it’s an extra visual treat!

@Wofflewaffle Lucky you

This sounds interesting - I’m a crap cook though!
How would you grill the pear? Chop it in half and grill both halves?

(edit - also a crap speller!)

I love a couscous salad with black beans, sweet potato thinly sliced red onion with a dressing of lime juice garlic and pounded mint.

I crumble a bit of feta into it, but I'm sure it would be just as lovely without.

Crispy rice (cooked rice in sesame oil and soy)
try a fattoush salad
olives
anchoviea
artichoke hearts
seeds
noodles (rice)
dried tomatoes
crispy tofu cubes

Grilled peaches

Had prawns, mango, avocado, tomato, red onion, lime and chillis as a salad tonight.

Love Aivar! discovered it first in expensive tiny pots in the prepared salady Supermarket shelves near the hummus etc. Then spotted it on the Eastern European shelves of the same supermarket, in bigger, cheaper jars! Now it goes on all sorts of things, as a robust salad dressing mixed with Greek yogurt, pasta, grilled fish ( we don’t eat meat but it would work) bean salads, jacket potatoes, hard boiled eggs, air fried roasties………

Can you tell us what kind of salads you normally eat? Just to get an understanding of what kind of salads you actually like...