Skip to content

Top Navigation

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Recipes
  • Holidays
  • Cooking 101
  • Healthy Living
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Pin FB

Explore Cooking Light

Cooking Light Cooking Light
  • Explore

    Explore

    • 31-Day Healthy Meal Plan

      Our 31-day calendar of meals and tips shows you how to cook more and love it with fun, family-friendly meals that come together quickly and deliciously. Read More Next
    • Dinner Tonight: Quick and Healthy Menus in 45 Minutes (or Less)

      Hundreds of delicious recipes, paired with simple sides, that can be on your table in 45 minutes or less. Read More Next
    • Our Favorite Healthy Air Fryer Recipes

      Who ever said that chicken wings, doughnuts, and pizza couldn't be healthy? Read More Next
  • Recipes

    Recipes

    See All Recipes
    • Breakfast & Brunch
    • Lunch
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Recipe Makeovers
    • Quick & Healthy
    • Diabetic
    • Gluten-Free
    • Vegetarian
    • Cooking Light Live
  • Holidays

    Holidays

    See All Holidays
    • New Year, New You
    • Super Bowl
    • Valentines
    • Easter
    • Halloween
    • Thanksgiving
    • Christmas
  • Cooking 101

    Cooking 101

    See All Cooking 101
    • Essential Ingredients
    • Cooking Techniques
    • Meet the Chef
    • Cooking Resources
    • Budget Friendly
    • Smart Choices
  • Healthy Living

    Healthy Living

    See All Healthy Living
    • Weight-Loss
    • Health
    • Fitness
    • Home
    • Travel
    • Nutrition 101
  • Shop
  • News
  • Good.Food.Fast
  • CL Diet

Profile Menu

Your Account

Account

  • Register/Join Now
  • Newsletters
  • Email Preferences
  • Manage Your Subscription this link opens in a new tab
Login
Logout
Sweepstakes

Follow Us

CookingLight diet CookingLight diet
  1. Home Chevron Right
  2. Cooking 101 Chevron Right
  3. How to Make Composed Salads

How to Make Composed Salads

February 27, 2012
Skip gallery slides
Pin
Credit: Photo: Oxmoor House
Individually prepared composed salads make a beautiful presentation to any meal, be it a usual weeknight or entertaining special guests. Follow our guide to learn just how to master this technique.
Start Slideshow

1 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Composed Salads

Credit: Photo: Oxmoor House
There are two ways to make a salad: Put everything in a bowl, add the dressing, and toss it all together; or arrange and layer everything on invidividual plates, drizzling the dressing on top of each. The latter is a "composed salad." It makes an eye-catching presentation with all the various ingredients displayed on the plate. This gallery explains just how to do it, step-by-step.

1 of 8

Advertisement
Advertisement

2 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Start with 2 cups shredded lettuce per person

Credit: Photo: Oxmoor House
You can use bagged mixes, or you can choose two lettuces and shred them together: Bibb and romaine, iceberg and endive, red leaf and baby oak leaf, spinach and radicchio. Think about pairing similar if slightly contrasting tastes: bold arugula with bold endive, mild mesclun mix with mild iceburg lettuce for crunch. Yes, you can mix the bold and the mild, but you must be careful: Radicchio will overpower baby oak leaf lettuce. You'll need to balance the two with a creamy, slightly sweet dressing. Arrange the shredded leaves on the plates.

2 of 8

3 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Add 3 ounces of protein per plate

Credit: Photo: Oxmoor House
Choose from skinless rotisserie chicken, precooked shrimp, grilled or poached salmon (or purchased salmon from the prepared food counter), canned or grilled tuna, crabmeat, diced ham, or even roast turkey from the deli counter (but know that these last two are high in sodium). Place the protein on top of the salad greens.

3 of 8

Advertisement

4 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Add 1 cup veggies and/or fruit per person

Credit: Photo: Oxmoor House
Try small broccoli florets, shredded zucchini or carrots, canned quartered artichoke hearts (packed in water and drained), thin bell pepper strips, snow peas, sugar snap peas, thinly sliced red onion or celery, sliced peaches, sliced nectarines, whole berries, sliced apples, sliced pears, or even sliced dried apricots. Choose several, maybe 1/3 cup each of three. Remember: Variety is the spice of salads as well as life! Sprinkle any of these on top of the protein and around the greens.

4 of 8

5 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Give It Some Crunch

Credit: Photo: Oxmoor House
For crunch, add 2 tablespoons toasted chopped nuts per serving. Choose from shelled pistachios, cashews, pecans, or walnuts―but look for unsalted roasted nuts to keep the sodium in check. Or skip the nuts altogether, and add a few crunchy croutons, preferably ones you make yourself from day-old cubed bread in a dry skillet over medium heat. Dot these all around the plates.

5 of 8

6 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Get Cheesy

Credit: Photo: Oxmoor House
If you'd like, add 1 ounce shredded, shaved, or crumbled cheese per person―blue cheese, Parmesan, cheddar, Gouda, fresh goat cheese, or another of your favorites. Sprinkle the cheese over the plates.

6 of 8

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

7 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Drizzle the Dressing

Credit: Photo: Oxmoor House
Drizzle two or three tablespoons of your favorite salad dressing over each salad. If you have a bottled favorite you'd like to use, read the label, and make sure you're using a low-sodium dressing.

7 of 8

8 of 8

Pin
Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message

Add the Seasoning

Credit: Photo: Oxmoor House
Add several grinds of black pepper to each plate, and you're ready to enjoy a tasty, easy meal.

8 of 8

Replay gallery

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook

Up Next

Share the Gallery

Pinterest Facebook
Advertisement
Skip slide summaries

Everything in This Slideshow

Advertisement

View All

1 of 8 Composed Salads
2 of 8 Start with 2 cups shredded lettuce per person
3 of 8 Add 3 ounces of protein per plate
4 of 8 Add 1 cup veggies and/or fruit per person
5 of 8 Give It Some Crunch
6 of 8 Get Cheesy
7 of 8 Drizzle the Dressing
8 of 8 Add the Seasoning

Share options

Facebook Tweet Mail Email iphone Send Text Message
Cooking Light

Magazines & More

Learn More

  • Cooking Light Diet this link opens in a new tab
  • Customer Service this link opens in a new tab
  • Advertise
  • Content Licensing
  • Sitemap

Connect

Follow Us
Subscribe to Our Newsletter
Other Meredith Sites

Other Meredith Sites

  • 4 Your Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Allrecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • All People Quilt this link opens in a new tab
  • Better Homes & Gardens this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Insights this link opens in a new tab
  • Bizrate Surveys this link opens in a new tab
  • Daily Paws this link opens in a new tab
  • EatingWell this link opens in a new tab
  • Eat This, Not That this link opens in a new tab
  • Entertainment Weekly this link opens in a new tab
  • Food & Wine this link opens in a new tab
  • Health this link opens in a new tab
  • Hello Giggles this link opens in a new tab
  • Instyle this link opens in a new tab
  • Martha Stewart this link opens in a new tab
  • Midwest Living this link opens in a new tab
  • More this link opens in a new tab
  • MyRecipes this link opens in a new tab
  • MyWedding this link opens in a new tab
  • My Food and Family this link opens in a new tab
  • MyLife this link opens in a new tab
  • Parenting this link opens in a new tab
  • Parents this link opens in a new tab
  • People this link opens in a new tab
  • People en EspaƱol this link opens in a new tab
  • Rachael Ray Magazine this link opens in a new tab
  • Real Simple this link opens in a new tab
  • Ser Padres this link opens in a new tab
  • Shape this link opens in a new tab
  • Siempre Mujer this link opens in a new tab
  • Southern Living this link opens in a new tab
  • SwearBy this link opens in a new tab
  • Travel & Leisure this link opens in a new tab
Cooking Light is part of the Allrecipes Food Group. © Copyright 2021 Meredith Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Cooking Light may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice. Privacy Policythis link opens in a new tab Terms of Servicethis link opens in a new tab Ad Choicesthis link opens in a new tab California Do Not Sellthis link opens a modal window Web Accessibilitythis link opens in a new tab
© Copyright . All rights reserved. Printed from https://www.cookinglight.com

View image

How to Make Composed Salads
this link is to an external site that may or may not meet accessibility guidelines.