Healthy Salad Ideas

Get your vegetables in and make one of these healthy salad recipes for lunch or dinner this week!

Meal prep a healthy broccoli salad recipe for dinner or a healthy potato salad for your next BBQ. Add any of these healthy salad ideas to your menu this week!

All the BEST Healthy Salad Recipes

There is no shortage of salad recipes on Fit Foodie Finds. We love salads of all kind! One thing we’ve learned about salads in the past couple of years is that a salad doesn’t have have a base of greens in order for it to count as a salad.

Here on Fit Foodie Finds we have quinoa salads, kale salads, potato salads, tuna salads, broccoli salads, and everything in between!

All you have to do is throw veggies, a protein, and your favorite dressing in a bowl and you’re all set to call it a salad.

Sometimes the base of the salad maybe kale and other times it may be quinoa! We want people around the globe (especially people who have despised salads in the past) to break out of the box on how they think of salads and mix it up a bit.

Even those of you who aren’t “veggie people”, I guarantee you will like one of the salads below after reading this post! Let’s do this.

How to Build a Salad

Like I said above, salad is made up of vegetables, protein, and some kind of dressing (even if it’s just a drizzle of EVOO). You can mix and match as much as you’d like and replace eggplant with potatoes if you’re not a fan.

Choose a Base

First things, first. Choose a base. Do you want a leafy salad or a substantial salad that has a protein or grain as a base? Below are all different options for a salad base that you could choose from!

Greens

• Kale
• Spinach
• Arugula
• Microgreens
• Romaine lettuce
• Spring greens

Hearty Vegetables

• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Potato
• Corn
• Brussels sprouts
• Sweet potatoes

Grains

• Quinoa
• Farro
• Bulgar
• Buckwheat
• Whole wheat pasta

Protein

• Chicken
• Tuna
• Garbanzo Beans
• Tofu
• Jackfruit
• Tempeh
• Black Beans
• Bacon
• White beans

Healthy Salad Fixings

After you have decided on having a green leafy salad, a grain salad, or a hearty vegetable salad, it is time to choose what salad fixings go well with your salad.

We like to balance our salads with a mixture of sweet and savory flavors as well as different textures (crunchy, chewy, etc.) Generally, I choose one or two ingredients from the list below and add them to my salad!

Dried Fruit

• Raisins
• Cranberries
• Cherries
• Apricots

Seeds + Nuts

• Almonds
• Walnuts
• Pecans
• Sesame Seeds
• Sunflower Seeds
• Pine Nuts

Fresh Fruit

• Apples
• Oranges
• Raspberries
• Blueberries
• Strawberries

More Vegetables

• Red Onion
• Sweet Peppers
• Green Onion

Fresh Herbs

• Basil
• Cilantro
• Oregano
• Parsley
• Mint

Cheese

• Goat Cheese
• Feta Cheese
• Cottage Cheese
• Parmesan Cheese
• Pecorino
• Cheddar Cheese

Choose a Healthy Salad Dressing

Finally, DRESSING. Dressing on a healthy salad is like the cherry on top for an ice cream sundae. The salad is amazing, but the dressing really takes it to the next level.

When choosing what type of healthy salad dressing goes with a salad, make sure there is a nice balance of sweet and savory between the dressing and the salad.

Tuna Salads

Does tuna salad bring you back to your youth? Me too. I still love a good tuna salad served with crunchy crackers for a snack.

Tuna salad can be a great meal prep lunch, a high protein snack, and you can eat it alone or in a wrap! The options are endless.

Here are some super tasty healthy tuna salads.

Chicken Salads

The sky is the limit when it comes to chicken salad. Chicken is a great protein base for a salad because you can really flavor a chicken salad any way you would like.

Add greek yogurt to any chicken salad for a creamy salad, olive oil and lime juice for a simple and lighter salad, or mix the two!

Check out our favorite healthy chicken salad recipes!

Green Salads

Massaged kale salads are hot right now. Have you noticed? We love love love a good massaged kale salad for lunch mixed with goat cheese, cherries, and almonds. You just can’t beat it! If you’ve never massaged kale, check out on our post on How to Massage Kale!

Though we love kale, we are also big fans of spinach, arugula, romaine, and more! If you’re looking for a healthy green salad, look no further!

Pasta Salads

Raise your hand if you love pasta salad. WE DO! Sometimes pasta salad can get a bad rap because it incorporates pasta. Well, guess what, life is all about balance and there are so many pasta options out there that you can take your pick. Are you gluten free? No problem!

There are so many gluten free pasta options out there, as well as whole wheat pasta, fresh pasta, even black bean pasta! Just keep your pasta salad balanced with healthy ingredients and you’re good to go.

Potato Salads

If Fit Foodie Finds had a spirit vegetable, it would be the potato. It is only natural that we are a big fan of healthy potato salads. We lighten our potato salad recipes up by using Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise and by adding extra protein and vegetables.

There are so many amazing potato salads on FFF right now. Check them out!

Veggie-Based Salads

Get me a big bowl of broccoli salad and I am one happy girl. Veggie based salads have the main ingredient like broccoli, cauliflower, corn, cucumber, tomato, Brussels sprouts, etc.

Feel free to leave the veggies raw, but we also like to throw veggies in the oven and roast them a bit before tossing them in a salad. So much yum.

Grain-Based Salads

Give me all the grain based salads. We’re talking grains like quinoa, farro, bulgar, wheat berry, brown rice, white rice and more.

We’re talking about healthy versions of those grain based salads you walk buy at the deli at your local fancy grocery store. We love using quinoa as our grain AND protein in a salad. Quinoa is just such a nutrient dense ingredient that adds so much. Check out all of our grain based salads below!