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Need salad ideas? This easy tossed salad recipe features colorful veggies, crunchy homemade croutons, and a variety of salad dressing options.

Alex and I used to say that it was easy to just “throw together” a good salad. But the more experienced we’ve gotten in the kitchen, the more we’ve realized that a good green salad is not just a throw together type of thing! It’s got to have the right contrasts in texture, flavor, and colors, and one fine salad dressing to pull it all together.
Here’s our favorite easy tossed salad recipe, with the perfect balance of textures, colors and flavors—complete with crunchy croutons and a variety of dressings! It pairs beautifully with everything from chili to pizza. Ready to get cooking?
Ideas for what to put in tossed salad
So, making a tossed salad can sound very elementary. What to put in a salad? Vegetables, right? But making a really good salad is actually quite an art. A really good salad has the right balances of textures, flavors, and colors, the perfect salad dressing to compliment all of those ingredients, and the right vibe and seasonality. Here are some salad ideas for our favorite ingredients of what to put in a tossed salad. Remember, make sure to select ingredients that have contrasts in flavor, texture, and color.
- Colorful things: Radishes, carrots, strawberries, raspberries, red onion, green onion, bell peppers, peas, all bring a pop of color
- Tangy things: Olives, pepperoncini, pickled onions, pickled radishes, sun dried tomatoes, lemon zest, orange zest, lime zest, all bring a pop of flavor
- Crunchy things: Homemade croutons, tortilla strips, sunflower seeds, pepitas (pumpkin seeds), pecans, almonds, walnuts, pistachios, all add the perfect crunch
- Salty / savory things: Cheeses like feta, goat cheese and gorgonzola crumbles, Pecorino Romano, Parmesan, and ricotta salata add a savory flair

Features of this tossed salad recipe
Here’s what we chose for this tossed salad recipe (below)! It features a mix of romaine lettuce and red baby butter lettuce as a base. We love using two types of greens to have even more contrasts, the crisp, crunchy romaine against the more bitter red lettuce.
It’s topped with colorful veggies chosen for color and flavor: shredded carrots, purple onion slivers, thinly sliced green onions, and refreshing, crunchy cucumber.
A secret ingredient is jarred pepperoncini! We chose it not only for its electric yellow color, but to bring a tangy spice to the tossed salad.
Then we added some essential crunchy ingredients: sunflower seeds and our favorite garlicky salty homemade croutons!
Salad dressing options
Now for the dressing for this tossed salad, we wanted to give you a few dressing options. We served it with our avocado dressing, which is creamy and tangy. But this tossed salad can transform into a totally different salad by using different dressings. Here are a few options; you can go:
- Classic with homemade ranch
- Tangy with balsamic vinaigrette
- Lightly sweet and spicy with honey mustard dressing or Dijon mustard dressing (less sweet)
- Tart with citrus salad dressing
Or, browse through all our salad dressing recipes to see if there’s another that strikes your fancy!

We hope you enjoy this tossed salad recipe: let us know in the comments below! And make sure to tag us on Instagram if you make it.
Dietary notes
This tossed salad recipe is vegetarian, vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free. For gluten-free, omit the croutons.
Tossed Salad Recipe
Need salad ideas? This best tossed salad recipe features colorful veggies, crunchy homemade croutons, and a variety of salad dressing options.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 side salads 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Raw
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1/2 recipe Homemade Croutons
- 1 romaine heart (3 cups chopped)
- 5 cups mixed greens
- 1/4 small red onion
- 1 to 2 green onions (thinly sliced)
- 1/2 cucumber (1 cup peeled and chopped)
- 1 carrot (shredded)
- 4 radishes (thinly sliced and halved)
- ¼ cup pepperoncini
- ¼ cup sunflower seeds
- Sea salt, for garnish
- One of these dressings:
Instructions
- If using, make the Homemade Croutons.
- Wash and chop the romaine. If necessary, wash the mixed greens. (You can use any mix of greens here; measure about 2 cups of greens per serving.)
- Thinly slice the red onion. Thinly slice the green onion.
- Peel and chop the cucumber.
- Shred the carrot (we used this Handheld Julienne Shredder).
- Thinly slice and half the radishes.
- Choose and make the dressing (select from the dressing recipes above!).
- Toss together the greens, red onion, green onion, cucumber, carrot, radishes, and pepperoncini. Top with sunflower seeds and croutons, and drizzle with dressing.
Looking for salad recipes?
Outside of this tossed salad recipe, here are some of our other favorite easy salad recipes:
- Try our favorite kale salad, arugula salad, or chopped salad
- Go for a classic Caesar salad
- Make a Greek orzo salad or potato salad
- Try main dish Nicoise salad or fresh strawberry salad
Fantastic salad, you’re right, great combination of colors, textures and tastes.
Thank you for making!
I can’t get over how good this salad is, I’m not a big fan of a couple of the ingredients but it was delicious anyway. Had it with the homemade ranch dressing.
So glad you enjoyed it!