You can never have enough side salad recipes to add to your dinner rotation!
These side salads are simple to prepare with just a handful of ingredients, and they complement all meal types.
You know that I recommend a side salad to almost every main course meal on my site. That’s because we enjoy a side salad at home every day for lunch and dinner.
This is common practice in most countries in Europe, and especially lunch meals tend to be heavier and require a side salad to balance all flavors.
How we enjoy Side Salads at home
We serve a small portion of side salad with all our main course meals, during all seasons of the year. These are suitable with winter main course meals such as holiday Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, but also as a BBQ side with your grilled meats. I, personally, love a tangy side dish salad with a heavier mac and cheese or a spiced soup to accompany all flavors.
We keep the portion size of a side salad small. That means, these salads are served in a small bowl.
Side dish salads are super common in Europe, and they are mostly prepared with a tangy vinaigrette dressing or a dash of vinegar. The dressing needs to be light and tangy because the salad complements the mostly heavier main course meal.
![Everyday Green Salad [Simple Side Salad]](https://www.masalaherb.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Everyday-Green-Salad-gog-3.jpg)
The green salad is a common side dish which you can serve with most main course meals. It’s one of our most basic salads, which we also prepare more commonly than others because we love our green lettuce leaves. I have listed a set of lettuce leaves that you can use to make this salad from scratch.
A shredded carrot salad makes for a welcoming change. We love to make this vibrant salad during the hotter months of the year as we harvest our home-grown carrots, but it’s a great all year round salad in general.
The shredded version to make Bavarian Radi Salad. The white “beer-radish” variety is turned into a flavorful side dish salad. This salad is also known as the beer garden salad.
I came up with this salad when we needed a quick fix side dish for a BBQ event. Canned corn and beans make this a great last minute, effortless salad to enjoy with grilled meat, seafood and other vegetables.
A simple kohlrabi salad recipe prepared with grated or shredded raw kohlrabi and dressed with a vinaigrette dressing. Kohlrabi is an underrated, and often forgotten vegetable, and you will most likely love this salad if you are looking for neutral light salad flavors.
My mum always made this simple beet salad with fresh beets and Paul, my husband, loved it. As per request, I posted it, and it has been a favorite ever since on this space. Earthy beets are enhanced with a tart dressing, and you will enjoy this salad with a beef, veal, venison, or fish.
Turnips are a poor men’s food, but they have seen a revival over the years. They are commonly used in French cooking and, truthfully, they grow almost wild in our kitchen garden. You can grab a bunch of turnips from the farmer’s market to make this lovely side salad. It’s a super versatile side dish.
Cooked Broccoli and pink small radish are combined to make this salad colorful and delicious. This side salad is best served with a white main course meal to add pop to your lunch or dinner.
A Bavarian Potato salad is a warm potato salad made with a vinegar and oil dressing. The salad compliments other German main course dishes as a side dish.
A simple easy peeled tomato salad prepared with pantry ingredients. You will need fresh tomatoes to make this family favorite side salad.
Creamy German Cucumber Dill Salad aka Gurkensalat. You can choose to slice your cucumbers fine (the way they do it in Germany) or to cut thicker slices to add crunch (the way I do it).
Kidney beans is a nourishing salad which can be served with all kinds of other dishes. You are welcome to double the vinaigrette if you prefer more dressing and your salad juicy.
Japanese cabbage salad with oriental salad dressing. Prepare this quick and easy delicious salad within minutes and serve with your favorite meal. This salad is vegan, gluten-free, low carb and healthy.
Flavorful German Coleslaw Recipe side dish with vinegar, caraway seeds and oil. Easy to prepare, it enriches most main course meals with its light and wholesome flavors.
Fresh green bean salad with a homemade vinaigrette dressing. This is a classic French side dish salad recipe.
The Shirazi Salad is a very refreshing and easy salad to prepare, and I highly recommend serving it with a meat main course meal. It goes well with kebabs, BBQ meats, tandoori meat, pilaf, and flatbreads.
A daikon radish salad with a vinegar dressing. This salad is crunchy, juicy and flavorful, and it resembles the German radish salad.
This is a classic Austrian bean recipe from the Styria region. It’s hearty, flavorful, and easy to prepare. If you come across scarlet beans or if you are growing them at home, make this salad!