This simple tossed salad recipe for a crowd is perfect for all of your summer parties, potlucks and BBQs, or served up as a healthy side dish for a weeknight meal! Tossed in a homemade vinaigrette dressing, this mixed garden salad is so fresh, crunchy and delicious! {Gluten-free, vegetarian & dairy-free}
Tossed Green Salad – So Simple!
If you’re looking for a delicious tossed salad recipe for a crowd, then you’ll love this easy garden salad!
Made with crisp fresh veggies like romaine lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, cucumber, and finished with a honey mustard salad dressing, it’s slightly sweet, tangy and so refreshing!
This tossed green salad is just like your basic restaurant-style house salad, but since it’s homemade, it can be easily customized with all of your favourite add-ins!
Perfect if you’re planning to host a dinner party or BBQ, or simply looking for a new go-to side salad to pair with your family meals.
The best part is, you can whip it together in less than 15 minutes. Easy and tasty? Sign me up!
If you’re looking for more easy side salad recipes, be sure to try this Broccoli Salad without Bacon and Asparagus Tomato Salad too!
Why We Love this Mixed Garden Salad
- Quick and easy: This tossed green salad only requires a few simple ingredients and can be whipped together in minutes. The perfect option when you need a quick side dish!
- Nutritious Made with lots of fresh vegetables, this is a tasty way to load up on some extra nutrients. The simple dressing is made from scratch so it contains less processed ingredients than store-bought dressings.
- Customizable: This simple garden salad recipe is so easy to make your own! Mix up the dressing or add additional ingredients like feta, croutons or grilled chicken to switch up the flavour profile or turn it into a more hearty option.
Ingredient Notes
- Vegetables: Romaine lettuce, plum tomatoes, English cucumber, red onion, shredded carrot fill this salad with lots of colour and crunch. Feel free to add in your own favourite veggies as well!
- Olive oil: I like to use extra virgin olive oil for the simple vinaigrette since I always have it on hand, but you can use light for a milder dressing taste. Avocado oil will work well too.
- Red wine vinegar: This helps to balance out the sweetness. Apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar can also be used.
- Dijon: For a tangy dressing. For a milder taste you can use wholegrain or yellow mustard if you’d prefer.
- Honey: To add some extra sweetness to offset the tanginess.
- Salt and pepper: Added to taste.
How to Make Tossed Salad for a Crowd – Step by Step Instructions
- Place the fresh greens in a large serving bowl and top with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and carrot.
- For the homemade dressing, place oil, vinegar, Dijon, honey and garlic (if using) in a small jar or container (you can also use a small bowl). Put the lid on the jar or container and shake dressing until well combined.
- Pour dressing over salad. Season salad with salt and pepper, to taste, and toss to combine. Serve immediately.
Recipe Tips for the Best Tossed Salad
- For milder onions: If you don’t like the taste of raw onion, you can soak the onion in a bowl of water for 10 minutes. Also, be sure to chop up the onions finely so that they don’t overpower the salad.
- Look for firmer tomatoes: I like to use firmer tomatoes so that they hold their shape when diced. Additionally, I typically remove the seeds from the tomatoes when chopping them, but it’s a personal preference.
- If making this salad ahead of time: I recommend placing all of the vegetables into a large bowl or container and keeping the dressing separate in a jar or small container. Pour the dressing on right before serving and toss to prevent the salad from getting wilted and soggy.
- Adapt according to taste preferences: This is a basic salad recipe, but I love adding in extras like croutons for extra crunch, feta cheese, or diced avocado for additional flavour and texture. See below for more suggestions!
Garden Salad Nutrition Facts
If you’re curious about the nutritional information for this salad, you can find the calories, macronutrients, vitamins, and minerals below. Keep in mind that the numbers may vary depending on how much dressing you add to the salad.
- Calories: 108
- Carbohydrates: 6 grams
- Protein: 1 gram
- Fat: 9 grams
- Sodium: 24 milligrams
- Potassium: 157 milligrams
- Fiber: 1 gram
- Sugar: 5 grams
- Vitamin A: 2702 international units
- Vitamin C: 5 milligrams
- Calcium: 15 milligrams
- Iron: 1 milligram
Storage Guidelines
Make ahead: For best results, store the salad and dressing separately. The dressing will keep well for up to a week and the salad can be stored covered in a bowl or airtight container for 2 to 3 days.
Leftover salad: Any dressed leftover salad can be kept in the fridge for up to one day. Any longer than that, and it will lose its freshness and start to wilt.
Recipe FAQs
For best results, this salad is best made up on the serving day so that the vegetables are fresh and crunchy. If making ahead, it’s recommended that you hold off on dressing the salad until just before serving so that the greens stay crisp and fresh.
Store the chopped salad separately from the dressing. Wash your salad greens and dry them well with a salad spinner or dab with some paper towel before chopping them. Store the salad in a covered container to help keep it fresh.
Garden salads usually have a variety of vegetables, such as leafy greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, and peppers — ingredients that you typically grow in a garden. Caesar salads tend to have a more creamy dressing and traditionally contain croutons and parmesan, in addition to anchovies, chicken or bacon.
One serving of this simple salad with dressing, is just over 100 calories. This will, of course, depend on how much dressing you choose to add to the salad and if you decide to toss in any extra add-ins.
What to Put in a Tossed Salad
This tossed green salad recipe is designed to be very basic, so you can keep it as is or jazz it up with any extra add-ins or toppings you’d like to give it a more fancy twist!
Try adding any of the following:
- Store-bought or homemade croutons
- Feta cheese
- Goat cheese
- Shaved parmesan cheese
- Diced avocado
- Green or black olives
- Sunflower seeds
- Sweet corn
- Mandarin oranges
- Dried cranberries
- Chicken
- Hard-boiled Egg
- Tuna
What Goes Well with Salad
This simple green salad is a great side dish to serve with lots of different main dishes since it’s so versatile! Try it with some of these meal ideas:
- Grilled chicken breast (marinated in one of these healthy chicken marinades)
- Worcestershire Sauce Burgers
- Lasagna with Bechamel Sauce
- Zucchini Turkey Burgers
- Lemon Garlic Parmesan Shrimp Pasta
- Teriyaki Chicken Skewers
- Baked Pesto Salmon
- Spicy Black Bean Burgers
- Baby Meatloaf Muffins
- Healthy Chicken Pizza
- Beef Pasta Hamburger Helper
Green Salad Ideas & Variations
- Different greens: Swap out the romaine lettuce for iceberg lettuce, or try it with baby spinach, arugula or Spring mix instead.
- Add in different vegetables: All kinds of salad veggies work great in this recipe. Bell peppers or corn are also great additions.
- Add some extra seasonings: Try adding Italian seasoning or dried oregano to the dressing.
- To make vegan: Simply swap the honey in the dressing for maple syrup.
More easy salad recipes
- Blueberry Walnut Salad
- Arugula Nectarine Salad
- Greek Lentil Salad
- Thai Mango Salad with Chicken
- Greek Yogurt Coleslaw
- Roasted Beets and Carrots Salad
Did you make this recipe? Scroll down to leave a star rating and review!
Best Tossed Green Salad for a Crowd
Ingredients
For the garden salad
- 2 hearts romaine lettuce thinly sliced
- 2 medium plum tomatoes (or regular tomatoes) diced
- 1/2 large English cucumber quartered and sliced
- 1/2 red onion finely diced
- 1 large carrot peeled and shredded
- Salt and black pepper to taste
For the vinaigrette dressing
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 clove garlic (optional)
Instructions
- Place romaine lettuce in a salad bowl and top with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, and carrot.
- Place oil, vinegar, Dijon, honey and garlic (if using) in a small jar or container. Put the lid on the jar or container and shake dressing until well combined.
- Pour dressing over salad. Season salad with salt and pepper, to taste, and toss to combine. Serve immediately.
Notes
- For milder onions: If you don’t like the taste of raw onion, you can soak the onion in a bowl of water for 10 minutes. Also, be sure to chop up the onions finely so that they don’t overpower the salad.
- Look for firmer tomatoes: I like to use firmer tomatoes so that they hold their shape when diced. Additionally, I typically remove the seeds from the tomatoes when chopping them, but it’s a personal preference.
- If making this salad ahead of time: I recommend placing all of the vegetables into a large bowl or container and keeping the dressing separate in a jar or small container. Pour the dressing on right before serving and toss to prevent the salad from getting wilted and soggy.
- Adapt according to taste preferences: This is a basic salad recipe, but I love adding in extras like croutons for extra crunch, feta cheese, or diced avocado for additional flavour and texture. See post above for more suggestions!
Delicious! And so easy to put together with basic ingredients. We all loved it! It was perfect alongside your Easy Chicken Burrito Casserole.
So happy you enjoyed it! I agree – it’s so good paired along with the chicken burrito casserole! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a rating and review :)