How to Build a Better Summer Salad That Makes the Most of Fresh, Seasonal Produce

With so much gorgeous, fresh produce at the market, summer is the ultimate salad season. It’s also the perfect time to think beyond your typical leafy greens and experiment with a variety of ingredients—both sweet and savory—to create a delicious salad that serves as a side for grilled foods or as a satisfying meal on its own. Read on for my favorite ways to savor summer salads—and perhaps spend a little less time at the stove this season.

Eat the Season

I say this a lot and I really mean it: The foods that taste best are the ones that are fresh and in season. And in the peak of summer, there is so much produce to choose from. Here’s what to look for at the market:

• Cucumbers 
• Zucchini and summer squash
• Eggplant
• Green beans and yellow wax beans
• Tomatoes
• Corn
• Peppers
• Radishes
• Leafy Greens
• Fresh herbs such as basil, mint, and chives
  

Expand Your Approach to Salad

Salads can be green—or virtually any color of the rainbow. Salad can be so many things: it might be grain- or noodle-based, served in lettuce cups, or be a knife-and-fork meal.

Lettuce Isn’t Required

When I’m making a salad, I never start with leafy greens. Any seasonal produce or grain can be the foundation of a well-made salad. And when I do use a leafy green, I mix it up. If you’re always reaching for romaine, try different types of lettuce instead. You’ll find their flavor and texture varies widely—some are sweeter, some quite neutral, some have a bite, some are softer, and others are as crispy as romaine. Look for a mixture of textures and flavors to use.

Vegetables Don’t Have to Be Raw

We all tend to think of salad as being a dish of raw vegetables, but it’s more than that. Try grilled vegetables, or vegetables that you don’t eat raw—like eggplant or mushrooms. One of my favorite salad tricks is combining raw and cooked vegetables. Taking this one step further, I might even combine the same vegetable raw and cooked in a salad. Tomatoes and peppers are great for this. 

Skip the Salad Bowl

I typically platter my salads instead of using a salad bowl. A platter makes the salad more of a centerpiece of the meal, more substantial, and more deserving of attention. Also, not every salad benefits from being in a bowl; in a salad bowl, some things can become smushed or soggy. When you serve a salad on a platter, you have more surface area and nothing gets lost at the bottom.

Elements of a Great Summer Salad

Go Minimalist—or Maximalist

Salads are endlessly versatile, but where to start? Do you have one or two foods you want to showcase or several to build a meal around? The minimalist approach is to focus on the flavor of the vegetables you are highlighting. When you have ripe tomatoes, they need little more than salt and olive oil if they are at their peak of flavor—you don’t need to overwhelm them with a laundry list of ingredients.

The maximalist approach is just the opposite. When you have a glut of summer produce, mix and match to create the most delicious salad. A good salad does need balance; I’m not advocating dumping everything from your crisper drawer into the salad. Rather, I’m suggesting you think about textures, add some pungent ingredients, and make sure nothing gets drowned out by other ingredients. 

Try Unexpected Combinations

A combination of cooked and raw vegetables provides interest and makes a salad substantial. Consider mixing roasted beets with fresh tomatoes. You might think the earthy flavor and denser texture of the beets would overwhelm the bright, juicy acidity of the tomatoes, but it doesn’t. Give this unusual pairing a try—maybe with fennel or cucumber added for a crunchy element (more on that below). If you’re so inclined, try morphing your vegetables by pickling or preserving, even adding dehydrated or fermented foods.

Consider Texture

Think about what you want to use and make sure you have a variety of textures: 

• Crunchy: Thin-skinned peppers, radish, fennel, celery
• Crisp: String beans, cucumbers, sturdy lettuces (like gem lettuce) and cabbage
• Soft and unctuous: This might be a cheese, or grilled chicken or fish. It's also avocado, corn, grilled or cooked summer squash, eggplant, mushrooms, beets and alliums, beans and legumes, meaty olives

Use Make-Ahead Elements

In summer, I want to be outdoors eating al fresco or preparing food, not sweating in the kitchen. I lean on cooking in advance, so when I get home from work, I can get in the garden rather than be standing at the stove. 

• Proteins: Proteins will last a few days, but keep in mind that quick-cooking proteins like grilled chicken don’t hold up as long as slower-cooked foods or foods cooked with more fat. These last longer in the refrigerator, and their texture stays good, whereas grilled chicken may dry out after a couple of days. I typically use low- and slow-cooking methods when I meal prep for salads so that proteins do not end up dry later in the week. That might mean slow-roasted salmon or olive oil-poached tuna.

• Grains: Try cooking two batches of grains ahead. I’m obsessed with wheat berries at the moment. I hadn’t cooked them in a while, and now I can’t stop. They hold up well if you cook them ahead, their chewy texture is a great addition to salads, and they are a wonderful vehicle for other flavors. Go with grains with contrasting textures and flavors, like wheat berries and buckwheat noodles or couscous, rather than cooking two grains that are similar. This will help to make your weekly meals more interesting and varied. Other grains to consider for salads include barley and farro.
• Beans: If you like to cook dried beans, do this on the weekend and you’ll have them available for salad prep all week.
  

Use Pantry Elements Sparingly

When we talked about winter salads, I was all about using your pantry for the briny, salty ingredients you keep there (or in your refrigerator). Come summer, things are different. If you’re using in-season produce, the freshness and flavor should be a hundred times better than out-of-season produce, so you don’t need to load salads with pantry ingredients or use a ton of dressing. Let the flavors of the best of summer shine.