Simple Side Salad
Updated
Updated
A simple green side salad with romaine lettuce, cucumber, tomato, dried cranberries, toasted pecans, and a blend of two different delicious dressings! It’s perfectly paired with just about any soup or dinner to round out the meal.
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5 STAR REVIEWS
Many years ago, we’re over at my parent’s house and my mom serves my favorite tri tip, rice pilaf, and a side salad. My son grimaced at the lettuce, and politely asked me if he could have fruit instead. I said, “just take a few bites.” Well, he filled up on salad and barely had room for the actual dinner. Leave it to Nana – I swear I thought she put the tears of unicorns in there or something.
This has become my little go-to side salad recipe ever since – it’s practically at every family gathering. And my son never asks me to substitute fruit for it. We all love it so much.
Helpful Tips
- The two dressings listed is not a mistake! Turns out, my mom had both dressings in the fridge, but only a little bit left in each container. Never one to waste food, she combined the two. And it is delicious! I do a 3 to 1 ratio, but you can try different amounts until the desired flavor is reached. I prefer the Newman’s Own brand salad dressings, but use whatever brand you prefer, or if you’ve got favorite homemade versions, use those!
- How much side salad per person? The general rule of thumb is about 1 & 1/2 cups or 3 ounces per person.
- Don’t let the little goodies get left behind! It’s pretty easy for the little pieces of nuts and dried cranberries to sink to the bottom of the bowl when mixing. Make sure you include those goodies when serving it up among individual plates.
The Best Side Salad
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup Caesar dressing
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinaigrette
- 4 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, , cut in half
- 1 cup cubed cucumber
- 1 cup cubed pear
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries
- 1/3 cup pecan halves
- pepper, , to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together both dressings until fully combined.
- In a large bowl toss the lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, pear, cranberries, pecans, and 1/2 of the dressing mixture.
- Divide among individual plates; drizzle with the remaining dressing (or pass at the table) and season with a pinch of freshly ground pepper.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information given is an automatic calculation and can vary based on the exact products you use and any changes you make to the recipe. If these numbers are very important to you, I would recommend calculating them yourself.
Did you make this? Leave a rating below!
Possible Variations
Over the years, I’ve played with the ingredients a little, while keeping the dressing the same. You can’t go wrong with the original combination or these variations:
- Combine some iceberg lettuce with the romaine.
- Replace the dried cranberries with dried cherries or raisins.
- Swap out the cucumber for apples or pears.
- Use candied pecans instead of regular ones.
- Top with some ripe avocado.
- Toss in some croutons.
Serving Suggestions
This is truly the best side dish salad that goes with just about anything. We especially love it with baked chicken breast, chicken alfredo, salisbury steak, and broccoli cheddar soup to round out the meal. It really goes with a number of soup recipes or beef stew, too!
More Leafy Green Salad Recipes
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I would never have thought to put these two dressings together, but what an unexpected wonderful surprise – thank you for sharing!
So simple and absolutely delicious!!
This is my new “go to” side salad! The dressing combination is dee-lish!! Since my husband does not care for cucumbers, I substituted red onion. Loved it!
So happy to hear it!
Thanks for the credit! So glad your readers like it as much as we do
since it never fails to please. I also add chopped apple or pear.
What an awesome idea mixing two dressings together. Love this recipe and so many others on your site. Thanks for sharing.
This was wonderful – my picky eaters ate it up, too!
Oh my gosh we loved this combo – never would have thought to mix those dressings. All around delicious salad!