Summer salads
6/18/2026 by Natalie Niebler
Summer salads are a great way to take advantage of seasonal produce at their peak flavor. With endless ways to customize, putting together the perfect summer salad creates a healthy and satisfying meal. Shopping for a variety of fruits and vegetables at your local supermarket or farmers market helps to capture peak freshness and packs in fiber and nutrients for a refreshing meal.
Here's how to build a tasty and filling salad:
- Start with a bed of leafy veggies. Summer favorites might include spinach, arugula, and red and green leaf lettuce.
- Add a variety of seasonal fruits and vegetables. Examples include sweet corn, roasted zucchini or berries.
- Make it filling. Add an extra grain like quinoa, rice or farro; a protein source like grilled chicken, tofu or shrimp; or a variety of nuts or seeds like pistachios, pumpkin seeds or almonds to help make the salad more satisfying.
- Choose a dressing. Make your own dressing with ingredients like olive or avocado oil for healthy fats. Use vinegar, lemon juice or fresh herbs for flavor, which can be a money-saving and healthier option to store-bought dressings.
Incorporating multiple ingredients from different food groups builds a nourishing and satisfying meal without compromising flavor. Get salad recipes and other recipe ideas from the Mayo Clinic Healthy Recipes website. Use them for inspiration or build your own.
Natalie Niebler received a bachelor's degree in nutrition and dietetics from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. She is currently completing her master’s degree in clinical nutrition at UW–Madison in addition to a dietetic internship at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.