This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This Classic Everyday House Salad recipe is one to keep in your repertoire for easy weeknight dinners, or when you need to get your salad greens in! Serve with just about any protein!
We all need a House Salad recipe in our repertoire.
And this one happens to be mine.
A good House salad is many things: it’s simple to make, requires minimum prep work, comes with a killer salad dressing. And croutons. Always croutons.
Serving a bowlful of salad with your protein is the easiest way to get in your greens – be it arugula, baby spinach, spring mix, or iceberg.
It’s also a bit more nutritionally dense than, say, a caesar salad. I like to spruce up my romaine lettuce based house salad with English cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red onions, and the occasional fistful of grated cabbage and carrots. And it wouldn’t be a house salad without some crunchy croutons in the mix. Sourdough, preferably.
Now that’s just the perfect starter for a flavorful salad.
You could totally make this your own my adding stir fried crisp vegetables like bell peppers, bulk up the protein with hard-boiled eggs, or top with crunchy pecans or sunflower seeds, bacon bits or whatever else you typically like on your salad.
The dressing is a simple one. It’s what I like on my greek salad and it’s what works well with this house salad recipe. It starts with olive oil, a big splash of red wine vinegar, a squeeze of dijon, a splash of maple syrup, a sprinkle of dried oregano, some red pepper flakes, kosher salt, and freshly cracked pepper. That’s it.
You could certainly swap the dressing for my Homemade Italian Dressing or even some homemade ranch dressing because ultimately, it’s you that has to eat it!
Ingredients for a House Salad
- Field greens: using a bag of salad greens with cabbage and carrots if the quickest way to get your favorite restaurant-style house salad on the table quickly. You could also use whatever greens you typically like to keep on hand – like crisp lettuce, baby spinach, spring mix, arugula, or others!
- Cucumbers: I typically use persian cucumbers at home, so you’ll need 2-3 of those. If you plan on using English cucumbers, about ½ of that should do it.
- Cherry Tomatoes: grab pint cherry tomatoes or slice up larger tomatoes like Roma or Beefsteak if you wish!
- Red Onion: thinly slice the red onions on a mandoline so that you don’t get harsh bites. You can even soak the onions in a small bowl of water to remove more of that harsh bite.
- Parmesan: I like to add a couple tablespoons of grated parmesan cheese right at the end.
- Croutons: these are my favorite store-bought croutons to use! You could also do a homemade stove-top version like I have on my summer panzanella recipe!
- Olive Oil: use good quality extra virgin olive oil since I typically do recommend that for vinaigrettes.
- Red Wine Vinegar: I prefer red wine vinegar in this recipe because it’s what I like to use on my Greek salads too. Feel free to swap white vine vinegar here if you prefer a cleaner taste.
- Dijon Mustard: this helps emulsify the salad dressing a hint of flavor.
- Maple Syrup: Balances out the salt in the recipe. Feel free to omit if you’d like!
- Dried Oregano: just a pinch gives the dressing the most delicious flavor.
- Red Pepper Flakes: You’ll need just a hint of red pepper flakes to bring a little color and some heat.
- Kosher Salt: pretty self explanatory!
- Black Pepper: adds as much or as little or the cracked pepper that you like on your salad!
- Extras! you can make this salad entirely your own my using your favorite dressing, adding chicken or shrimp, sprinkling with toasted almonds, walnuts, or even adding cubed cheddar cheese!
Making A simple House Salad
- Make the vinaigrette: In a bullet blender or a small jar with tight fitting lid, toss the salad dressing ingredients together. Taste using a lettuce leaf and then adjust the dressing to your liking, adding more salt, maple syrup, or seasonings as desired.
- Toss the salad. Add the salad ingredients to a serve bowl. You can assemble the salad ahead of time and then toss with the dressing right before serving if you’d like.
- Dress the salad. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and then toss to combine.
- Serve it up. Sprinkle with extra pepper, chopped parsley (if desired) and the parmesan cheese right before serving!
Other Everyday Salads:
- Red Cabbage Salad
- Crunchy Parmesan Toasted Bread Kale Caesar Salad
- Kale Crunch Salad
- Marinated Feta Greek Salad
- Tomato and Cucumber Quinoa Salad
Other Leafy Salads:
- Tangy Date Salad with Baby Spinach
- Sweet Peach Goat Cheese Salad
- Crisp Pear and Walnut Salad
- Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad with Manchego
- Charred Corn Avocado Salad
Everyday House Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
Salad:
- 10 ounce bag garden greens , with shredded carrots
- 2 Persian cucumbers thinly sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- ½ cup red cabbage grated
- ½ small red onion thinly sliced
- 1 cup croutons
- 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
Homemade vinaigrette:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dijon
- 1-2 teaspoons maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼- ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon fresh black pepper
Instructions
- VINAIGRETTE: In a blender or a glass jar with a lid, combine the dressing ingredients. Dip a lettuce leaf in the dressing and taste.
- TASTE: and adjust with more salt or maple syrup as desired. Set aside for now.
- TOSS: In a bowl, combine the garden greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, red cabbage, red onion, and croutons. Then toss.
- DRESS: Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
- SERVE: Then top with the grated parmesan cheese and serve!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like This? Leave a comment & rating below!
