When you have lots of small amounts of vegetables in the fridge, the garden, or from a CSA box, a quick and easy chopped salad is a great way to use them up and highlight their fresh flavors with something other than the standard lettuce-based salad.
We eat this salad a lot, using the basic recipe and varying the flavors depending on the season and vegetables available. Some of our favorite combinations include:
- In the spring use sliced snap peas and green onions dressed with a sesame-based vinaigrette for an Asian flavored salad.
- Corn, black beans, tomatoes, and peppers dressed with a spicy vinaigrette is perfect for a summer Tex-Mex meal.
- Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, feta, and garbanzo beans turns the salad into a Greek feast in late summer.
- And winter may bring a salad of blanched cauliflower, carrots, onions, and kale dressed with a mustard vinaigrette.
But most of the time, it’s a use-what-you-have version like I show here, which is just a great way to use up odds-and-ends vegetables from the fridge. From the garden came a few carrots, a yellow zucchini, and Walla Walla onions, and from the fridge I added a store-bought red pepper. To use up last year’s frozen corn before the garden started producing this year’s corn, it became a base for the salad as well as some black beans from the freezer.
It’s a good idea to add beans and/or cheese to chopped salads for the added protein which makes it work as a light dinner on it’s own or lunch the next day. Adding optional ingredients like green or black olives bring greater depth of flavor- marinated mushrooms or artichoke hearts are great additions, as well.
Assembling the salad is as simple as chopping all the ingredients to roughly the same size, adding them to a serving bowl as you cut them. And feta cheese is one of my favorite additions to a chopped salad!
Most of the time I use a simple homemade vinaigrette that I’ve customized according to flavor (to the basic recipe, add sesame oil and soy sauce for Asian, cumin and cayenne for Tex-Mex, etc.). It really lets the flavor of the vegetables and other ingredients shine through.
Occasionally I’ll add some homemade mayonnaise to the vinaigrette to make a creamy-Italian type dressing and sometimes I’ll use Honey-Mustard Dressing. Fans of Ranch Dressing could use it to dress a salad of tomatoes, onions, beans, and a few cooked bacon pieces – the variations really are seemingly endless.
Some chopped salad recipes use lettuce, but I’ve found that the lettuce gets soggy and isn’t good the next day or as a make-ahead dish. We also just enjoy the change from basic lettuce salads, though it’s great to serve this on a bed of lettuce or spinach, too.
When I bring chopped salads to potlucks or family events I’m always surprised at all the compliments I receive – I think people like that it’s different from a typical salad. Try it and see if you don’t agree!
Quick & Easy Chopped Salad - a Use What You Have Recipe
Ingredients
Salad:
- 3 to 4 cups chopped vegetables*
- 1 cup beans white, black, garbanzo, etc.
- 1/2 cup green or black olives**
- 1/4 cup cheese feta, queso fresco, Parmesan, blue, grated cheddar, etc.
Basic Garlic Herb Vinaigrette:
- 1/4 cup vinegar rice, white wine, cider, balsamic, etc.
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon herb of choice I like basil, thyme and rosemary is also good
- 1 clove garlic minced
Instructions
Make Salad:
- Add vegetables to a large serving bowl as you chop them into similar, bite-sized pieces.
- TIP: any vegetables that need to be softened can be blanched while chopping the other vegetables: boil water, add the cut vegetable for 30 seconds, remove to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and drain before adding to the bowl of salad ingredients.
- Add any other ingredients you choose, beans, olives, cheese, etc.
Make Vinaigrette:
- Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a bowl or jar and mix well. Toss the vegetables with the vinaigrette and serve.
Notes
- Asian: sliced snap peas, carrots, bean sprouts and green onions dressed with a sesame oil vinaigrette.
- Tex-Mex: corn, black beans, tomatoes, black olives and peppers dressed with a southwest vinaigrette.
- Greek: tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, feta, kalamata olives and garbanzo beans with a red wine basil vinaigrette.
- Winter: blanched cauliflower, carrots, onions, and kale dressed with a mustard vinaigrette.
- BLT Ranch: tomatoes, onions, red beans, and crumbled bacon mixed with Homemade Ranch Dressing and served on a bed of lettuce.
Nutrition
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kat says
….ooooh looks SO good! thanks for sharing will have to try this weekend!!! 🙂 love all the ingredients! hugs kat =^.^=
HA says
I have made this time and time again, with an exception…..used honey mustard
dressing…..it sure made extra special for those that are not too keen on veggies…
Diana says
Great idea! I was looking for something to fix to go with the savory black-eyed pea cakes I’m making tonight with leftover black-eyed peas. This will be perfect, and use up some veggies that need to get gone.
Jami says
Ooo, that sounds good, Diana – black-eyed pea cakes? Do you have the recipe posted?
Diana says
I don’t have the recipe posted. It’s from the Foster’s Market Cookbook and turned out very yummy (as did your chopped salad!), although I had problems with the patties not holding together as well as I would like.
Basically for 4 or 5 patties, mix and mash up 1 cup cooked blackeyed peas with half a diced onion, some diced bell peppers and and half a diced jalapeño, half a cup of parmesan or goat cheese, a large egg, a tablespoon of flour, some garlic, some oregano, salt, pepper, parsley, and a half cup of bread crumbs. Then fold in 1 more cup of blackeyed peas, and form into 3 inch patties, cook in oiled skillet on medium high about 4-5 minutes per side (only turn once). We served them with salsa, but any chutney or relish would be good.
mary w says
I do this to for the same reason (use up random veggies). Kale and chard are frequent additions for me since it grows in my garden year round. The shape, of course, is a bit different since I cut the leaves in thin ribbons (similar to cabbage in cole slaw).