10 Delicious Heart-Healthy Salads Without Lettuce

If I say “salad” and you immediately think “Lettuce… tomatoes… boring,” you’re in for a pleasant surprise! Salads can be so much more than leafy green tedium. 

As I once told my daughter after she announced her disdain for salad, just about any foods you like, served cold, can be made into salad. The recipes below use cashews, feta cheese, pasta, potatoes, avocado, corn, nectarines, lime juice, and more fun, flavourful ingredients to jazz up heart-healthy staples like quinoa, black beans, red peppers, kale and more.

Read on for salad inspiration: Seven unique types of salads and links to ten great recipes – no lettuce required.

Grain Salads

Whole, intact, low glycemic index grains like barley, quinoa, or farro make a salad more filling, with slow-burning energy to hold you over until your next meal. 

Toss cooked grain with ingredients like chopped bell pepper, tomato, spinach, feta cheese, extra virgin olive oil, and red wine vinegar. 

RD Pro Tip: Save time by freezing a big batch of cooked grain in meal-sized portions.

Sweet Spot Favourite: Crunchy Cashew Thai Quinoa Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing – Ambitious Kitchen – If you’re not a quinoa fan, this heavenly ginger peanut dressing might make you reconsider. This salad keeps in the fridge for several days, so you can have lunch solved.

Runner up: Kale and Quinoa Salad with Cranberries and Feta – Julie van Rosendaal – This is another of our favourites, especially on busy weeknights, so I had to include it. (Go easy on the sugary dried cranberries.)

Pasta Salads

Pasta salad can be heart-healthy! When it’s cooked and cooled, the structure of the starch changes, so it’s digested and raises blood sugar more slowly. 

Neat, right? Science!

Aim for a vegetable salad with pasta versus a pasta salad with vegetables. Roasted red pepper, spicy arugula, tiny chopped broccoli florets, toasted sunflower seeds, and grated parmesan all pair well with cold pasta. 

If you don’t have it in you to make a dressing, just toss with your favourite bottled balsamic or Italian dressing. 

RD Pro tip: Check the label and look for one relatively low in sodium and sugar. Don’t worry about fat in dressings. (In fact, low-fat or fat-free dressings often have the most sodium or sugar.)

Sweet Spot Favourite: BIG Kale Pasta Salad – Budget Bytes – As you may have guessed, I love kale. Cut into thin ribbons and massage the dressing into it with your hands for a good 60 seconds. It will be much more tender and flavourful.

Potato Salads

Like pasta, potatoes are gentler on blood sugar when they’ve been cooked and cooled. Plus potatoes help you get vitamin C, potassium, and fibre. (More if you eat the skin.) 

Add vegetables like minced red onion and blanched green beans, as well as fresh herbs. For a change, try a sweet potato salad. (Bonus: lower glycemic index.)

Sweet Spot Favourite: Italian Potato Salad with Green Beans and Tomatoes – Sip & Feast – You’ll get rave reviews at a summer potluck with this colourful offering. As with the pasta salad, the idea is to dial up the vegetable portion. 

Bean Salads

Pulses, which are lentils, dried beans and peas, are incredibly nutrient dense: fibre, potassium, magnesium, and more. 

If a typical four-bean salad isn’t for you, how about black beans, corn, ripe tomato, and avocado? 

Or lentils with crunchy apples and almonds? Combine with a handful of whole grain and turn the salad into a hearty meal. 

Sweet Spot Favourite: Black Bean Salad with Corn, Red Peppers, Avocado & Lime-Cilantro Vinaigrette – Once Upon a Chef – Delicious but note that it’s a huge recipe. I like to cut it in half except for the lime vinaigrette. (Start with half of the salt and sugar too, and add more to taste if needed.) Use frozen corn if time is short.

Runner Up: Electric Chickpeas – Sweet Spot Nutrition – A zesty way to enjoy chickpeas, with or without the suggested additions like shrimp, avocado, or spinach. 

Fruit Salads

Not a vegetable lover? Fruit offers many of the same nutrients in a sweeter package and it’s associated with better heart health too. 

For a classic fruit salad, simply toss your favourites in lime or lemon juice whisked with honey. 

For a fresh twist, try watermelon, feta cheese, and mint. 

Or add fruit to a barley or lentil salad: Oranges, mango, pomegranate… they all add a colourful twist. 

Sweet Spot Favourite: Corn Salsa Salad – Energize Nutrition – A creative way to enjoy luscious nectarines when they’re in season. Again, a very large recipe, so consider making half.

Bowls

Bowls are kind of like salads served over whole grains. You’ve probably seen them on menus with names like “Ninja Bowl,” “Buddha Bowl,” or “Burrito Bowl.” 

Make one with your favourite vegetables – cooked or raw. There are no rules. Bowls are usually topped with rich, creamy dressings based on ingredients like tahini, peanuts, or miso.  

Sweet Spot Favourite: Hoisin Stir Fry Bowls with Spicy Peanut Sauce – Budget Bytes – This pushes the limit of what can be called a salad, but it’s so good I wanted to include it. I like to use ground turkey and add a head of broccoli.

Vegetable Salads

Vegetable-based salads don’t have to include leafy greens! Think of caprese salad for example: fresh tomato, mozzarella, and basil drizzled with extra virgin olive oil. Perfect for a hot summer night.

Try chopping and tossing together a few of your favourite vegetables with a zesty vinaigrette. Cut vegetables creatively: For example, grate carrots, shave with a vegetable peeler, or cut into matchsticks. Finish it with a handful of crumbled goat cheese or roasted pumpkin seeds.

Sweet Spot Favourite: Crunchy Peanut Cabbage Salad – Sweet Spot Nutrition – This is another one that sweetens things up with fruit (mandarin oranges) and adds heft with a grain (farro).

Leafy greens

Of course, if you like, a salad can be made with leafy greens other than lettuce. Experiment with spinach, arugula, or kale. Even swiss chard can make a lovely salad. 

Sweet Spot Favourite: Crunchy Spinach and Beet Salad – Sweet Spot Nutrition – Between the feta cheese, chopped apple, and sharp vinaigrette, this salad has so much going on!

Runner Up: The Best Shredded Kale Salad – Oh She Glows – If I haven’t convinced you yet about kale, this one might do it. The pecan parmesan is divine, although I like to grate real parmesan on top as well. And massage the dressing in. It really works.  

 More salad tips

• Heart-healthy dressings are often based on extra virgin olive oil, but for a change, try walnut oil, flaxseed oil, or even mayonnaise, which is surprisingly mostly heart-healthy fat! Good for making creamy dressings.
• If you make a batch of homemade salad dressing, it’ll last about two weeks in the fridge, according to the USDA. If it solidifies, don’t worry. Olive oil does that. Just let it sit out for a few minutes.
• Add grilled chicken, poached salmon, hard-boiled eggs, canned beans, or canned tuna for a muscle-building protein boost. 
• When you’re really pressed for time, bagged salads for the win! They might have more sugar and sodium than homemade, but if they get more vegetables on your plate, it’s a win. You can substitute extra virgin olive oil and red wine vinegar for some of the dressing if you want to cut back.
• Or look for coleslaw mix, kale slaw, or broccoli slaw. Simply add your favourite dressing. Voila! Salad, no chopping.

Summer is when salads shine! Keep the kitchen cool, take advantage of fresh seasonal produce, and enjoy.

Join the salads without lettuce conversation

Have you tried any of these salads? What did you think? Do you have any favourite salads without lettuce?

Join the conversation in the free Sweet Spot Heart-Healthy Cooking Club on Facebook.

---

Note: If this post looks familiar, it’s because I submitted a variation of it to Life in Hearts (Issue #3). For this version I added the recipe links.