Favorite Italian Salad
My go-to salad recipe is this fresh and flavorful Italian Salad. It’s made with crisp lettuce, ripe tomatoes, red onion, sliced black olives, crunchy croutons, Parmesan cheese and zesty pepperoncinis. All of that deliciousness gets tossed in an easy homemade Italian vinaigrette for an irresistible Italian salad, you’re going to want to serve with everything. And you totally can because this salad pairs well with pretty much any dish and it’s fabulous topped with chicken, shrimp or fish for a light meal.
We love this salad served alongside our favorite Italian inspired dishes from spaghetti and meatballs to this easy baked chicken parmesan. Oh and it’s a must when I bake up my easy lasagna recipe!
Easy Italian Salad
I’m a total salad person. In fact, I try to eat a salad with all of my dinners (and many lunches too), no matter what is being served. My favorite salad to whip up is this tasty Italian salad. It goes with EVERY meal and is easy to throw together. There isn’t anything too fancy about it, but it has the best flavor. Plus, it’s a great way to get in extra veggies!
This easy Italian salad is the perfect salad for weeknight meals, but it is also great for serving to family and friends at dinner parties and potlucks because it is SO good. Everyone loves this basic salad recipe because there is nothing fancy about it. Sometimes simple is best and that is true with this crowd-favorite Italian salad. It is perfection without any fuss!
Common Italian Salad Ingredients
Like most salad recipes, this Italian salad is completely customizable with whatever ingredients you love best. Go ahead and get creative and make this recipe your own! Below are the ingredients my family enjoys most in this salad.
- Greens: I usually use chopped Romaine lettuce, but a bag of mixed spring greens works great too. Use whatever you have in the fridge!
- Red Onion: Sliced red onion gives the salad a pop of flavor and color. If you are not an onion fan, you can leave it out.
- Tomatoes: It’s not an Italian salad without the tomatoes! I like to use cherry or grape tomatoes. If it is tomato season and your garden is producing lots of large tomatoes, feel free to chop up big tomatoes and add them to the salad.
- Black olives: Black olives are my favorite, but you can totally leave them out or use another olive variety.
- Pepperoncini peppers: Zesty pepperoncini peppers really complete the classic Italian Salad! However, if they’re not your thing or you don’t have them available, no worries.
- Parmesan cheese: I highly recommend you use GOOD Parmesan cheese for this salad, not the stuff in the can. You can use shaved or freshly grated Parmesan cheese. And if you want to mix up the cheese, feta, goat, or shredded mozzarella cheese would also be delicious.
- Croutons: My kids’ favorite part of this salad are the croutons. Who can blame them?!
- Homemade Italian vinaigrette: The star of the salad! This vinaigrette is an easy mix of olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon, garlic powder, dried oregano, salt and pepper. We actually love this vinaigrette on all kinds of salads!
How Do You Make An Italian Salad?
Italian salad can be tossed together while your main entrée is cooking. It can also be made in advance. To make ahead, add all of the salad ingredients (except croutons and tomatoes) to a large salad bowl. Cover with a slightly damp paper towel and then loose plastic wrap over that. Refrigerate up to 24 hours. Pro tip: tearing the lettuce leaves, instead of using a knife to cut them, prevents the salad from wilting or bruising as quickly if you’re preparing this salad ahead of time.
To make Italian salad:
- Wash and dry the veggies and tear the lettuce into pieces.
- Grab the rest of the ingredients.
- Make the Italian vinaigrette.
- Toss everything together and serve.
Don’t add the vinaigrette until just before serving the salad to avoid a soggy salad.
How to Make Italian Salad Dressing
My favorite thing about this salad is the homemade Italian dressing! It’s easy to whisk up with ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen. I love it so much more than store bought dressing. You can make the vinaigrette in advance and keep it in the fridge for about 2 weeks. It’s great to have on-hand if you need to make a quick weeknight salad!
To make this Italian salad dressing you’ll simply need to combine oil with red wine vinegar and seasonings. The oil and vinegar in vinaigrette dressings can separate, so it’s important to include the teaspoon of Dijon to keep the mixture from separating. You’ll also want to shake it up before each use. I like to whip mine up and store it in a mason jar with a lid.
Tips
- As previously mentioned, my family seriously loves this salad tossed with my easy Italian vinaigrette dressing, but you can use any dressing you’d like from blue cheese dressing to homemade ranch dressing.
- You can add other Italian style ingredients to your salad such as sun dried tomatoes, marinated artichoke hearts, banana peppers, prosciutto or kalamata olives.
- Amp up this salad and serve it as a main dish! I often enjoy this salad topped with my favorite grilled chicken. It’s also great with my foolproof pan fried salmon. And to keep it vegetarian, try adding chickpeas, white beans or even kidney beans.
- A good quality olive oil is a must to make the BEST vinaigrette!
More Great Salad Recipes
Spinach Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
If you try this Italian salad recipe, let me know! Leave a comment and if your family loves it as much as mine does, be sure to give it a five star ⭐️ rating! Also, tag @kimscravings on Instagram with a picture of your creation. It’s so fun to see what you’re cooking! Be sure to subscribe to our mailing list to receive more healthy delicious recipes straight to your inbox.
Italian Salad
Ingredients
For the vinaigrette:
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
For the salad:
- 1 large head romaine lettuce,, chopped
- 1/2 red onion,, thinly sliced
- 1 1/2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes,, halved
- 1/3 cup pitted black olives,, halved
- 1/3 cup sliced or whole pepperoncini peppers
- 2 cups croutons, more or less depending on preference
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese,, plus extra for serving
Instructions
For the vinaigrette:
- Add all ingredients to a jar with a lid. I use a mason jar. Shake vigorously to combine all ingredients. Use immediately or store in the fridge for about a week.
For the salad:
- Add all salad ingredients to a large salad serving bowl. Toss to combine, drizzle with the vinaigrette and toss again to coat the salad. Serve with more Parmesan cheese sprinkled over the top.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
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This post was originally published December 2019. It was updated with new content April 2021.
This is the most delicious salad and homemade dressing ever!! So simple to make and so darn good!
I am a salad person and I could eat this one as my meal. Your vinaigrette is awesome.
Salad came out perfect! I love to make this because it’s easy and guests always love it.
Loved this salad!! For salad I usually just toss whatever I have in my fridge together – which is ok. But it makes such a difference when you pick a few key ingredients that go well together. Thank you!!
The ingredients are so simple and just the way I like it – simple recipe, yet so flavorful and unbelievably healthy!
This salad is a total winner. We all were digging in the salad to see who could get the last pepperoncinis, haha! Loved it!
This is a family favorite -even my sons love this recipe and actually ask for it. It pairs so well with lasagna. The dressing is fabulous!!
We’ve made this several times and love it. All of the salads on this blog are amazing!
I highly recommmend this recipe. It simply tastes so fresh and so good. My family requested for it 3 nights in a row after I made it the first time. I definitely rate it a 5 star.
Made this Italian salad for a small dinner party! Everyone loved it! Two people even asked for the recipe!