When it comes to eating healthily, often you think about salads as a suitable choice. However, salads aren’t quite the tastiest of food types, especially when you don’t know how to make a good salad combination beyond just lettuce leaves and cucumbers.
The secret to a good salad is its ingredients beyond just the basics. In order for a salad to be something you enjoy regularly, there are a few ways to step up your salad game so that you find more satisfaction when creating your dish.
With that being said, here are several ways to step up your salad game for the benefit of your diet and health.
- Start with the ingredients
To create an interesting salad, you want to incorporate the right ingredients. Start with the basics of lettuce, cucumber, and tomato. There are plenty of other ingredients beyond these though that will make your salad a whole lot more interesting. Here are a few options to add to your salad:
- Avocado
- Spring onions
- Chickpeas
- Boiled eggs
- Nuts and seeds
The more you can add to your salad combinations, the more filling your salad will be which is important when you’re trying to eat healthier.
- Add the salad dressing
While some of the ingredients within your salad are delicious on their own, some might need a bit of a helping hand to make it better.
Salad dressings are a great addition to the salad and the dressing is said to be pretty easy to make up. It’s worth experimenting with salad dressings from olive oil and balsamic vinegar to honey and mustard. If you’re looking for the basics of salad dressing, then a Caesar dressing recipe is a go-to.
When it comes to salad dressings, you will want to mix up the combinations to complement the different ingredients you add to your salad. For example, fish is complimented well with lemon, so a lemon and olive oil dressing is worth trying.
- Sprinkle on a salad topper
When rounding off your salads, using a salad topper is a good addition to these dishes. A salad topper adds both flavor and crunch to your salad, which is great as a salad can often lack a bit of crunch with all the leaves.
Salad toppers are also great for digestion. Salad toppers are often made up of different nuts and seeds, from pumpkin seeds to almonds and pine nuts.
With salad toppers, you can choose how much or how little you want to add to your dish, making it personable for yourself or any of the household members who eat it too.
- Infuse olive oil with herbs
Olive oil is a typical addition to your salads and provides a healthier alternative to salad dressings that might be higher in calorie content.
It’s worth infusing olive oil with herbs in order to improve your health. Herbal medicine is a great way to get both an enriched flavor but also add to the health benefits of the dish as a result.
Beyond just herbal medicine, you could also consider infusing your olive oil with other ingredients such as truffle, for example.
- Add some fruit
Fruit isn’t typically something that you’d add to a salad. If you’re not someone who has added fruit before, then you’re certainly missing out on the flavor combinations it can provide to this type of dish.
Typical fruits that you could add to your salad to enrich its flavor profiles could be kiwi, strawberry, or oranges.
It’s worth checking what fruits are in season so that you can adapt the fruits you add to the salad, based on what time of year it is.
- Remember the salt and pepper
While you might have a selection of ingredients added to your salad, as well as herbs and spices, you don’t want to forget the basics of salt and pepper.
Salt and pepper are the basics of flavoring and when it comes to a salad, you should be adding both to your salads.
- Incorporate a side
Sides are something that can elevate your salad and transform it from a lunchtime dish to a dinner one. From skinny fries to garlic bread, a side can add a more filling element to your dish, especially if the salad is fairly light in ingredients. From a lack of carbohydrates or protein, these can all be incorporated into a side where needed.
When looking to step up your salad game this year, use these tips to make the most of your salad dishes.
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Whether she is researching the latest trends in home decor, life-changing destination getaways, or the best way to maintain your finances, Dewey takes pride in leaving no stone unturned. She is passionate about distilling and delivering high-quality information that you can use to upgrade your life.
