30+ Crave Worthy Dinner Salads

If you’re not a believer in salad for dinner, get ready to get converted. These crave-worthy dinner salad recipes are colorful, beautiful, filling, and so, so delicious.

Salad can – and should – be so much more than an afterthought. Dress crisp, bright greens with raw and grilled vegetables, fruits, grains, and proteins, and tie it all together with a zippy homemade dressing. The right combination is a simple and quick way to get a healthy, bountiful dinner on the table year-round.

We’ve pulled together over 30 of the best dinner salad recipes to make even the most stubborn “meat and potatoes” eater a believer (and for you, our friend, the classic Steakhouse Salad is must-try!).

Go beyond the basics and explore salads with grains like quinoa and rice, grill juicy stone fruit with chicken in the summer, and experiment with seasonal vegetables like delicata squash. There’s no one way to “do salad” – so try one or all of these healthy variations!

30+ Healthy Dinner Salad Recipes

Whether you’re vegetarian or keto, a meat-and-potatoes lover, or all about the greens, dinner salads can and should be a weeknight mainstay. Properly crafted, dinner salads are totally crave-worthy and deserving of a spot in the regular weekly rotation.

Healthy Steak Salad

Sear your steak in a cast iron skillet while your potatoes are roasting in the oven. While the meat is resting, prep your veggies and and whisk up homemade balsamic vinaigrette. Dish warm steak and potatoes atop cool, crisp veggies and serve immediately.

Chicken Shawarma Salad with Tahini Dressing

Crunchy greens are tossed with mint and parsley, then topped with crisp cucumbers, garden-fresh tomatoes, and tender slivers of red onion. The shawarma marinade takes minutes and can be prepped the night before, making for a quick, easy, and irresistible dinner salad.

Spring Cobb Salad with Thyme Vinaigrette

I love an easy salad recipe for weeknight dinners, especially one packed with protein and healthy fats! This spring cobb salad is a combination of grilled and raw vegetables with roasted chicken, avocado, blue cheese and a thyme red wine vinaigrette.

Roasted Vegetable Salad with Green Tahini

Tender roasted vegetables are served over spinach with a side of avocado, then sprinkled with sesame seeds and drizzled with green tahini sauce. This recipe is naturally paleo, Whole30 and vegan, and super customizable to your preferences – need more protein? Add simple grilled chicken.

Avocado Strawberry Chicken Salad

This strawberry chicken salad with avocado and creamy balsamic dressing is a healthy, vibrant dinner salad ready in just 30 minutes!

Buffalo Chicken Salad

Crisp boneless buffalo wings are nestled atop a crunchy salad base tossed with 2-ingredient vinaigrette, blue cheese crumbles, and creamy avocado. This buffalo chicken salad is a quick 30-minute meal packed with protein and vegetables.

Grilled Mediterranean Chicken Salad

This grilled mediterranean chicken salad is a bold combination of lemon-oregano brined chicken, olives, artichoke hearts, cucumbers, tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella, drizzled with an oregano vinaigrette.

Basil Chicken Salad with Peaches and Corn

This basil chicken salad is a healthy and flavorful way to use up an abundance of fresh basil. It’s packed with vibrant grilled fruits and vegetables and a punch of protein.

Chicken Caprese Salad

Caprese Chicken Salad is the perfect dinner to highlight the freshest of fresh ingredients and clean, classic flavors. While your grill is heating up, prep the dish by pounding and seasoning your chicken breasts and slicing and dicing your veggies. Whisk together your dressing ingredients while the chicken is cooking and get ready to cut, plate, and serve once it’s fresh off the grill.

BLT Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing

This BLT Salad is a classic, but with a delicious twist in the form of hot bacon dressing. Toss your greens, tomatoes, and croutons with this tangy salty dressing and get a kick of creaminess from ripe avocados, with double the bacony flavor. 

Strawberry Kale Salad with Mint

Tough bitter kale is transformed into velvety tenderness with a simple trick, and will entice even the staunchest kale haters. Mint and blue cheese elevate this healthy salad into a restaurant quality meal that you can make at home in just 20 minutes. 

Whole30 BLT Chicken Salad

This Whole30 BLT chicken salad is a fast and easy weeknight dinner or packed lunch. It’s tangy, crunchy, and filling and ready in under 30 minutes.

Steak Fajita Salad with Cilantro Vinaigrette

This quick and easy Steak Fajita Salad topped with a zingy cilantro lime vinaigrette is about to become your go-to Tex-Mex dinner recipe. It’s paleo and Whole30 friendly and ready in just 30 minutes!

Salmon Avocado Salad with Creamy Lemon Dressing

Tender, flaky salmon shines bright all on its own, but it really stands out in this salmon and avocado salad, tossed with seasonal produce and creamy lemon dressing. This salad is a true superfood combo, loaded with healthy omega-3 fats and all of the vitamins and nutrients your body craves. 

Kale Chicken Salad with Apples and Warm Potatoes

This kale chicken salad with maple cider vinaigrette is an easy, fast, and deeply nutritious weeknight gluten free dinner. It’s made with apples, farm fresh kale, grilled apple cider chicken, and warm potatoes, then dressed with an addictive sweet and tart vinaigrette.

Roasted Delicata Squash Salad with Creamy Maple Dressing

Roasted delicata squash is sweet, nutty, and impressively versatile. It shines in this seasonal salad recipe tossed with quinoa, vegetables, and pepitas, then drizzled with a sweet and creamy maple vinaigrette. 

Orange Chicken Salad

This orange chicken salad comes together in 30 minutes, and couldn’t be easier. Feel free to swap in whichever orange varietals you love, or your favorite method for preparing chicken. 

Broccoli Quinoa Salad with Sunbutter Sauce

In just thirty minutes you can become the envy of the block or the lunch table with this delightfully delicious vegan roasted broccoli quinoa salad. It’s perfectly balanced with sweet, nutty, and tart and will elevate your lunch status to Level 10 Tasty with just a handful of seasonal whole foods.

Grilled Zucchini Salad with Corn and White Beans

This grilled zucchini salad with corn and marinated white beans is a delicious summer dinner or side dish recipe that’s as easy to eat as it is to make. 

Salmon Quinoa Salad with Honey Soy Dressing

This salmon quinoa salad with honey soy dressing checks all of my weeknight dinner requirements – healthy, easy, fast, and delicious. 

Tortellini Caprese Salad

A twist on the classic, this Tortellini Caprese Salad is the pasta salad of the summer–and every season in between. Toss it together in 10 minutes and enjoy the fresh flavors of basil, tomatoes, cheesy tortellini and a delicious balsamic glaze. A perfect side but also hearty enough for a meal!

Recipe and photo by Lemons and Zest

Italian Salad

A delicious and healthy Italian Salad with a perfect herb dressing and plenty of veggies is an easy dinner salad that you can customize.

Recipe and photo by Chelsea’s Messy Apron

Shrimp Cobb Salad with Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette

Perfectly seasoned grilled shrimp with crispy bacon, tomatoes, avocado and soft boiled eggs makes the best healthy, BBQ ready Cobb salad for summer!  It’s tossed in an easy lemon garlic vinaigrette with your favorite salad greens for a flavor-packed low carb, Paleo, and Whole30 compliant meal. 

Recipe and photo by Paleo Running Momma

Greek Salad with Chicken

This delicious Greek salad topped with Greek marinaded chicken is the best for meal prepped lunches or light dinners. Top it with kalamata olives, feta cheese, crunchy cucumbers and my Mediterranean tomato salad with an easy Greek vinaigrette dressing.

Recipe and photo by Foodie Crush

Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese & Pistachios

This classic roasted beet salad recipe is like my favorite French restaurants’ beet salads! This salad features goat cheese, pistachios and arugula with a zippy Dijon dressing.

Recipe and photo by Cookie and Kate

Lemony Roasted Broccoli, Arugula, and Lentil Salad

This healthy and delicious salad features tender roasted broccoli and Brussels sprouts, protein-rich lentils, fresh arugula, and grated Parmesan tossed in a simple lemon dressing. 

Recipe and photo by Cookie and Kate

Balsamic Steak Gorgonzola Salad with Grilled Corn

A 20 minute, delicious steak and salad dinner recipe with tomatoes, red onion, home grilled corn, gorgonzola cheese crumbles, gremolata and balsamic vinaigrette. Perfect for the summer grilling months!

Recipe and photo by Aberdeen’s Kitchen

Citrus Shrimp and Avocado Salad

This simple but totally flavorful shrimp salad makes the perfect meal-prep meal for lunch or dinner thanks to pan-seared citrus-flavored shrimp, creamy avocado, and the crunch of sliced almonds.

Recipe and photo by Foodie Crush

Mediterranean Chopped Salad with Lemon Garlic Shrimp

Mediterranean Chopped Salad with Lemon Garlic Shrimp is the ultimate, flavor-packed, loaded salad. It’s filled with romaine, chickpeas, tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, bell peppers, roasted red peppers, fresh herbs, lemon garlic shrimp, and a zesty Greek vinaigrette. The combination of flavors is insane – trust me when I say it will be your new favorite meal-sized salad!

Photo and recipe by Spices In My DNA

Asian Salmon Salad with Ginger Soy Dressing

A sticky sweet soy glazed salmon on a bed of lettuce with mandarin oranges and carrots, drizzled with a simple yet flavorful singer soy dressing. A low carb meal that is delicious and healthy!

Recipe and Photo by Joyous Apron

Fennel Asparagus Salad

Crunchy and fresh, this Fennel Asparagus Salad pairs well with grilled fish, chicken or tofu.  Also delicious on a bed of spring greens with cucumber and radishes.  A vegan salad that can be made ahead and holds well in refrigerator for several days.

Recipe and photo by Feasting At Home