Winter salad: 5 tasty and healthy recipes

With the arrival of cold weather, you may feel like changing your diet for dishes that will warm you up, but it is still necessary to eat raw vegetables. That’s why we want to help you with several winter salad recipes that will allow you to enjoy this tasty and healthy food, even in cold weather.

The most important thing is that the winter salad contains a variety of foods to make it as nutritious as possible. It is also a very versatile and simple dish that will not only save you a light and quick dinner, but you can also take it with you to the office or on an outing.

What is a must in a salad?

If your idea is to prepare a winter salad as a unique dish, you must take into account the ingredients you are going to add.  In other words, for it to be a balanced dish, it must include the right proportions of all the food groups:

• Vegetable base, such as lettuce, spinach, lamb’s lettuce, fruit…
• Source of protein, such as eggs, tuna, turkey, chicken… An essential ingredient to make your salad as complete and nutritious as possible.
• Fibre and iron, such as pulses.
• Carbohydrates, necessary to provide sufficient energy, can be pasta or boiled potato.

Tips for preparing a perfect salad

After knowing what ingredients a salad should contain, it is important to consider the following aspects to make it appetising and tasty:

• Vegetables should be well drained to avoid watery and tasteless salads.
• Combine different textures and colours. To make your dish more appealing, try incorporating vegetables of different colours and textures, such as nuts or fruits for a crunchy touch.
• Mix different flavours, try mixing sweet and sour flavoured ingredients for example.
• Try examples of different combinations of dressings, you don’t always have to use olive oil and vinegar for dressing.

If you are going to take the salad in a tupper and you want to keep it in perfect condition, don’t forget to put the lettuce last, and the dressing, you can put it in a jar and add it just before eating.

Benefits of eating salads

If you are passionate about eating salads at any time of the year, you should know that this dish will bring great benefits to your body, such as:

• Thanks to the vegetables and fruits, salads provide fibre, vitamins and minerals.
• They do not provide saturated fats, but it will depend on the seasoning, extra ingredients…
• They provide satiety.
• They provide healthy fats through olive oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, etc.
• Reduces the risk of obesity and diabetes.
• Contributes to maintaining a good body weight.
• Salad vegetables help maintain adequate hydration.

Winter salad ideas

Do you like the idea of eating salads in winter? We leave you these tasty and easy proposals that you will love:

Broccoli Salad with Grilled Chicken

Have you ever tried broccoli in a salad? This recipe is delicious and packed with nutrients – take note of the ingredients and how to prepare it!

Ingredients:

• 1 broccoli
• 1 chicken breast
• Blueberries
• 1 mandarin
• Lemon juice
• Thyme, black pepper and rosemary to taste.
• Salt to taste
• EVOO

Preparation:

1. Wash the broccoli and cut into florets. Steam the broccoli until al dente.
2. Add a little oil to the frying pan and when hot add the chicken breast, cook on both sides.
3. Add salt, black pepper, thyme and rosemary. Then cut into strips.
4. Wash the cranberries and store in a bowl with the mandarin segments.
5. Place all the ingredients in a salad bowl and dress with lemon juice, olive oil, thyme and rosemary.

Spinach, goat’s cheese, orange and pistachio salad

This winter salad made with spinach and goat’s cheese will surprise you. The touch of orange and pistachios will give it a completely different touch. Do you dare to try it?

Ingredients:

• Spinach sprouts
• A piece of goat cheese
• 1 orange
• A handful of pistachios
• Salt
• Vinegar
• EVOO

Preparation:

1. Wash the spinach and then blanch it so that it does not lose its texture.
2. Place them on the platter and add the goat’s cheese in small pieces so that they are spread all over the plate.
3. Spread the orange segments all over the plate and then add the pistachios.
4. Dress the salad with salt, EVOO and vinegar.

Warm salad with prawns and avocado

As we have said throughout the article, it is very important that the salad has a source of protein to make it more nutritious.

Ingredients:

• Lettuce (your choice)
• Peeled prawns
• ½ avocado
• ½ lemon
• ¼ onion
• Mustard
• EVOO
• Pepper
• Salt

Preparation:

1. Add the prawns to a frying pan with a little oil. Set aside.
2. Cut the avocado into small cubes and add a little lemon juice to prevent them from oxidising. Meanwhile, cut the onion into thin slices.
3. Place the prawns, avocado, lettuce and onion in a bowl. Then add the mustard, EVOO, salt and pepper to taste.

Lentil and rice salad

If you’ve never tried adding pulses to your salads before, this combination of lentils and rice is sure to leave you open-mouthed, delicious and nutritious!

Ingredients:

• 80 g lentils
• 80 g basmati rice
• A handful of spinach sprouts
• ½ onion
• ½ red pepper
• 1 carrot
• Laurel
• 1 clove of garlic
• Chives
• Vinegar
• EVOO
• Pepper and salt to taste

Preparation:

1. Cook the lentils in a pot with the garlic and bay leaf. When they are tender, drain them. Then cook the rice with water and salt.
2. Peel and chop the onions into strips. Then fry them in a little oil.
3. Wash and dice the carrot and cook for two minutes to soften.
4. Prepare a vinaigrette with the oil, vinegar, chives, pepper and salt.
5. Place all the ingredients in a salad bowl, add the dressing and enjoy!

Curried chickpea salad

Do you like to try different flavours? This curried chickpea salad will leave you speechless. Best of all, it’s a very simple recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 jar of cooked chickpeas
• Young shoots
• Almonds
• Salt
• ¼ teaspoon curry
• EVOO
• Linseed

Preparation:

1. Add oil to a frying pan and when it is hot, add the chickpeas, salt and curry. Wait for the chickpeas to colour slightly and set aside.
2. In a bowl, place the baby sprouts, chickpeas, almonds and a sprinkling of flaxseeds on top, and that’s it!

What do you think of these winter salad recipes? Don’t hesitate to try them all and even combine them with each other. With these ideas you won’t have to give up your favourite dish even in the cold months. What’s more, as you can see, they are very quick and easy to prepare.