Simple and Healthy Italian Salad

What could be better for dinner on a hot day than a hearty salad? This Italian salad is full of protein, nourishment and flavor! Perfect for special diets and hungry eaters, you can make this again and again with different ingredients.

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Hot summer days call for cool, fresh meals. Nothing that heats up the kitchen, forces the AC to run extra, or blasts steam at the cook. Also nothing to make everyone sweat at the table!

Salad can be an ideal dinner, but it risks being a bit too light. Sometimes a light meal is just what you want! Most of the time, my family gets hungry. They may like a cool, summer meal, but they need to get filled up and fueled up for whatever is next!

This simple Italian-inspired salad works for all the summer mealtime needs. Importantly, it is not only filling and cool, but it is also delicious! Big flavor with plenty of contrast and texture to satisfy.

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What to Love about Italian Salad

You could make this into a light salad, or even a tasty side salad. I usually make it into a meal. Not light at all. Full of protein, fats, and fiber. This is a hearty, satisfying salad. Like most salads, you can make it different ways. Here are things I love about it:

• can use up leftover chicken, or prepare simple, fresh chicken
• tasty dressing– I make extra for future side salads, and twist it into a creamy dressing or a vinaigrette according to whim (or available ingredients)
• perfect way to use up some leftover veggies or garden bounty
• contrasting flavors and textures– salty and sweet, crunchy and creamy, light and hearty
• protein, fiber, and fat all in one bowl
• easy to adapt to needs, preferences, or what is in the kitchen today
• let people choose their favorite toppings and skip the ones they don’t love. Olives? Onions? Fresh basil? Sun-warm tomatoes? Load up or leave them out!
• so much flavor!

How to Make Italian Salad

You know salad. It doesn’t exactly require a recipe, per se. Maybe for the dressing. The rest is ever-adaptable. I start with lettuce, chicken, and cheese, and maybe some pepperoni. The rest varies, but we have certain favorites.

Chicken

Start with the chicken, since you want it to be either cold or not-too-warm.

If I use leftover chicken, and it is really plain, I toss it in a bit of dressing and let it absorb some flavor while I chop everything else up.

If I plan to cook some chicken breasts or thighs, I do that first, working on the other components while it cooks, then chop it up and let it cool at least partway before assembling the salad. Typically I sauté the chicken on the stove this way for flavor and simplicity.

You could also poach it in a bit of water, then pull it apart. this will be more flavorful if you add a bit of dressing or seasoning to it after you chop or shred it.

Dressing

Any Italian dressing you like will work here. It could be from the store or your favorite recipe, vinaigrette or creamy.

I quit buying dressing– salad dressing is simple to make, cost effective, and better for us! Commercial dressings are almost all packed with things I don’t love to serve– lots of sugar, preservatives, industrial oils, and various additives. There are better dressings in the stores, but they are expensive!

By making it myself, I can adjust the flavor to our preferences. It isn’t even especially expensive to use high-quality salt, olive oil, herbs, even probiotic ingredients that beat the store stuff for taste, nutrition, and cost any day! I highly recommend this simple upgrade to your salad routine. It takes just a couple of minutes.

Usually, I do a basic vinaigrette: olive oil (try to source a good one that isn’t cut with cheap, inflammatory oils! No, imported extra virgin olive oil is often not mainly olive oil and, yes, this is perfectly legal.), some sort of vinegar or lemon juice, fresh garlic (or garlic powder if I’m exhausted), a bit of mustard, maybe some herbs, and some good salt.

If I’m in the mood for a creamy dressing, I throw in some sour cream, either home cultured or store bought. (Mayonnaise, thick yogurt, non-dairy sour cream, or even coconut cream can work for this.) Then either whisk it well or take an immersion blender to it for a few seconds to get it smooth and creamy.

Lettuce

Perhaps you could fix this Italian salad without any lettuce at all. I like the lettuce, and start with a good bit of romaine, spring mix, or whatever was on sale. Chop or tear it up a bit so the salad can mix freely and people get as many different elements in each bite as possible.

Veggies

I used cheddar because that was all I had. Mozzarella is even better!

A good assortment of veggies lending a variety of flavors, colors, and textures makes this salad interesting (and nourishing). It doesn’t really matter which ones you use, as long as you like them!

Here are some standbys– tomatoes, especially still warm from the garden. Cucumbers for crunch and coolness. Onions– red or green, fresh or pickled, whatever you like. Peppers– bell peppers, fermented peppers, jalapeños, pepperoncinis, etc.

Beyond that, anything you can think of! Or want to use up. Carrots, bite-sized cooked asparagus or broccoli, peas, celery, green beans, etc. Make sure everything is chopped up fairly small!

Fresh Herbs

Basil. That is the one to use. It needs to be fresh, or don’t bother! It will add so much to your salad!

You could use anything you like; perhaps parsley, thyme, or oregano, or some combination. You can still have a delicious salad without any fresh herbs, but they will elevate your salad considerably.

Other Boosters

The above ingredients alone will result in a good salad. For a great salad, boost the flavor, texture, contrast, nutrition, protein, and more using the following:

• cheese– fresh mozzarella, Parmesan, Asiago, pecorino, etc., or a combo
• olives– your favorite ones!
• pepperoni– sliced pepperoni, salami, prosciutto, etc., add lots of flavor
• beans– garbanzo beans or cannellini beans, cooked and drained for extra nutrition and fiber
• crunchy bits– croutons, toasted nuts, French fried onions, etc.

Suggested Substitutions

Salad is flexible! You may have noticed I used cheddar the day I photographed this recipe. I don’t particularly recommend that, but it was what I had. Switch things around to suit your taste, your diet, or what you have to work with!

• cheese– fresh mozzarella is lovely! Hard cheeses like Asiago or Parmesan are also wonderful– grate them fresh to avoid gut-harming additives in the pre-shredded stuff.
• chicken– leftover, poached, sautéed, rotisserie– or use turkey.
• bonus meat– pepperoni is my favorite for huge flavor, but salami, prosciutto, or ham add interest.
• veggies– the only limit is your imagination– fresh, fermented, pickled, cooked– use leftover, chop them fresh, whatever you feel like!
• dressing– we’ve already covered the creamy option (I can’t decide whether creamy or vinaigrette is better!)– you can use different vinegars or substitute lemon juice; you can leave the mustard out if you want. I like mustard for additional flavor and because it helps the oil and vinegar emulsify (combine so they stay mixed), but it isn’t essential.

Serve on its own, with bread or crackers, or with sliced melon or other fruit!