How to Create a Build Your Own Salad Bar at Home

Serving a salad bar at home is a great way to enjoy a healthy meal with lots of veggies. It’s wonderful to serve for lunch year round or for an easy dinner in summer.

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Were you a fan of the steakhouse salad bar back in the day? Same girl, same. I lived for that, piling my plate high with all kinds of yummy fresh salads. 

While the extensive salad bars aren’t as prevalent in restaurants these days, you can still find them in the occasional grocery store with a dining hall. Unfortunately, those salad bars are pretty expensive and don’t always offer the best quality.

Thankfully, there’s a good cheap answer – making your own gourmet salad bar at home!

?Why Make a Build Your Own Salad Bar at Home

It makes it easy to eat more veg. When you have salad bases and salad toppings all ready to go, you’re more likely to build your own salads and consume more veggies, something that most believe creates a healthy meal. A salad bar is a great way to fill your family up on fruits and vegetables.

It makes meal prep easier. When you’ve got the fixings for healthy salads on hand, it’s easier to pack lunch for work, school, and other outings so that you can save money on dining costs when you’re out and about. You can prepare all the ingredients ahead of time and chill the components in the refrigerator.

It’s delicious! There are so many great items to top a custom salad that you can never get bored. You can enjoy all your favorite flavors when you prep your own salad options at home. Each diner can customize his dinner, allowing for a variety of tastes and preferences.

The days of the salad bar may have faded. It used to be that even fancy steak houses featured a salad buffet laden with cold, crisp greens, and a variety of toppings. But just because it’s not in vogue, doesn’t make the salad bar a thing of the past. In fact, it’s an excellent choice for cool summer suppers and easy lunches all year long.

How to Build an At-Home Salad Bar

While you might not have the full-size refrigerated counter of a restaurant salad bar, you can create a small one at home. Here’s what you’ll want to include in a great salad bar:

1. Salad Greens

Back in the day, chopped iceberg was the only choice. But, times have changed. There are a variety of lettuces and salad greens readily available like spinach, romaine lettuce, green leaf, red leaf, butter, and a mixture of baby greens, as well as the iceberg standard.

Tear your greens gently into bite-sized pieces and rinse well with cool water. I like to use a vinegar and water rinse to add a natural anti-bacterial effect. Spin your greens dry in a salad spinner and then chill in the refrigerator.

Pro tip: It’s important to dry your lettuce. Wet lettuce and salad greens are more susceptible to spoilage and won’t hold onto your dressings when the time comes to add a vinaigrette or other dressing.

2. Salad Bar Toppings Ideas

Protein Toppings

If the salad bar is your main dish, make sure that you provide some protein sources. These can be varied and inexpensive. You can even use up the previous night’s leftovers.

Try the following:

• cooked, chopped chicken, turkey, beef, or ham – leftover turkey or leftover ham from a holiday work well!
• cubed or shredded cheese
• hard-cooked eggs
• beans, such as kidney beans, black beans, chick peas, or lentils
• cooked and cooled quinoa

Veggie Salad Toppings 

Vegetables are typically expected in a salad bar. Offer as large as a variety as you can, including:

• chopped or shredded carrots
• sliced cucumbers
• chopped or sliced avocados
• sliced or chopped onions (red onion or green are nice)
• chopped red pepper
• cooked and cooled beets
• chopped or sliced tomatoes
• sliced olives
• sliced radishes
• broccoli and cauliflower flowerettes
• chopped celery
• sugar snap or sweet peas
• sweet corn
• pea tendrils, oh yes, indeed

Fruit Salad Toppings

Fruit is a lovely foil for the more savory components of your typical salad bar. This can be fresh fruit or dried fruit. These are all good options:

• orange slices
• grapefruit supremes
• fresh berries
• chopped apple
• grapes
• dried cranberries
• raisins
• dried cherries

Crunchy Toppings & Other Salad Garnishes 

Crunchy toppings make salads just a little more fun. Yesterday I bought a day-old loaf of shepherd’s bread so I can make a monster batch of homemade croutons. Yum! Other things to add crunch would include nuts and seeds. Sliced almonds, chopped walnuts and pecans, pepitas, and sunflower seeds make great salad toppings.

Fresh herbs add a fresh, earthy component to your salads. Offer chopped fresh dill, basil, parsley, and cilantro for a little green flavor. Arugula flowers add an interesting kick of pepper as well as make the plate a little prettier.

Dressings

While a drizzle of balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar and a dash of olive oil are often sufficient, a dressing can take your custom salads over the top!

Homemade dressings are amazingly easy to pull together. Mix them up in jars for easy mixing and storage. Some of my favorites include:

• Tarragon-Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Homemade Ranch Dressing
• Garlicky Anchovy Vinaigrette

The fun of the salad bar, besides getting to eat as much as you want, is that you can experiment with all kinds of different combinations, making this a great meal to serve to friends on a festive summer evening.

Want an easy way to remember all these tasty additions to your next salad bar supper? Subscribe to the Good Cheap Eats mailing list and get access to our free resource library, including this easy Salad Toppings printable list.

Serving Tips

• You don’t need to have an exhaustive array of salad bar toppings. Instead choose a few different options. You can vary them based on what you have.
• Chilled plates are a nice touch, particularly in the summer.
• Prep the ingredients ahead of time and store them in separate containers in the fridge. You don’t need a special salad bar dispenser, just use what you have.
• To save money, shop your kitchen. You don’t need a lot of any one ingredient to make a salad bar.

This post was originally published on June 22, 2012. It has been updated for content and clarity.