Ree Drummond’s Salad Bar Salad Is a ‘Super-Fast Last-Minute Meal’
Food Network star Ree Drummond puts all the novelty of a salad bar at your fingertips. Packed with a little something for everyone, The Pioneer Woman host’s recipe is the fun, festive way to do salad at home.
Drummond offers a creative tip for making the most of salad bars
The culinary personality in her cookbook The Pioneer Woman Cooks—Super Easy serves up an ingenious way to put a grocery store salad bar to work for you.
“Supermarket salad bars have always been a clever way to buy small amounts of various veggies, meats, and jarred condiments for those times you don’t want to buy a whole bushel or container,” Drummond writes. “And for those times you need to grab ingredients for a super-fast last-minute meal!”
Beyond grabbing a clamshell container with ingredients for a salad for one, the mother of four suggests buying already sliced veggies for a practically instant stir-fry when you get home. Just cook up the protein of your choice and stir in the salad bar veggies. And the same goes for cole slaw and egg salads: just buy the conveniently diced and sliced ingredients at the salad bar and put it together at home.
Her salad recipe ‘celebrates’ everything great about salad bars
Drummond mused on salad bars in her cookbook: “Salad bars crack me up, because they really aren’t about the salad at all—but about what tonnage of nonsalad ingredients you can put on a few obligatory bites of lettuce. This main-dish salad celebrates all that is wonderful (and nondietetic) about American salad bars in a fun and beautiful way!”
Her ode to salad bar salads features romaine lettuce, English cucumber, red onion, grated Cheddar cheese, diced hard-boiled eggs, grated or julienned carrot, frozen peas that have been thawed, chopped bacon, halved grape tomatoes, and the salad dressing of your choice.
The variations are endless: don’t care for romaine lettuce? Try iceberg. Not a fan of onions? Maybe chopped spring onion would work better.
Get Drummond’s recipe in The Pioneer Woman Cooks—Super Easy or on Food Network’s site.
Drummond’s Salad Bar Salad is a hit with reviewers
Home cooks chimed in on Food Network’s site with thumbs up for Drummond’s easy-to-put-together meal.
“Made this for a large function and served it over a spinach/baby greens salad. Not a drop was left and everyone loved it. Always have good luck with Ree’s recipes and will most definitely make this again,” one person wrote.
Another reviewer added, “Another great recipe Ree!! This recipe was so simple and easy to make. Our family loved it!!”
One person even served it for a holiday dinner with great results: “Made this to serve at Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit! The dressing is amazing. I used roasted pumpkin seeds and arugula (b/c that was what I had in the house) and it was the best salad I have ever had.”
