Salad is rarely my first meal choice. It’s not that I hate greens, but I just tend to find a bunch of toppings thrown onto a bed of spinach or romaine a snooze unless they include a heap of cheese — and I know I’m not alone in that.
Luckily for me, there are people on this planet whose minds are much more talented than mine at dreaming up creative salads that are as good for you as they are inspired. Among them is Eddie McNamara, a Brooklyn chef and ex-Port Authority cop whose new cookbook, Toss Your Own Salad: The Meatless Cookbook with Burgers, Bolognese, and Ballas hits stores this week.
Ahead, get three of McNamara’s delicious, not-at-all-boring vegetarian salad recipes — plus dozens more salad recipes we handpicked to help make your summer easier and your salads a little less pedestrian and a lot more like a meal you’ll actually look forward to.
A version of this post originally appeared on StyleCaster.
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Vegan “sesame-silantro” soba spring noodle salad
Image Credit: Eddie McNamara From Toss Your Own Salad by Eddie McNamara:
Shockingly substantial, this sweet supper salad showcases spinach, soba, and sliced strawberries. Say that five times fast, dickus.
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh or frozen fava beans (Edamame are a good substitute.)
3 cups fresh spinach
2 cups cherry tomato, halved
1 pint strawberries, sliced
2 apples, cored and sliced
4 ounces fresh soba noodles
1 bunch fresh cilantro
1 garlic clove
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/2 cup sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon black sesame seeds
Pomegranate seeds (optional)Instructions:
Bring a pot of salty water to a boil. Add the fava beans and cook until all the beans float to the top, about 5 minutes. Using a strainer, remove the cooked beans and run cold water over them until cooled. Keep the water in the pot boiling.
Combine the spinach, tomato, strawberry, apple, and beans in a large salad bowl.
Add the soba noodles to the boiling water and cook for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander. Run cold water over the noodles to cool and rinse them. (See the tip below.)
Combine the cilantro, garlic, vinegar, and oil a food processor and process until it becomes a dressing. Pour it into one of those hipster Mason jars.
Add the soba to the salad. Pour half of the dressing into the bowl and mix well. Garnish with sesame and pomegranate seeds. Keep the extra dressing for a future salad.JUST THE TIP: SECOND-TO-NONE SOBA SECRET: The key to good soba is the cold water wash. The shock of cold stops the noodles from continuing to cook (and getting flaccid). Move the noodles around with the water running as if you’re washing them in an old-timey miner’s village.
Copyright © 2017 by Eddie McNamara and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Griffin
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Raw vegan pad thai salad cleanse
Image Credit: Eddie McNamara From Toss Your Own Salad by Eddie McNamara:
In the Thai language, pad Thai means, “too many greasy noodles for fat Westerners who may or may not be here for sex tourism.” So this isn’t your typical pad Thai. Instead of a greasy bowl of noodles that will make you want a nap, try a lighter, more refreshing salad made entirely of shredded vegetables. Make it as noodle-like as possible: spiralize, julienne, grate or use a vegetable peeler to create your “noodles.” Add a killer tamarind-tahini dressing for the familiar sweet and nutty taste.
Ingredients:
3 yellow squash, shredded
3 carrots, shredded
1 large cucumber, shredded
3 scallions, shredded
1 cup bean sprouts
1/2 cup shelled sunflower seeds (Sub in peanuts for that classic pad Thai crunch, or pistachios if you’re rich.)
1 tablespoon tahini
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1/2 cup tamarind nectar or juice (You’ll find it in Latin and Asian markets.)
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, leaves torn (If you’re one of those weirdos who tastes soap when you eat cilantro, use basil; Thai basil, if you can get it.)
SrirachaInstructions:
Combine your shredded vegetables, bean sprouts, and sunflower seeds in a really big bowl and mix them up.
Blend in a food processor—or whisk together—the tahini, garlic, tamarind, salt, and pepper to make the dressing.
Add the torn cilantro. Dress the salad and toss again.
Hit it with some Sriracha.Copyright © 2017 by Eddie McNamara and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Griffin
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Unspecified nation-of-origin Middle Eastern salad
Image Credit: Eddie McNamara From Toss Your Own Salad by Eddie McNamara:
I’ve always known this as an Israeli salad, but apparently, Persians, Turks, and the Lebanese also claim it as their own. So, if your country is full of dudes with a massive amount of chest hair who only button their shirts halfway, you’re probably familiar with this salad. It’s super easy, super low calorie, and can be eaten with breakfast, lunch, dinner, or as a snack.
Ingredients:
1 seedless cucumber, peeled, cut into small dice
3 vine-ripe tomatoes, cut into small dice
1/2 medium red onion, cut into small dice (Like, smaller than small dice (Like, smaller than who hates chewing and wishes everything had the texture of hummus.)
1 bell pepper (red, orange or yellow is best—green gets a little bitter), seeded and cut into small dice
A glug of extra-virgin olive oil
Finely grated zest of 1 lime
Juice of 2 limes
10 green olives, chopped
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
Generous amount of salt and ground black pepperInstructions:
Prep all the vegetables and add to a large bowl.
Dress with the olive oil, lime zest, and juice.
Add the olives and parsley and mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper.
Cover the bowl and refrigerate the salad for 30 minutes.
Serve and eat while chain-smoking and yelling into your cell phone.Copyright © 2017 by Eddie McNamara and reprinted by permission of St. Martin’s Griffin
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Spicy kale & quinoa black bean salad
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