MyPlate-Inspired Salads

Cooking Light is working with the Partnership for a Healthier America and USDA’s MyPlate to give anyone looking for healthier options access to thousands of recipes that will help them create healthy, tasty plates. For more information about creating a healthy plate, visit ChooseMyPlate.gov.

Covered in a sweet and spicy homemade vinaigrette dressing, our take on a traditional Cobb salad is overflowing with protein and delicious veggies like avocado, green onions, and tomato for a well-rounded dinner salad.

For a fast weeknight dinner, prepare a this grilled delicacy, which has heightened sweetness and flavor from grilling the fruit and meat.

Top romaine lettuce with grated Parmesan cheese, pine nuts, shrimp, croutons, and a homemade Caesar dressing for a satisfying main-dish salad.

Fresh peaches and goat cheese headline this simple no-cook salad recipe. The 8-ingredient vinaigrette, made with pantry staples, takes just minutes to make and is a delicious complement to the other salad ingredients.

This side salad is quick and easy to make and offers a beautiful presentation. Make ahead of time and serve with a fish, chicken, or beef main course.

In a colorful mixture of flavors and textures, this pork salad features a mixture of grilled, spiced pork tenderloin combined with pineapple, bell pepper, chile, and avocado. The mixture is served in lettuce leaves and topped with a tangy vinaigrette.

Perfect for a side dish to serve to company or on special family occasions, this fresh spinach salad features pears and a red-wine vinegar based dressing for an unbeatable combination.

A great way to use leftover chicken and save time in the kitchen, this 20-minute dinner salad uses quick-to-cook couscous and lots of brightly flavored herbs for a great taste.

Tomatoes are an important ingredient in the Creole cooking of New Orleans. This composed salad is easy to put together yet yields abundant, fresh flavor.

This crisp salad is good with burgers or fish sandwiches for a hearty meal. Add a dash of hot sauce to the mustard mixture for extra spiciness.

This main course salad is an ideal lunch or light supper option. Plums work as a delicious substitute for apricots, if you prefer.

This side dish makes great use of broccoli stalks in a riff on carpaccio, which is traditionally a dish of thinly sliced raw meat. A standout salad, this recipe won us over at the taste-testing table, earning our highest rating. You can use a mandoline to make easy work of slicing the broccoli thinly and evenly.

Our spinach salad hits a lot of flavorful notes; sweet fruit, earth nuts, refreshing mint, and a slight bitterness from Belgian endive mix together for a delectable combination.

This grilled tuna-topped salad serves two and goes perfectly with a side of crunchy rice cakes for a lighter dinner option. Prepare a refreshing dessert like coconut sorbet and diced mango to follow the spicy salad.

This ultimate starter salad celebrates the produce of the winter season and makes a knockout-gorgeous addition to your table. Use fresh orange juice, multicolored beets, and creamy goat cheese for this exquisite appetizer.

The best of the summer is tossed together in this fresh melon and fig salad. Ready in just 30 minutes, it’s an ideal option for a busy weeknight dinner.

A light vinaigrette tossed with pasta, fresh summer produce, and sautéed tofu make this salad a hit for vegetarians and meat-lovers alike.

This citrusy take on coleslaw is fresh and pleasantly spicy, making it an ideal side dish or burger topping. Leave the seeds in more peppers for added fire, or seed them all for a milder dish.

Serve this elegant, French-inspired salad with baguette slices toasted with feta cheese for a well-rounded and filling meal.

The ubiquitous Israeli bread salad makes a fine gathering place for black-eyed peas and sweet Georgia onions.

High-protein shrimp over a bed of fresh lettuce makes for a delicious main dish salad.

If you purchase whole fava bean pods, you'll need to shell them and then peel the beans: Blanch shelled beans in boiling water for a few seconds, remove to a bowl of ice water, drain, and slip off the opaque skins. You can also substitute shelled edamame.

Our Tomato Salad with Goat Cheese and Basil is light and perfect as an outdoor summer side. Choose a variety of tomato colors to make the salad more beautiful without any additional work.

Pair this easy salad with seasoned whole-wheat couscous or grilled bread brushed with olive oil. The flavors marry as the dish stands, so it's a particularly good choice for a picnic or party platter.

Grab a bag of packaged coleslaw mix, and you've saved yourself the time of slicing cabbage and shredding carrots. A splash of tequila adds spirit and complexity (we urge you not to leave it out), while lime juice's zing perks up earthy cabbage. Serve on tacos, alongside barbecue chicken, with grilled flank or skirt steak, or with (or on) burgers.

This simple yet flavorful salad comes together in a snap, perfect for a hectic weeknight.

Our light version handily beats the classic loaded salad—in both flavor and nutrition.

A mix of Thai basil and sweet basil makes for a satisfying aromatic salad with no lettuce "filler." Cucumber and shallots offer a bit of crunch. If you can't find Thai basil, use whichever variety you can find. Look for explosively hot Thai chiles at Asian markets, or use serranos.

If your supermarket carries frozen or shelf-stable precooked wheat berries, you'll save 50 minutes; use 1 cup of cooked grains.

This dish is a cinch to prepare, and you can make it your own using fresh mint instead of cilantro, or almonds or hazelnuts instead of walnuts. Also try it with chicken breast or pork tenderloin in place of chicken thighs. Dates add a delicious Mediterranean touch, yielding a lovely sweet-savory flavor balance; for more tang, substitute dried apricots.

Use the freshest lettuce you can find to ensure top-notch flavor and crunch.

Green lentils keep a firm texture even after cooking, a desirable trait for this hearty salad.

It's common to add a touch of sweetness to salad dressings for bitter greens. Instead of sugar or honey, use the richness of mirin.

Fresh parmesan makes this simple salad really shine.

If you want more petite leaves for your salad, choose baby arugula.

Hyperspeed this super-simple side salad by using pre-washed bagged baby spinach.

Quick, fresh, light—the perfect trifecta for a weeknight meal. Thin slices of fennel with fresh spinach leaves are nice bites that contrast with bacon and bacon-sautéed shrimp. It’s fast and looks fancy.

This unusual yet delicious combination of flavors makes a good substitute for traditional pasta salad at your next cookout.

This flavor-filled salad is a simple solution to bland office lunches.

So sophisticated guests will think you spent hours in the kitchen, this succulent salad is ready in just 17 minutes and goes great with a homemade roll.

This refreshing salad gets its flavor from an oil-free, boldly seasoned dressing. Thai basil has a purple hue on its stems and a licorice flavor.

If regular Italian–or Genovese–basil is all you can find, it'll work fine. However, it's worth searching out a few varieties, such as purple, Thai, or lemon basil. Using a mix of varieties improves the salad by adding visual interest and nuanced flavors. If you can't find hanger steak, substitute flank instead.

Low in calories and packed with fresh flavors, this Greek Chicken Bread Salad uses ingredients you may already have on hand.

Dinner prep for this delicious, Asian-inspired main-dish chicken salad is an absolute breeze.

Serve this light main-course salad with a hunk of crusty baguette and a glass of chilled Riesling. Choose ripe, juicy peaches, and leave the peel on for more texture. Ricotta salata is a milky, mild, slightly salty cheese that’s easy to crumble; you can substitute feta or goat cheese.

If you have longed for the perfect low-fat chicken salad recipe, look no further. Poaching the chicken keeps it moist and succulent, so you'll need less dressing to bind the salad.

Prepping the ingredients for this scrumptious salad takes less than 10 minutes, and dinner is on the table in less than 20.

Be sure to pat the scallops dry to ensure an even sear. Also, if serrano ham is available, it makes a tasty substitute for the prosciutto.

Lots of veggies and herbs pack this flavorful salad. It’s quick to prepare and would be delicious with grilled chicken or lamb, if you prefer.

If you want smaller bites, swap in chopped spinach for whole leaves.

We love Brussels sprout salads but wanted a quicker approach than the tedium of pulling apart the leaves. The food processor slices each sprout nice and thin with lightning-fast speed.

Fizz kale boasts delicate cabbage flavor and hearty crunch. If Fizz is unavailable, the salad will still be delicious using all Lacinato.

The broiler offers a fantastic way to give food the taste of fire, yet it's perhaps the most overlooked way of cooking. Here it brings alive the flavors of late-fall corn and peppers so they taste as good as at summer's peak. To help control the intense heat of a broiler, move foods closer to or farther away from the element--not just up or down the oven racks but also toward or away from the sides.

Perfect for a light lunch or side, this Cherry and Sunflower Seed salad features a homemade honey-mustard vinaigrette. The dried cherries and sunflower seeds give the kale an extra crunch with a sweet and salty finish.

The classic delight of sweet apples and extra-sharp white cheddar cheese meet in this kale salad to give the vitamin-enriched green an extra boost of flavor.

Kale salad goes tropical with an abundance of flavor from avocado, ripe mango, unsweetened coconut, and fresh lime-honey vinaigrette.

Highlighting tahini, quinoa, kale, and lemon, this ultra-nutritious salad is a tasty and satisfying dish to rack up your essential vitamins.

Kale offers the earthy flavor and chewy texture that make for supremely satisfying salads. A pressure cooker speeds the artichoke prep time. Pine nuts add crunch; plumped raisins balance the zingy Dijon-spiked dressing.

To make ahead, leave out the greens and keep the quinoa mixture covered in the refrigerator up to two days. Add spinach just before serving. To tame the heat, seed the chile or substitute chopped red bell pepper.

You don't need to cook asparagus to savor its unique, slightly grassy flavor. Here it's delivered au naturel: shaved raw into delicate, elegant curls; dressed in zesty vinaigrette and creamy egg yolk; and punched up with crunchy nuts and salty Spanish cheese.