A new lease on leaves.

Salad (did you just go, “ugh”?) doesn’t have to mean squeaky spinach leaves with a scant sprinkle of feta. Or a monstrous gloppy restaurant tray with more dressing and fried crunchies than anything else. Mighty Salads are chewy grains and silky beans and sprouts and rips of prosciutto, any seed and toasty nuts and eggs and pretzels and bright herbs. And yes, also leaves.

Mighty Salads is 60 recipes from our community, from the leafy to the vegetable-laden, the bean-y to the mostly meaty. You’ll find the salads that will become your packable lunch, a go-to to impress dinner guests, or the best way to clean out your fridge.

A few of our favorites:

  • Grilled Steak and Tossed Salsa Verde Salad (with a way easier version of pesto)
  • Fried Eggplant, Tomato & Peach Salad with Preserved Lemon Vinaigrette (summertime heaven),
  • Brown Butter–Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Crispy Quinoa (because brown butter)
  • Baby Artichoke, Fregola & Pistachio Aillade Salad (pasta salad breaks out of the picnic)

Scoffing at the idea that you need a recipe for a salad? We hear you. But Mighty Salads is full of tips and tricks to take your salad game to a whole new level. Each recipe has a formula for “off-roading”, for those of us who like to color outside the lines. And you’ll pocket capital-G Genius ideas like a trick to tame a lotta pucker and instructions for sprouting your own grains. And recipe-follower or no, you’ll walk away with a few new components to incorporate into your own favorites: smoked lentils, cornbread croutons, and (huh?!) pickled chorizo. There's no right or wrong with salads. And we think that's mighty (heh) fine.

Balance is key: after your salad feast, you’ll need a hit of sugar. Our new cookbook Ice Cream & Friends is chock full of 60 recipes and oodles of tips to make your frozen, frosty dreams come true.

Your copy of Mighty Salads will come hand stamped by the Food52 editors.

  • Author: Editors of Food52, Amanda Hesser, & Merrill Stubbs