35 Salad Recipes That Copy Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes (2024)

There's no reason why you can't replicate the glitz and glamour of a restaurant salad in your own kitchen. In these recipes, we whip up simple vinaigrettes and combine your favorite veggies, fruits, cheeses and proteins for salads that will remind you of your favorite takeout options—from a classic steakhouse wedge to fruity side salads you'll want to pair with your favorite café sandwich. Recipes like our Best Caesar Salad with Crispy Parmesan and Shrimp Cobb Salad with Dijon Dressing are perfect for any occasion, whether you're entertaining guests or cooking for one.

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Shrimp Cobb Salad with Dijon Dressing

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35 Salad Recipes That Copy Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes (1)

We've replaced chicken with shrimp in this delicious and easy spin on the classic Cobb salad. This satisfying salad takes just 20 minutes to make, so it's perfect for weeknight dinners, but it's elegant enough to serve to guests.

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Little Gem Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese & Herb Dressing

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35 Salad Recipes That Copy Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes (2)

Little Gem lettuce is like a cross between romaine and butterhead. It's perfect for making an updated take on the wedge salad in this healthy recipe. If you can't find Little Gem, use half a romaine heart for each serving. You can order Point Reyes Original blue cheese online from pointreyescheese.com or substitute another raw-milk blue cheese.

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Best Caesar Salad with Crispy Parmesan

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For a nutrient-packed twist, this healthy Caesar salad features spinach and kale in addition to romaine. But it's the Parmesan crisps that make this salad holiday-worthy. Serve it for Thanksgiving or any other special meal.

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Apple-Cranberry Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese

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35 Salad Recipes That Copy Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes (4)

The tangy-sweet dressing in this spinach salad beautifully amplifies the apples and cranberries--and the creamy goat cheese transforms it into the perfect salad. Tasters raved about this easy fall salad. If you can't find Pink Lady apples, any sweet, crisp apple is a worthy substitute. Want to make this salad a main meal? Top with some rotisserie chicken, chickpeas or tofu.

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Crab Louie Salad

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At the Bayside Cafe in Morro Bay, California, this classic West Coast salad is made with Dungeness crab caught in the coastal waters. Lump crabmeat is a good substitute.

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Use-a-Spoon Chopped Salad with Tomatoes, Cucumber, Red Onion & Kalamata Olives

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35 Salad Recipes That Copy Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes (6)

This quick salad recipe features ingredients inspired by the Mediterranean, including Kalamata olives, cucumber and more. Serve alongside grilled fish or chicken for a refreshing side dish. This recipe was inspired by our popular "Use a Spoon" Chopped Salad from Paul Newman and Michel Nischan's former restaurant Dressing Room.

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Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad with Chicken

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35 Salad Recipes That Copy Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes (7)

In this healthy copycat of a takeout salad favorite we combine precooked (or leftover) chicken and poppy seed dressing with fresh greens, strawberries and goat cheese for an easy throw-together meal that's ready in 10 minutes.

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Warm Pear & Spinach Salad with Maple-Bacon Vinaigrette

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Mature, larger-leaved spinach holds up better to the warm bacon vinaigrette than baby spinach in this healthy spinach salad recipe. If you don't want the spinach to wilt, let the dressing cool before tossing it with the salad.

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Chopped Power Salad with Chicken

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Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Burrata

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35 Salad Recipes That Copy Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes (10)

This beautiful butternut squash salad with creamy burrata cheese and peppery arugula is perfect for fall entertaining. For the best flavor and texture, remove the burrata from the refrigerator about an hour before use and assemble the salad while the squash is still warm from roasting so the cheese will melt slightly. Feel free to use precut butternut squash to make this recipe easier. If you can find pomegranates, the arils add a bright pop of color and flavor to this healthy salad, but it's just as good--and almost as impressive-looking--without them.

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Winter Cobb Salad

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This seasonal twist on a traditional Cobb salad swaps in kale for lettuce and spiced butternut squash for chicken but keeps the essential avocado, blue cheese, bacon and egg.

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"Use a Spoon" Chopped Salad

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35 Salad Recipes That Copy Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes (12)

When Paul Newman and Michel Nischan opened their Westport, Connecticut, restaurant Dressing Room, Paul's request was that the menu always include a chopped salad that you could eat with a spoon. This chopped salad recipe is full of great flavors, colors and textures, featuring celery, carrots, red pepper, apple, cucumber, greens, cabbage, goat cheese and almonds. This is great for any holiday meal: you can let it stand and it stays crisp.

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Greek Revival Salad

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This attractive, full-bodied dish celebrates the Greek flavors of feta, black olives and plenty of oregano.

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Hasselback Tomato Caprese Salad

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35 Salad Recipes That Copy Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes (14)

Use the hasselback technique to upgrade plain caprese salad with this fun twist! Cutting partially into the whole tomato creates openings to layer in fresh mozzarella cheese, basil and a balsamic drizzle for tons of flavor in this unique vegetable side dish recipe.

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Superfood Chopped Salad with Salmon & Creamy Garlic Dressing

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Curly kale forms the base of this salad, but you could use chard or spinach. To the greens, add a multitude of chopped veggies, such as broccoli, cabbage and carrots. Finish with rich salmon for protein and a drizzle of creamy yogurt dressing to bring it all together.

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Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad

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This scrumptious and healthy salad combines elements of Caesar salad, pasta salad and chicken salad for an easy weeknight dinner that comes together in less than 30 minutes (and most of the prep can be done ahead). Use your blender to whip together the tangy buttermilk-based dressing, which would also be great on a salmon or chickpea salad.

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Tea-Leaf Salad

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Traditionally, the star of this famous Burmese salad, laphet, is made by fermenting just-picked tea leaves for several months underground. While laphet is starting to be imported, it is still hard to find. This version, using readily available green tea, offers a quick alternative. Mix the salad at the table so everyone can appreciate the diversity of ingredients--from crunchy to savory--that make it so special.

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Spiced Grilled Chicken with Cauliflower "Rice" Tabbouleh

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Chicken breasts on the grill have a smoky flavor that's enhanced with an easy spice rub. We chose flat-leaf parsley in this salad because it has a stronger herbal taste than its sometimes-bitter curly counterpart.

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Quinoa Power Salad

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Make this satisfying salad in the evening and enjoy one portion for dinner, then pack the remaining portion for lunch the next day. Loaded with protein- and fiber-rich ingredients like chicken, sweet potato and quinoa plus power greens, this meal is nutrition-packed!

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Chicken & Kale Taco Salad with Jalapeño-Avocado Ranch

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35 Salad Recipes That Copy Your Favorite Restaurant Dishes (20)

This healthy, super-fast salad recipe swaps out romaine for kale, giving you more than 10 times the vitamin C. Easy flavor hacks like store-bought ranch and pickled jalapeños help make a creamy, tangy and spicy dressing you'll want to drizzle on everything from salad to sliced veggies and shredded poached chicken.

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Stetson Chopped Salad

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Knock it out of the park at dinner with this composed salad recipe inspired by the crazy-popular Stetson Chopped Salad at Cowboy Ciao in Scottsdale, Arizona. It packs in colorful vegetables and a variety of textures from whole grains, seeds and a creamy homemade dressing for a photo-worthy, healthy meal. Keep it vegetarian or add smoked salmon or roasted chicken.

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Fried Chicken Salad with Buttermilk Dressing

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A blend of whole-wheat panko and fine cornmeal gives this healthy chicken recipe the perfect amount of crunch even though it's not deep fried. Making an easy homemade buttermilk ranch dressing recipe means you can skip bottled, which may have additives and stabilizers.

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Salmon Caesar Salad

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This easy Caesar salad subs creamy Greek yogurt and buttermilk for the traditional egg yolks and olive oil and mixes in mildly bitter radicchio in addition to classic romaine. Using just a small amount of flavorful Parmigiano-Reggiano shaves calories and sodium too.

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Strawberry Spinach Salad with Avocado & Walnuts

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Serve this summery strawberry spinach salad alongside soup or a half sandwich, or top with grilled chicken or roasted salmon for a complete and easy healthy meal.

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Big Beautiful Summer Salad

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This gorgeous and healthy summer vegetable salad is loaded with pretty produce, including golden beets, avocado, corn, microgreens and radishes. Chickpeas and edamame add substance, and an herb-filled buttermilk-avocado dressing makes this salad really special. Serve it on its own for a light vegetarian meal or add grilled chicken for an easy weeknight dinner.

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Avocado & Corn Salad

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In this fresh summer salad recipe, sweet corn and honey balance nicely with tomatoes, avocado and lime juice. Bring it along to your next summer picnic or pair it with grilled shrimp or chicken for an easy weeknight meal.

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Chopped Salad with Chicken & Avocado-Buttermilk Dressing

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This herb-loaded green goddess-inspired dressing gets a color boost from creamy avocado. Make a double batch of this healthy salad dressing to keep on hand for salads throughout the week.

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Caesar Salad with Grilled Steak

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Traditional Caesar salad dressing uses egg yolk to make it creamy. Here we use mayo instead for the same rich results without the raw egg.

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Watermelon & Goat Cheese Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette

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In this watermelon and goat cheese salad, the contrasting flavors and textures of crisp, sweet melon and creamy, tangy goat cheese are magical partners. Top with sliced grilled chicken to make it a meal.

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Kale & Strawberry Salad

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In this kale and strawberry salad, apple-cider vinegar and mustard flavor the dressing while fresh strawberries offer a touch of sweetness. Creamy herbed goat cheese completes this healthy salad that's perfect for lunch or dinner.

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Quinoa Avocado Salad with Buttermilk Dressing

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Persimmons add sweetness to this tossed green salad that sports a healthy salad dressing. A sprinkling of crispy fried quinoa adds unexpected crunch, putting the salad over the top in the best way.

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Watermelon, Orange & Cucumber Salad with Castelvetrano Olive Vinaigrette

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This easy and superfast salad is incredibly refreshing, thanks to juicy watermelon and oranges! The Castelvetrano olives lend a briny hit, while the herbs add lots of delicious depth to the salad. Pair this colorful salad with grilled shrimp or chicken.

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Blue Cheese & Spinach Salad

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This blue cheese, corn and spinach salad recipe is delicious tossed with a warm bacon-spiked tomato vinaigrette. We love a full-flavored blue cheese like Maytag, but a milder blue cheese is also nice. This spinach salad is great with pizza or as a light side salad.

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Spinach Salad with Ginger-Soy Dressing

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This spinach salad tossed with spunky ginger dressing was inspired by the iceberg salads served at Japanese steakhouses across the U.S. Add shrimp for lunch or a light supper.

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Caprese Salad with Heirloom Tomatoes & Burrata

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For a gorgeous take on a classic caprese, make this healthy salad recipe with heirloom tomatoes in various colors, shapes and sizes. Swapping regular mozzarella for creamy burrata makes this summer salad even more special--but it's still incredibly easy to make.