A green goddess salad that checks all the boxes and can adjust to any menu or season is my kinda back pocket salad recipe! This one is fresh and easy, simple and versatile….plus you can pull it off at the last minute and everyone will love it.
I’m always surprised when I meet people who think “salad” has one particular definition or picture in their head. To me, salad is the most versatile word in the cooking world. There are cooked salads, raw salads, chopped, deconstructed. Salads that call for grilled lettuce, and salad that doesn’t have lettuce at all! I know people who say that pasta is one of those dishes that matches are made based on how the sauce will hold onto particular shapes. I feel that way about salad and dressing. There are thicker and thinner dressings and they adhere to the components of your salad differently. Some cooked salads need a dressing with more intense flavor, while some veggies (radish, onion, bitter greens) have such an intense flavor that a more mild dressing is called for. Make sense?
I love to play with texture in salads by using different methods to cut the same veggies I may have already used recently in a different way. For example, carrots when cut in large chunks add crunch, but when they are julienned they provide more of a color punch. It’s fun to add ribbons of color or dots of taste into an otherwise ho hum salad. Salad should never be boring. There are so many variables to mix and match and play with!
Personally, my all time favorite way to eat salad is when all of the ingredients are chopped small, so you get a bit of everything in each bite….but I think that ANY salad that is tossed with this green goddess dressing is going to come in a pretty close second. I even toss this dressing onto zoodles (zucchini noodles), cauli-rice, and cooked veggies…..it’s that good! It makes a wonderful dipping sauce for spring rolls, sweet potato fries or cauli-tots too.
I like to pair this dressing with larger pieces of lettuce, because it does a good job clinging to the individual leaves without instantly becoming soggy. Here’s what I used for the salad pictured, but feel free to experiment and add your favorite cooked or raw vegetables with this dressing.
📖 Recipe
Green Goddess Salad
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 1 large daikon radish
- 3 large carrots
- 4 scallions
- 1 bulb fennel
- 1 box of washed greens
Dressing Ingredients:
- 1 large avocado
- 1 lime
- 1 jalapeno
- ½ cup tightly packed cilantro
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup water*
Instructions
Directions:
- Make the dressing: Halve the avocado and scoop into container with high sides. Zest and juice the lime into container. Remove seeds and membranes from jalapeno pepper and rough chop. Blend all dressing ingredients using immersion blender. Use more water if needed for a pourable consistency. Place in fridge to chill. If you don’t have an immersion blender, use a food processor or regular blender.
- Prep the veggies: Use julienne peeler to make matchstick slices out of radish and carrots and put into large bowl. Thinly slice the scallions and fennel add to bowl as well. Toss veggies together with greens.
- Slowly add enough dressing to coat, but not drown the salad, and then toss well. Serve immediately.
- If you need to make salad ahead, refrigerate undressed with a paper towel in a well sealed container. The dressing can also be made ahead and kept in a tightly sealed jar.
Notes
Nutrition
Note
The nutrition calculations were done using online tools. To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in any given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients you used. You are ultimately responsible for ensuring that any nutritional information is accurate, complete and useful.
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