How to Dress for Salad Success

Week two of Salad Bootcamp is all about the good stuff

Hey Potheads,

Welcome back to Week Two of my three-week Salad Bootcamp here at Stir the Pot. If you are joining us, here’s where you catch up. Each week will be filled with tips, tricks, and lots of recipes so you can become the Salad Supreme you were meant to be. This Salad Bootcamp is being sponsored by the one and only SaladSprinkles which means I get to bring my recipes out from behind the paywall to share with all of you, free of charge. Want your own SaladSprinkles? Click right this way and use code STIRTHEPOT for 15% off your order. After this bootcamp, you’re going to be an unstoppable salad making machine so let’s get started.

This week we’re finishing my Garden Salad Theory and focusing on toppers and dressing. Cue the graphic!

I won’t tell you how long this took me to make

First up, the toppers. Let’s be honest, most of the time these are the reasons you eat a salad. They’re that little extra something that takes the salad from mundane to enjoyable.Think croutons, pita chips, nuts, or my beloved SaladSprinkles. This 4 percent of your salad is like the bow on your nutritionally dense gift of a meal and brings a huge amount of the flavor and texture to your bowl. You aren’t trying to be overly virtuous here. Just add what makes you happy to eat, like toasted nuts, olives, chopped fresh herbs like dill, sprouts, raw onions, pickled onions, or yes, SaladSprinkles. They bring all the crunch of croutons without shredding the hell out of your mouth. Plus, they’re gluten-free. You get, they’re good. All toppers must be good, like objectively delicious, no bullshit levels of good. Combined with the dressing, they’re the metaphorical carrot to get you to eat your salad so really go for it here.

Just some Classic Herb SaladSprinkles and some grated vegan parm right on top of my pan seared tofu

I like to dress and toss my salads with all the add-ins first and then add the toppers and toss gently one more time. That way the toppers stay kinda prominent and don’t get soggy if they are meant to be crispy. If you’re dishing up the salads, save some toppers on the side to sprinkle over the top of each serving when plating for *vibe* reasons.

See, I would have made sure a salad was on this table but they didn’t hire me

And now we’re arrived at dressings, the sauce of salads. Salad dressing is the only condiment that I really believe you should always make yourself if you have the option. Store-bought dressings suck 99.9% of the time. They’re high in calories, low in flavor, and stuffed with so many fillers that there’s no reason to even twist that cap off. The majority of store-bought salad dressings use cheap, flavorless ingredients. You can’t make something good out of shit, we all know this. It’s not because they hate you (though evidence is mounting) but because their product has to sit around for a long time and be priced as low as possible. They’re competing with the billions of other dressings at your local market. By using vegetable or canola oil instead of extra virgin olive oil (my god-tier fat of choice), manufacturers churn out products that have a high margin, long shelf life, low overhead, sits attractively on the shelf in the grocery store, and then sits around your house. Same goes for the vinegar and other acids in there. It’s all cheap on purpose.

Xanthan gum and other thickeners are used in most dressings to keep them emulsified. People don’t by dressing when they separate in the bottle on the shelf and people can see how much fat they have in them. Those are the facts. To compensate for the lack of flavorful and quality ingredients, companies shove as much salt and sugar as possible into their dressings so you’ll think you like it and then you buy them again out of habit. None of this gets you a better, more delicious salad. You wanna pay $6 and up for flavorless vegetable oil, emulsifiers, and the blandest, cheapest vinegar possible? You’re better than that.

You when bootcamp is done

Most salads I eat are dressed in some sort of vinaigrette because it’s easy to make and versatile. However, I think most vinaigrettes people are used to, like balsamic, are boring as hell because they only have one acid. No thanks. Adding multiple vinegars and acids to a dressing makes for a much more interesting salad. Plus, once you come up with your favorite combo, your house dressing will be totally unique to you. These are the vinegars and acids I always keep stocked:

-red wine vinegar

-white wine vinegar

-seasoned or unseasoned rice vinegar

-sherry vinegar

-fresh lemons

-ume plum vinegar, very optional but very delicious

You don’t need to buy them all at once. Get an affordable red wine vinegar and grab a lemon. See what you like. Luckily, vinegar isn’t going to go bad sitting in your cabinet, so you get a lot of miles out of your money. As for oils, 95% of the time I use extra virgin olive. It’s tasty and goes with pretty much everything. Occasionally I’ll use avocado or grapeseed oil if I want something more neutral tasting or I’ll sneak in a little toasted sesame oil if I want a nutty flavor. But really, it’s extra virgin olive oil for nearly every salad I make. You’ll notice that most vinaigrette recipes include something like Dijon mustard in them and that’s for a reason. It helps the dressing emulsify and brings a little flavor, unlike xanthan gum. Don’t be alarmed, your resulting dressing won’t be mustardy, it will just be good.

all dressed up and ready to toss

Below I’ve included some of my favorite and most popular dressing from over the years. I will often double or triple the recipes and keep them in a jar in my fridge to enjoy all week. It makes your life easier without sacrificing any taste. All that’s left is to actually dress your salad so let me give you some best practices. Once all your lettuce is in the bowl, you’ve thrown in all your seasoned add-ins, it’s time to drizzle in a little dressing. Start small, a couple tablespoons depending on the size of your salad and then toss. You’ll be able to tell pretty quickly if you need more dressing so then add a little more then toss again. Sprinkle in some salt and pepper and taste. That’s really the secret, taste as you go. It makes everything better. Once it’s pretty well dressed, it’s time for your toppers. You’re gilding the lily here. Add your fresh herbs, pickled onions, toasted nuts, or SaladSprinkles and then gently toss again. Taste and adjust to your preference. See? Your salad is already a million times better than if you just threw bagged lettuce on your plate and topped it with a glug of shitty store-bought dressing. You’re never going back to your old ways ever again. Pick a dressing and get going.

Stir The Pot Salad Dressings

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Next week is our last here at Bootcamp and we’re covering salad’s often overshadowed little sister, slaw. In the meantime, I’ll see you in the produce section.

xoxo,

Michelle