Salads are a delicious way to fit in some extra vegetables—and a heartier salad can actually be your main meal! We’ve rounded up some extra tasty salads you can serve for dinner or anytime.
Our Favorite Salad Ideas for Dinner
From a take on a traditional Waldorf Salad to a broccoli salad to an antipasto-inspired Italian pasta salad, we’ve got you covered. Whether you’re looking for a side to serve at a BBQ or want to make a bowl of salad your main attraction for dinner, read on for some of our favorite satisfying salad ideas you can put together tonight!
1. Waldorf Salad
A traditional Waldorf salad is packed with chopped apples, grapes, and is dressed with lemon juice and mayonnaise. Add grilled chicken to make a complete meal that’s delicious and fresh.
2. Summer Pasta Salad
Loaded with veggies like cherry tomatoes and artichockes, this pasta salad is filling enough to be your main dinner entree.
3. Crusted Chicken Cobb Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
This crusted chicken cobb salad is a one bowl meal! There’s enough vegetables to make you feel good, plus hard-boiled eggs for extra protein along with the chicken. It’s finished with an irresistible honey mustard dressing.
4. Potato Salad
Potato salad is a great side dish, but when you pair it with a meat like ham or burgers it’s enough to round out your dinner plate. Plus, you can make it in advance and eat it whenever you want. It’s always a hit when you’re looking for a salad idea for dinner!
5. Ham Salad
Speaking of ham, this delicious ham salad is a great way to use up leftover ham. Toast a few slices of crusty French bread and serve ham salad toasts with a bowl of homemade soup for dinner.
6. Corn Salad
Fresh corn salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, avocado, and feta cheese makes the most of summer’s bounty. It’s light and delicious, especially served with fresh bread.
7. Brussels Sprouts Salad
One of our favorite salad ideas for dinner in the fall! Loaded up with fall favorites like roasted butternut squash, apples, pumpkin seeds, pomegranate, and lots of Brussels Sprouts, this salad is packed with harvest season flavors.
8. Summer Cobb Salad
This delicious version of a Cobb Salad uses pre-cooked grilled chicken to keep prep a breeze. Top it with hard boiled eggs, blue cheese, raspberries, blackberries, avocado, and roasted almonds to make it a super satisfying dinner.
9. Kale Salad with Cheese Crisps
Looking for salad ideas for dinner that are super satisfying, but also easy? Take a bag of pre-washed baby kale and top it with some tasty homemade cheese crisps and and a simple balsamic vinaigrette—tonight’s dinner is easy, wholesome, and done!
10. Cucumber Salad
If you have cucumbers in the fridge you can make cucumber salad. Just a few ingredients come together with a sweet-sour dressing to make a delicious salad you can serve alongside pretty much anything.
11. Broccoli Salad
Raw broccoli meets broccoli, sunflower seeds, cheese, and bacon in this hearty salad. Our recipe below includes directions for a perfect mayo-based dressing to drizzle over the top.
12. Tuna Salad Sandwich
Yes, it’s still technically a salad! Our tuna salad sandwich recipe is so good you’ll want to serve it at dinnertime, too.
13. Antipasto Salad
Antipasto salad is often served before a meal but there’s so much goodness packed into one bowl that you could totally serve it for dinner alone. Veggies, meat, and cheese with a tangy dressing make this hard to resist.
14. Italian Pasta Salad
Italian pasta salad is like antipasto salad, but with added pasta! It’s full of cooked pasta, black olives, peppers, tomatoes, red onions, meats like salami or pepperoni, and mozzarella or Parmesan cheese and dressed with zesty Italian dressing before serving. So good!
15. Pea Salad
It may sound funny to use frozen peas in a salad, but trust me, this is a winner. The crunchy peas play off the salty bacon and cheddar cheese, and chopped red onions and a tangy sour cream dressing finish it off.
16. Spaghetti Salad
Another one-dish meal, this spaghetti salad is full of veggies. You can add any vegetables or meat you like, and it is perfect served straight from the fridge. We love this at summertime BBQs!
More Salad Ideas for Dinner
Pasta
Bow Tie Pasta Salad
Beef
Easy Taco Salad
Soups and Salads
Dill Pickle Pasta Salad
Soups and Salads
