Easy Chop Salad with Buttermilk Herb Dressing is a fresh and healthy side salad made with romaine lettuce greens, garden vegetables and sunflower seeds then drizzled with a tangy homemade herb dressing.
Are you always on the lookout for easy side dishes that go well with….everything? Enter the quick and easy Chop Salad! Load in your favorite veggies, or use up what’s left in the fridge, and you’ve got an awesome side in minutes. The best part is everything’s chopped into bite-size pieces so you get a mix of awesome flavors in every bite.
I made this easy chop salad for a cookout last week, to go with Smoky Beef Shish Kebab and it was a huge hit! Everyone loved how crunchy it was and even dunked the kebabs in the buttermilk herb dressing. I hoped that there’d be some left for lunch the next day, but by the end of the night everything was devoured! I’ll take that as a compliment.
If you love a mixed salad that’s perfect for using up produce that’s in your fridge, then chop salad is just the thing. I call them “freeform” because there’s no written rule for the ingredients…just use what you have on hand. We put our favorite veggies and fixins into this recipe:
HOW TO MAKE EASY CHOP SALAD
- Get out your veggies, fixins and dressing ingredients. Using a sharp knife, chop the vegetables into bite-size pieces and toss in a large serving bowl with the parsley and seeds.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the dressing. Serve the dressing alongside the salad. Eat!
INGREDIENTS FOR CHOP SALAD
- Romaine Lettuce – we love romaine hearts, but go ahead and use your favorite lettuce as the base for this salad.
- English Cucumber – seedless is the way to go! And who can resist those pretty plastic sealed cucumbers in the produce section?
- Green Onion – this mild onion doesn’t overpower the salad. Red onion is a good substitute.
- Red Bell Pepper – or any color bell pepper!
- Carrots – we shredded ours to spread out the carrot flavor.
- Sunflower Seeds – or pepitas or chopped nuts….a salad essential in my book!
- Parsley – go wild and throw a little herb in your the salad. It’s good for you.
What’s needed for Buttermilk Herb Dressing
We LOVE creamy dressings…and this one is light and fresh with the addition of herbs and sour cream.
- Buttermilk – give’s the dressing lot’s of tang. Sub in milk if you don’t have any.
- Mayonnaise – use a good regular or light mayo.
- Sour Cream – either full or reduced fat
- Lemon – you’ll want fresh lemon juice for this dressing!
- Dijon Mustard – a little sour goes a long way.
- Dill – bright, fresh flavor of the garden.
- Celery Seed – it’s optional…but we love the subtle celery flavor it adds.
- Sugar – just a little to offset the tang.
- Onion Powder – nutty, onion flavor gives this dressing even more depth.
- Garlic Powder – just a little bit because we love the flavor!
Here are a few more go-with-everything salads that are fantastic for cookouts or your everyday meals.
- Copycat Olive Garden Salad
- Jalapeno Popper Salad
- Cold Noodle Broccoli Spinach Salad
- Greek Farro Tomato Salad
Chop Salad with Buttermilk Herb Dressing
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 4 cups romaine lettuce hearts chopped
- 1 medium english cucumber sliced into bite-size pieces
- 2 stalks green onion sliced thin
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 1 medium red bell pepper stemmed and seeded, chopped
- 2 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley chopped
For the Dressing
- 1/4 cup buttermilk
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 2 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley minced
- 1 tsp fresh dill chopped
- 1 tsp celery seeds
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp onion powder
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt optional
- 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a large bowl, toss all of the salad ingredients until well blended.
- Place all dressing ingredients in a small bowl and whisk until smooth.
- Serve salad family style, with dressing on the side.
- Refrigerate remaining salad in a covered container for up to 3 days and dressing in a sealed container for up to 1 week.
Nutrition Facts
© Copyright Christine Mello for Must Love Home. We would love for you to share a link to this recipe but please do not copy/paste the recipe instructions to websites or social media. We are happy for you to share a photo with a link back to this website instead.
