With the emerging abundance of fresh seasonal produce, summer is the best time to enjoy a refreshing salad. This collection of vegetarian and vegan summer salad recipes is carefully curated to tantalise your taste buds and keep you cool during hot weather. You’ll find delicious, nutritious, vibrant and colourful sides and light lunches as well as mains to suit pretty much any occasion.
For me summer salads are embodied by crunchy cucumbers and juicy ripe tomatoes warmed by the summer sun. But there’s a lot more to a good salad than just these two ingredients. I’m reliably informed there are even some very good salads that don’t contain either of them. I know, I’m shocked too.
Dive Right In
I’ve divided the recipes into sections to make it easier to find the type of salad you’re looking for.
- Main Meal Summer Salads
- Bean Salads (includes other pulses)
- Starters And Light Lunches
- Summer Side Salads
- Carb Rich Side Salads
Summer Salad Recipes
If you think salads are boring, think again. The combination of crisp and crunchy veg, juicy fruits, fragrant herbs and a killer dressing is true taste sensation. They can rival any other meal for sheer deliciousness. Grab your salad servers and get stuck in.
Salads become exceptionally appealing during summer and with good reason. For a start, the hotter weather leaves us craving lighter, more refreshing meals. Or is that just me? They’re often packed with water-rich ingredients like leafy greens, which help to keep us hydrated as well as satisfied.
But more crucially, summer is the season when a huge variety of fresh and flavoursome vegetables, fruit and herbs are at their peak and readily available. They make the best salads. Typically, they’re nutrient-dense, rich in vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, whilst at the same time being relatively low in calories.
From a simple green salad to the complexity of gado gado, the variety of summer salad recipes is boundless. There’s a reason they’re ubiquitous around the world. Enjoy them as a starter, side, light lunch or a main meal. They’re almost essential to accompany summer barbecues and many make perfect picnic material too.
With the wealth of ingredients now available to us, it’s so easy to transform a traditional meat or fish based salad into a vegetarian or vegan one. Likewise it’s quite simple to veganise a traditional vegetarian salad. Vegan yoghurt is easy to get hold of and making your own vegan mayonnaise is a veritable breeze.
Main Meal Summer Salad Recipes
Just because a salad contains lots of healthy fresh produce, it doesn’t mean you can’t eat one as a main meal. Ensure there is a protein element or two and you’re good to go. You can use pulses, nuts, seeds, cheese and eggs in varied forms. Go carb free or add whole grains, potatoes or pasta. Alternatively accompany your salad with some crusty bread.
Last but by no means least, a good dressing is crucial. Fresh herbs, spices, well flavoured oil, citrus or vinegar, salt and maybe a touch of something sweet all play their part.
Vegetarian Salade Niçoise
Jackfruit Tuna Salad (No Mayo, Vegan) – LB Health & Lifestyle
Gado Gado: Indonesian Vegetable Salad
Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
Fattoush with Sumac Hummus and Pomegranate
Plantain Salad With Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing – The All Natural Vegan
Summer Sausage Salad
Bean Salads
Bean salads are a great bet for summer eating. They work well both as a side dish and main meal. The beans soak up delicious dressings and it’s easy to add crunch and additional flavour with summer veg and herbs.
They’re also great for parties, potlucks and picnics as you can prepare them in advance. They’ll sit happily in the fridge for a day or two.
For this category of summer bean salads, I’m including chickpeas as well as other pulses. The recipes are mostly vegan, but there’s the odd vegetarian one included too.
Middle Eastern Chickpea Salad
Black Bean And Corn Salad
White Bean Salad: Spanish Style
Black Bean & Bulgur Wheat Feta Salad
Lentil Salad with Gorgonzola
Summer Starter Or Light Lunch Salads
A fresh salad with a lively dressing is one of my favourite summer lunches. They’re easy to prepare and no cooking required – perfect. If it works for lunch, it will most likely work as a dinner party starter too. Vibrant and colourful salad ingredients looks so appealing on the plate.
Caprese Salad Bowl with Avocado & Lettuce for One
Easy beetroot carpaccio with feta and mint
Greek Salad
Nectarine Salad With Mozzarella And Tomatoes
Traditional Tuscan Panzanella Recipe
Vegan Papaya Salad in 15 minutes
Light Waldorf Salad – updated classic salad
Simple Green Salad with Vinaigrette dressing
Summer Side Salad Recipes
You can’t have a barbecue, summer buffet or alfresco dinner without a delicious side salad or three. The sides are often my favourite part of a meal.
Bell Pepper Salad ~ This Wife Cooks
Korean-Style Cucumber Salad Recipe
Simple Orange and Ginger Carrot Salad
Easy and refreshing Greek tzatziki
Kohlrabi Carrot Slaw
Vegan Mexican Street Corn Salad (Gluten-Free, Allergy-Free) | Esquites
Middle Eastern tomato parsley salad – Greenbowl2soul
Tomato, Red Onion & Coriander Salad – Fab Food 4 All
Mango Avocado Salad
Minty Watermelon Cucumber Salad Without Feta – Go Eat Green
Carb Rich Side Salads
For a more filling side dish, salads made with carbohydrates are the way to go. Carbohydrates are the body’s primary source of energy after all. Complex carbohydrates such as whole grains and quinoa provide a steady release of energy to help keep us fueled throughout the day.
And if you make a potato salad, keep the skins on for added fibre and nutrition.
Authentic Lebanese Fresh Taboule Salad
Pearl Couscous Salad – Vegan Summer Side Dish
Authentic Northern German Potato Salad
Vegan Potato Salad – VegnFit
Sicilian Pasta Salad with Tomatoes, Olives & Fresh Herbs
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. I hope you’ve found something to inspire you with all these fabulous summer salad recipes. Let me know if you try any of them. I’m also keen to know what I’ve missed? What are your favourites? Do tell by commenting below.
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If you’d like more recipe collections, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. This one for blackcurrant recipes is always popular in summer. Perhaps not surprisingly, this one for mincemeat recipes is equally popular around Christmas. And this one for carrot recipes is popular all year round.
Choclette x
Mary says
While you’ve been waiting for your lovely new kitchen to be installed you have been busy on our behalf.
Such a tasty selection of salads to choose from. Not quite salad time here although not so cold but very wet.
Enjoy putting all your kitchen things away and think hard before you chuck stuff out. The minute you do you’ll find you need it!!
Thanks Choclette. :))
Choclette says
Thank you Mary. I agree, wet weather doesn’t lend itself to salads. Very much enjoying the look of the new kitchen and it’s functionality. Still plenty of boxes to unpack and new pans to acquire. I’m not very good at throwing things out, just because I’m pretty sure I might need whatever it is someday. But to much clutter isn’t a good thing either – dilemma!
annette says
what a fabulous collection of salads all in one place ! your new kitchen looks lovely -so fresh ,modern and clean.Enjoy it!
Choclette says
Thank you Annette. Fresh and clean is just how I’d like it to stay. I’ll certainly try to keep it that way – for a while anyway! Currently trying to put everything back into the kitchen without cluttering it up. Not an easy task. I hope you’ll find a salad recipe or two to try over the summer.
Janice Pattie says
What a great resource for salads, so many delicious options.
Choclette says
And it will be one I’ll be adding to for sure. It’s so useful to have one place to go when you want a salad recipe.