Today I am SO excited to be kicking off Salad Week here on SQ!
This is the first themed week that I've done on the blog (and YouTube channel), and all week long I'm going to sharing healthy, meal-sized salad recipes with you that you can make for a quick and healthy dinner or bring with you for an office lunch. The idea behind this is in part to celebrate the start of Fall, as well as the upcoming launch of the SimplyFit Fall program, all the while giving you some fresh and exciting meals that are easy to make and packed with nutrition!
I personally love having salad as a meal, but I also know that it's easy to get into a rut. So hopefully with these tasty salad recipes, you'll have some inspiration to up your salad game and find new ways to enjoy your vegetables.
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We're starting Salad Week with a video and post dedicated to healthy salad dressings, specifically I'm showing you how to make tahini dressing four different ways. Because y'all know…I love me some tahini!
You'll probably recognize some of these dressings because I make them all the time, but these are my top 4 of all time. And they go with pretty much everything, so that's awesome.
The four tahini dressings we're making today are:
- Miso Ginger
- Maple
- Lemon Herb
- Vegan Ranch
And while I will be showing you how to use these dressing in four different salads over the next week, you really can use them for any combination of ingredients!
I love the Miso Ginger one with things like scallions, cabbage and broccoli. The maple one is perfect with pecans, carrots, sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts. The lemon herb one goes well with sauteed mushroom, peppers, and shallots. And the ranch one? That goes with everything!
Now before I let you go, I want to give you a few tips for keeping your salads as fresh as possible if you're taking them with you to work:
- Store your dressing and salad ingredients separately
- If you don't have a small container to store your dressing in, use a large mason jar. Place the dressing in the bottom, then layer on your salad ingredients with the heartiest vegetables at the bottom (broccoli, carrots, peppers, etc.) and the greens, fruit, avocado, etc., at the top.
- This is a genius method for keeping salad dressing separate
- You can pick these mason jar lids up (I have them and they're great!)
- Or you can try one of these little containers (perfect for dressing!)
And with that, let's get to the recipes!
Ginger Miso Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1 teaspoon miso paste
- 1″ piece of ginger, grated
- 1 teaspoon sriracha (more or less to taste)
- Juice of 1/2 a lime
- 3 – 5 tablespoons water
Instructions
Add all the ingredients to a mason jar, starting with 3 tablespoons of water. Shake hard until everything is combined. If too thick, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency.
by Alyssa
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | |
| Amount Per Serving | As Served |
| Calories 95kcal Calories from fat 73 | |
| % Daily Value | |
| Total Fat 8g | 12% |
| Saturated Fat 1g | 5% |
| Sodium 103mg | 4% |
| Carbohydrate 4g | 1% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 8% |
| Sugars 0g | |
| Protein 3g | |
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
| Calories | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Fat | Less than | 65g |
| Sat Fat | Less than | 25g |
| Cholesterol | Less than | 300mg |
| Sodium | Less than | 2,400mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 300g | |
| Dietary Fiber | 25g | |
Maple Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup tahini
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- Pinch of salt + pepper
- 3 – 5 tablespoons of water
Instructions
Add all the ingredients to a mason jar, starting with 3 tablespoons of water. Shake hard until everything is combined. If too thick, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time, until you reach the desired consistency.
by Simple Recipe Pro
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | |
| Amount Per Serving | As Served |
| Calories 416kcal Calories from fat 287 | |
| % Daily Value | |
| Total Fat 32g | 49% |
| Saturated Fat 4g | 20% |
| Sodium 74mg | 3% |
| Carbohydrate 29g | 10% |
| Dietary Fiber 6g | 24% |
| Sugars 13g | |
| Protein 10g | |
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
| Calories | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Fat | Less than | 65g |
| Sat Fat | Less than | 25g |
| Cholesterol | Less than | 300mg |
| Sodium | Less than | 2,400mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 300g | |
| Dietary Fiber | 25g | |
Lemon Herb Tahini Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup tahini
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
- 1 teaspoon fresh oregano
- 1 teaspoon fresh/dried thyme
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- 3 – 5 tablespoons water
Instructions
Add all ingredients to a blender, starting with 3 tablespoons of water. Blend on high until smooth and creamy. If too thick, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
by Simple Recipe Pro
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | |
| Amount Per Serving | As Served |
| Calories 97kcal Calories from fat 72 | |
| % Daily Value | |
| Total Fat 8g | 12% |
| Saturated Fat 1g | 5% |
| Sodium 91mg | 4% |
| Carbohydrate 5g | 2% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 8% |
| Sugars 0g | |
| Protein 3g | |
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
| Calories | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Fat | Less than | 65g |
| Sat Fat | Less than | 25g |
| Cholesterol | Less than | 300mg |
| Sodium | Less than | 2,400mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 300g | |
| Dietary Fiber | 25g | |
Vegan Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup tahini
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- Juice of 1/2 a lemon
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley
- 1 tablespoons fresh chives
- 1 teaspoon dried dill
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- Pinch of salt
- 2 pinches of pepper
Instructions
Add all ingredients to a blender, starting with 3 tablespoons of water. Blend on high until smooth and creamy. If too thick, add more water 1 tablespoon at a time until you reach your desired consistency.
by Simple Recipe Pro
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving Size | |
| Amount Per Serving | As Served |
| Calories 93kcal Calories from fat 72 | |
| % Daily Value | |
| Total Fat 8g | 12% |
| Saturated Fat 1g | 5% |
| Sodium 65mg | 3% |
| Carbohydrate 4g | 1% |
| Dietary Fiber 2g | 8% |
| Sugars 0g | |
| Protein 3g | |
Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs:
| Calories | 2000 | |
|---|---|---|
| Total Fat | Less than | 65g |
| Sat Fat | Less than | 25g |
| Cholesterol | Less than | 300mg |
| Sodium | Less than | 2,400mg |
| Total Carbohydrate | 300g | |
| Dietary Fiber | 25g | |
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Alyssa is the quinoa-obsessed girl behind Simply Quinoa. She's passionate about helping you find health, happiness and balance with wholesome recipes and lifestyle tips.
Kate says
Where do you get your miso paste, and what kind do you get? I can never seem to find it! Is it in a tube, or a jar, or some other packaging? All I can think of is tomato paste!
Alyssa says
It’s in a tub (kind of like hummus) and I usually find it near the tofu. It’s always refrigerated! But it is sold at most grocery stores — I like to get the chickpea variety if I can!
Mae says
Just made your ginger miso dressing. It was very good but when I added a tint pinch of salt that enhanced all the flavors.
Alyssa says
Thanks so much for sharing!
Vrishali W says
Hi,
I loved your salad dressing recipes. They are very healthy. However, I am from India and we dont get chives here. So needed to know, if its okay to not include chives in the vegan salad dressing recipe Please let me know.
Thanks,
Vrishali W
Alyssa says
Definitely! You can also use green onions in place of the chives 🙂
Natalie says
Hello! I have a question about your dressings! I make my own salad dressings all the time but just discovered tahini this week! If you add tahini to dressings, should they be refrigerated??
Alyssa says
I would! But I refrigerate all my dressings 🙂