Best salad recipes: easy, healthy and delicious ideas for every season
Gone are the days of the boring side salad – whether you’re looking for a healthy main or fresh side dish, our top salad dishes will bring flavour, colour and variety to your table.
Salads are known for having a bit of a bad reputation. Often shunned for being a side dish and a boring health food, they’ve never quite had a moment in the spotlight. A well made salad, however, can prove to be a satisfying main dish or a versatile side. From crisp green salads and rich pasta dishes to comforting potato salads or Thai prawn salads with zingy dressings.
There’s an art to crafting the perfect salad. Our favourite chefs and beloved cooks share their secrets to making your salads a showstopper every time. Dive into Maggie Beer’s take on a classic salad topped with warm roast chook, savour the earthiness of Saghar Setareh’s roasted pumpkin and hazelnut creation, and enjoy the traditional notes in Lennox Hastie’s Swedish inspired potato salad. Or if you’re seeking a lighter fare, Elizabeth Hewson’s zucchini salad offers a refreshing twist.
Whether you’re exploring these recipes to liven up your weeknight dinners or seeking ideas for entertaining, this collection celebrates the joy a thoughtfully prepared salad can bring to your table.
25 easy salad recipes to make at home
Easy green salad recipes
Elizabeth Hewson’s zucchini salad recipe
The walnuts are there for texture, and I can’t go past the salty, savoury hit of Parmigiano Reggiano, although a feta or goat’s cheese can be equally as pleasing.
Get the full recipe for Elizabeth Hewson’s zucchini salad
Lennox Hastie’s charred cos with roasted fennel, grapes, capers & verjus
Cooked over the intense heat of a fire, lettuce takes on a rich, savoury char balanced by an incredible natural sweetness, while retaining an amazing texture. Let your imagination run wild.
Get the full recipe for Lennox Hastie’s charred cos with roasted fennel
Elizabeth Hewson’s Lettuce salad with yoghurt and feta dressing
There’s nothing better than crisp lettuce topped with this ingredient. Transform your plate to salad perfection.
Get the full recipe for Elizabeth Hewson’s Lettuce salad with yoghurt and feta
Lennox Hastie’s American Waldorf salad
The Waldorf salad has a certain elegant nostalgia; something a distant great aunt might serve in a crystal bowl while recounting stories of the Gilded Age. Born at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, it is both opulent and comforting, marrying crisp apples, grapes, celery, and walnuts in a creamy dressing. A good Waldorf is all about balance.
Get the full recipe for Lennox Hastie’s American Waldorf salad
Potato salad recipes for your next BBQ
A potato salad with a Greek twist
Dutch cream potatoes are my favourite with their waxy texture but you can use any potato you have on hand.
Get the full recipe for Elle Mittas’s potato salad
Cettina Vicenzino’s Sicilian potato salad
Potatoes with large local capers in dressing is a highly acclaimed speciality on the Sicilian island of Salina. So simple!
Get the full recipe for Cettina Vicenzino’s Sicilian potato salad
Lennox Hastie’s Swedish potato salad
A warm potato salad is the perfect late summer accompaniment to meat or seafood.
Get the full recipe for Lennox Hastie’s potato salad
Lennox Hastie’s no-hassle potato salad
Lennox Hastie and Elizabeth Hewson combine their skills for a very Australian Christmas feast featuring a more-ish potato salad and a showstopping take on the classic turkey. But really, it’s a salad that’s too good not to be eaten at any time of year.
Get the full recipe for Lennox Hastie’s Christmas lunch potato salad
Vegetable salad recipes
Roasted pumpkin and hazelnut salad recipe
This quintessential Mediterranean salad is a mix of farro, a grain grown in the Italian peninsula since Roman times, roast pumpkin and toasted hazelnut.
Get the full recipe for Saghar Setareh’s roasted pumpkin and hazelnut salad
Beetroot salad
When you roast beets, their natural sugars caramelise, transforming into something akin to vegetable candy.
Get the full recipe for Lennox Hastie’s roasted beetroot salad
Summer tomato salad
A simple tomato salad made perfect by its fresh ingredients.
Get the full recipe for Lennox Hastie’s summer tomato salad
Seafood salad recipes
Prawn corn and cabbage salad by Nik Sharma
Prawns, corn and cabbage are meant to be in a relationship.
Get the full recipe for Prawn corn and cabbage salad by Nik Sharma
Steak with Indian-style beetroot salad
These warm spiced salads are perfect for autumn. Use black or white sesame seeds for the tuna crust, or both.
Get the full recipe for David Herbert’s Steak with Indian-style beetroot salad
Lennox Hastie’s Tuna Niçoise salad
This Niçoise salad encapsulates the French Riviera, alive with the daily trade of fishermen and markets. It is a fun dish to assemble, where you can layer in a little bit of what you fancy to create a showstopping salad that is really a meal in itself.
Get the full recipe for Lennox Hastie’s Tuna Niçoise salad
Thai Prawn Salad and Thai Octopus Salad
Fresh and zingy, both salad recipes pack a punch by relying on delightful Thai flavours. These recipes should be used as guides so you can adjust intensity according to personal taste.
Get the full recipes for both David Herbert’s Thai prawn Salad and Thai octopus salad
David Herbert’s Warm prawn noodle salad
This noodle salad is perfect for a summer lunch. For the broth, use any vegies you have on hand; try Chinese broccoli, pak choy, capsicum, zucchini or spinach.
Get the full recipe for David Herbert’s warm prawn noodle salad
A Hearty lamb, duck or chicken salad
Maggie Beer’s roast chook salad
This salad is perfect for using up the leftovers the day after you’ve roasted a chicken. It’s so simple to recreate.
Get the full recipe for Maggie Beer’s roast chook salad
Lamb and spring pea salad
This is the joy of seasonal cooking for me: taking a few ingredients that are enjoying their seasonal heyday, and letting them shine.
Get the full recipe for Elizabeth Hewson’s lamb and spring pea salad
Warm duck & cherry salad
This duck and cherry salad is so good it might just become a classic in its own right. Glazed with orange and topped with cherries, it’s the perfect balance of sweet, savoury and oh-so more-ish.
Get the full recipe for Alice Zaslavsky’s warm duck & cherry salad
Fresh salad ideas
Tuscan bread salad recipe
Panzanella is a rustic Tuscan salad that showcases the brilliance of transforming dry, old bread into a summery delight
Get the full recipe for Lennox Hastie’s Tuscan bread salad recipe
Greek salad recipe
This salad from the Greek island of Kythera is rich in flavour and a meal in itself.
Get the full recipe for Sarah Di Lorenzo’s Kytherian salad
Charred cabbage salad with butter beans
This is such a good salad for a picnic or any shared meal and delicious hot or at room temperature.
Get the full recipe for Sophie Hansen’s charred cabbage salad
Versatile Pasta salad recipes
A light and summery pasta salad recipe
Pasta salads may have a bad name … But this one by Elizabeth Hewson has a lot going for it. And before we forget to mention, it’s topped with a delightful ball of burrata goodness.
Get the full recipe for Elizabeth Hewson’s light and summery pasta salad recipe
Antipasti pasta salad
This pasta salad is a crowd pleaser that never fails to satisfy the cravings.
Get the full recipe for Jessica Prescott’s antipasti pasta salad
Want more meal ideas? Check out these flavour packed fish recipes or 11 tray bake recipes. For more food ideas, go to theaustralian.com.au/life/food-drink. For weekly recipes, sign up to our weekly food and wine newsletter.
