Peak-season fruit, farmers market veggies, greens, burrata, prosciutto, and anything else your heart desires — arranged on a tray and called a summer salad. The blueprint that keeps giving all season long.
Same idea, completely different salad each time. It's a choose-your-own-summer-salad-adventure situation.
Really good, peak summer, sweet and juicy fruits and veggies barely need a recipe. Arrange it, dress it, don't fuck it up.
Think of this post as a celebration of summer in salad form. Sweet and juicy fruits and veggies so damn good that they barely need you.
Sweet strawberries, juicy tomatoes, crunchy watermelon, creamy burrata, crispy chickpeas, pickled radishes…anything, really.
If it can go in any salad, it can go in our salad.
I want a salad full of textures and flavors and it's different every time depending on what looks best at the market and my mood. That's the whole point. Craving more of a light and refreshing watermelon feta situation or a creamy peachy dreamy burrata one, or an elevated caramelized figs and prosciutto party or a rainbow salad affair? No culinary purist over here — I love taking classic combo's and tweaking them slightly… or significantly. Like a strawberry Burrata Cali riff on the classic panzanella, or a traditional Japanese plum and cucumber salad with a very untraditional roasted ginger vinaigrette? Yes please.
The Summer Salad Blueprint
Pick Your Fruits: sweet peaches, figs, strawberries, tomatoes, watermelon – if it’s good enough to eat on its own, it can go in the salad.
Pick Your Veggies: summer squash, corn, green beans — let the farmers market decide. Play around not just with the type of veggie, but how you prepare them too - raw, roasted, blanched, or broiled.
Pick Your Greens: little gems, peppery arugula, butter lettuce — or skip them entirely.
Pick Your Add-Ons: think range of textures and flavors — crispy chickpeas, toasted nuts, seeds, pickled radishes, creamy burrata, fresh mozzarella, crispy prosciutto. And if you’re not sure if something will taste good in your salad, sample a bite. Playing around is the whole point.
Pick Your Dressing: Let the produce be the star — keep the dressing simple. I love a classic oil and vinegar. Play with your vinegars — red wine is sharper and brighter, sherry softer and rounder, balsamic sweet and deeply rich, white wine clean and delicate. Use one, mix two, and/or squeeze in some lemon to make everything better. Add shallots for crunch, honey or maple syrup for sweetness, mustard for depth and emulsification. Whisk it or shake it in a jar. Done.
Main or side — your call. Add baked feta, roasted sweet potato, or lamb shoulder and it's a full meal.
Summer Salads Worth Making
Summer salads are my love language — peak produce, minimal fuss, maximum color. Enjoy these nine summer salads, all mine, all very worth making.
Hope ya use this blueprint to go build your summer salad. And play around in the kitchen, making it yours.
Summer Salad Ideas
Ingredients
- 1 sweet potato thinly sliced
- 1 bunch asparagus blanched
- 2 ears fresh corn shucked and kernels removed
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 heirloom tomatoes sliced
- 1 pint figs cut in half
- 8 oz fresh mozzarella thinly sliced
- 6 heads little gem lettuce washed and dried
- 2 avocados diced
- handfull basil leaves
- flaky sea salt to taste
- black pepper to taste
For the Vinaigrette
- 1 shallot minced
- 1 lemon juiced
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons vinegar balsamic, sherry, red or white
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- kosher salt to taste
- black pepper
Instructions
- First we will prep all the ingredients that we are cooking. In this variation, it is the sweet potato, asparagus and corn. To cook the sweet potato, preheat oven to 400 F degrees. Thinly slice the sweet potation (peeling optional). I use a mandolin but a knife works as well. Toss sweet potatoes with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, salt and pepper and roast until tender, about 15-20 min, will depend on how thin you slice them. Flip once while cooking.
- To blanch the asparagus, have a large bowl of ice water ready. Trim the ends and fill a big pot with water and about 2 tablespoons of kosher salt. When the water is boiling, add asparagus; boil under tender, about 3-5 minutes (will depend on thickness).
- Drain in a colander and immediately transfer to ice water for 1 minute to stop the cooking process. Drain and set aside.
- Shuck the remove the kernels with a knife. Heat a sauté pan with a tablespoon of olive oil; add the corn and pinch of salt and pepper. Sometimes I like to cook the corn on high heat and get a nice char and sometimes I like to cook on low heat for 8-10 minutes, just until the starchiness is gone. Set aside.
- Prep the rest of the ingredients: slice tomatoes, cut figs, slice mozzarella, wash and dry lettuce, and dice the avocado.
- To make the vinaigrette: Combine all ingredients except olive oil in a bowl. Slowly drizzle in oil while whisking constantly. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Arrange all salad (except the lettuce) on a tray. Serve alongside a bowl of the dressed greens. Optional to drizzle a little of the dressing over the board or a really good olive oil. Sprinkle board with flaky sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.
Notes
- When possible, buy local and organic produce.
- Pick a range of textures and flavors for a more interesting summer salad.
- Serving size can easily vary depending on the number of people you’re cooking for.
- If you are brining this to a potluck, assemble it on a rimmed baking sheet and just cover it up!
- Vinaigrette can be made up to 3 days ahead and refrigerated; let come to room temperature before serving.
Summer-licious salad with cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, purple cabbage, pickled red onion, roasted lemons, basil and a simple vinaigrette!
And of course you can make a smaller version and arrange it on a plate instead of a board like this rainbow tomato, cucamelon, grape summer salad plate!
Or this savory cherry salad with cherry tomatoes, baked feta, little gems, purple cabbage, basil and an herbaceous vinaigrette!
And here's another version of a savory cherry cherry salad with sourdough croutons, fresh herbs, little gems, burrata and a pesto vinaigrette.
Or or just add the best of summer fresh fruit bounty on plate with cheese, nuts and honey and call it a salad like I did here.
Here's the bounty from an early summer farmers market visit. Made a salad from the bounty with a rhubarb vinaigrette!
Love all this ideas for different summer salads.
You are amazing and I am already salivating.
Thank you chefdanielagerson🙏🙏🙏😘👍💜
Absolute pleasure Jacqueline and I really appreciate your super sweet feedback! You are too kind :)!!!
Look at all that color. I feel healthy just by looking at all your photos. Beautiful summer salad!
Hehehe love hearing that ya feel healthy just by looking at my pics :). And thank ya so much! I absolutely adore colorful food!!!
Salads are the perfect way to add healthy fruits and vegetables to your diet while keeping the house cool by not heating up the kitchen. I love the Vinaigrette dressing in this salad.
Yesssss exactly Sharon! Bring all the healthy fruits and veggies on I say! And thanks so much for the sweet feedback :).
Salads should be on more people's meal plans. I'm a huge salad for dinner person, especially when it's blazing hot outside.
Yessss!!!! There's a whole wide salad world out there! And so many different ways to make a deliciously seasonal salad! I also love big healthy salads for dinner :).
What a great idea. I love the idea of a large platter of crudite and all sorts of yummy vegetables. Perfect for how summer evening al fresco dinners.
Yessss exactly Benice! I just use a baking sheet and all the best fruits and veggies in season when I'm making it... always a hit :)! Thanks so much for the sweet feedback!
What a great idea to have a "salad board" where everyone gets to pick their favourite ingredients to add to the greens! What is most difficult when having many guests is to nail a salad that pleases everybody. It's so unconvenient when you see guests who start picking while helping themselves from a salad bowl to avoid some stuff they don't eat in order not to leave it uneaten on their plates. This way every guest just takes what they love! Brilliant!!
Yes exactly Eva! It's a make-your-very-own-salad-adventure so everyone can enjoy exactly what they like :). Thanks so much for the sweet feedback!
This is absolute perfection. Your photos are gorgeous and the idea of communal eating is perfect. It is especially good for us gardeners, who can adapt this to whatever is coming from the garden!
Yassssss Jacqui! Are ya a gardener? Also good to inspire folks to just go to the farms market and choose whatever looks best to them + feel empowered to assemble a salad with whateva they find :).
I love salads especially in summer. This dressing has become my favorite go to salad dressing and i make it quite frequently. Thanks for sharing it.
Absolute pleasure Gunjan and I'm so super stoked to hear that about the dressing! And YAYAY for fresh summer farmers market salads :)!
I love this idea for using summer veggies . I always buy produce at our local farmers market , combined with my very small garden this will be perfect for serving my family. Your photos are beautiful and make me want to make it now !!
Thank ya so much Debbie! I'm so stoked and honored to hear that :). And that's so rad that ya have your own garden! Just use the best produce ya want, prep it, and arrange on a tray! Such an epic way to eat :)!
This looks amazing and your photos are stunning! I love the idea of adding different ingredients to make summer salads and the vinaigrette sounds so light and refreshing.
Thank ya so much LaKita!!! It's all abut choosing what looks best at the farmers market and going from there think me! Really appreciate the sweet feedback :).
I absolutely loooove this post! What a beautiful way to present all of the awesome vegetables I get from the farmers market! Seriously these salad ideas are so beautiful and so delicious. I can't wait to do this for our next dinner party!
YAYA! So super stoked to hear that Sara! My goal in my posts is def to inspire folks to go to their local farmers market :).