The Build-Your-Own Salad That Actually Gets Eaten

There are salads you make because you feel like you should eat a salad, and then there are salads that somehow become dinner.

This is the second kind.

I love doing a big build-your-own salad situation when I have a mix of people eating because everybody can make it exactly how they want it. More lettuce, less lettuce. Extra bacon. No tomatoes. A completely inappropriate amount of cheese. Nobody is picking things out of a bowl or asking what is hiding underneath the greens.

And, most importantly, it does not feel like a sad weeknight salad.

I basically empty the refrigerator, cook a couple of proteins, chop everything up, put it all in little bowls, and call it dinner.

What I Put Out

• Chopped iceberg lettuce

• Mixed greens

• Chopped tomatoes

• Shredded cheddar cheese

• Bacon, cooked and crumbled

• Crispy fried onions

• Croutons

• Chopped radishes

• Shredded carrots

• Pulled pork

• Buffalo chicken

• Ranch dressing

• 
  

You could obviously add avocado, cucumber, hard-boiled eggs, corn, pickled onions, blue cheese, jalapeños or whatever else happens to be hanging around.

That is really the point.

The Protein Situation

I think having two proteins is what turns this from “we’re having salad” into a dinner everyone gets excited about.Pulled pork is especially good because it is rich and smoky and makes the whole thing feel substantial. Then I like something completely different alongside it, like buffalo chicken, so people can go in either direction.

Or combine them. I am not here to judge.

This is also a perfect way to use leftovers. Grilled chicken from the night before, steak, barbecue pork, rotisserie chicken, even leftover hamburger patties chopped up would work.

The Crunch Is Important

This is one of my strongly held salad opinions: a good salad needs crunch.

Actually, it probably needs multiple kinds of crunch.

Here we had croutons, crispy onions, carrots, radishes and bacon all doing their part. It makes every bite a little different and is exactly why I like setting everything out separately instead of tossing one giant salad together.

And yes, you can absolutely use homemade croutons here. Once you start making them from leftover bread, it gets very hard to go back.

About the Dressing

Use the dressing you love.

This particular night called for ranch, especially with the buffalo chicken, but my house dressing would be great here too. You could also put out two dressings and let everybody decide.

Again, this is dinner, not a test.

How I Serve It

I put everything down the middle of the counter or table and let everyone go through the line.

Start with lettuce. Add whatever sounds good. Drown it in dressing if that is your personality. Go back for more bacon.

Done.

It is one of those meals that looks like you did a lot because there are bowls everywhere, but most of the work is just chopping things and setting them out. And somehow everybody eats vegetables without anybody making a speech about eating vegetables.

That alone earns this one a permanent spot in the rotation.

The House of Blueprint Rule

Don’t worry about making every ingredient from scratch.

Make one or two things really well, use the good shortcuts where they make sense, put everything in pretty bowls and let people help themselves.

That is usually a much better dinner anyway.