25 Summer Salad Recipes for When It's Too Hot to Cook (2024)

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But most of all, it's that time of year when turning on the stove—and pumping your home with even more heat—seems like the worst possible thing you could do. The urge to eat cool things and refresh your body from the inside out means salads are a go-to dinner option pretty much every night of the week. We've rounded up some of our favorite recipes for no-to-low-cook summer salads to get you through all the impending heat waves. Keep these bookmarked for the rest of this sweaty, sweaty summer.

Easy Melon Salad Recipe

The perfect mix of salty and sweet, melon and feta salad is one of our favorite no-cook summer dishes. Have a little fun with the melon baller, then leave a big bowl of this in the fridge to cool you down when the going gets tough.

Grilled Shrimp Salad with Avocado Green Goddess Recipe

The best thing about grilling is that it keeps all the heat outside so you can stay nice and chill inside. This grilled shrimp salad with avocado green goddess dressing is great in pita, on toast, or even scooped up with a crunchy green leaf.

Wilted Escarole Salad with Anchovy Vinaigrette Recipe

Okay, fine, we'll hit the stove for a few minutes to make this easy escarole salad, because toasting your pine nuts is always worth it. Add some anchovy and currants, and you've got a nutty, salty, sweet vinaigrette that perfectly offsets the bitter greens.

Chicken Salad with Tahini and Herbs Recipe

If the idea of a rich, mayo-heavy salad on a hot day isn't your thing, then this slightly unconventional chicken salad is for you, getting its creaminess from a mixture of feta, Greek yogurt, and tahini.

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Easy Bok Choy Salad Recipe

A combination of quickly cooked stems and raw greens gives this spicy-salty-sweet bok choy salad some textural intrigue. Swap out the honey for a plant-based syrup, and this easy dish is vegan.

Crunchy Vinegar Lentils with Herbs Recipe

With a little kick of vinegar and lots of herbs and seeds, this simple, chilled lentil salad is a side dish that could very well steal the show.

Radish and Pear Slaw Recipe

A slaw is basically just another way to say "shredded salad," but no matter what we call it, we love this combo of spicy radish and crisp Asian pear in a sesame, honey, and lime dressing.

Greek Salad Recipe

A classic Greek salad of peppers, tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, and feta is summer vegetable simplicity at its finest. You can serve this as a side, but it's filling enough on its own.

Crunchy Summer Salad Recipe

It should go without saying, but you don't have to follow this summer salad recipe to a T—mix and match with whatever looks good at the farmer's market, though we think cool, crunchy options like shaved fennel and cucumbers make the best base.

Easy Antipasti Salad Recipe

You could just eat pepperoni and mozzarella with your fingers as we've all done for a midnight snack, but throw 'em in a bowl with chickpeas and tasty marinated things (artichokes, olives, peppers…) and suddenly, you've got an antipasti salad.

Cold Ramen and Steak Salad Recipe

This easy steak salad proves that ramen isn't just for soup, because as much as we love a hot bowl of noodles, a chilled salad is way more summer-appropriate.

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Creamy Cobb Salad Recipe

If you want to make your life easier, a classic, loaded Cobb salad is the kind of weekday lunch you can meal prep—just reserve all that your egg-boiling for one of the cooler days of the week.

Simple Potato Salad Recipe

Matty Matheson's take on classic potato salad is the kind of no-nonsense summer food that'll be a crowd pleaser at any picnic or cookout.

Crunchy Green Salad with Tahini-Miso Dressing Recipe

Is it green? Chop it up, and throw it into this crunchy salad with tahini-miso dressing.

Easy Fattoush Salad Recipe

Stale pita can still be saved: toast it into pita chips, and you've got the perfect addition for an easy fattoush salad. Pomegranate molasses, which is sticky syrup made from cooked-down pomegranate juice, forms the base of this fruity and bright dressing.

Collard Green Salad with Buttermilk Vinaigrette Recipe

There's no way we're braising collard greens on a hot day. But shred those collards and massage them in a tangy buttermilk vinaigrette—as you might with a kale salad—and you've got a no-cook collard green dish that makes it quick and easy to eat your greens.

Not-Chinese Chicken Salad Recipe

As much as we love traditional chicken salad, we'll admit that it's not the most texturally exciting food. This take on chicken salad, however, is quite the opposite: cabbage, seeds, noodles, and cucumbers give it plenty of crunch.

Cabbage Caesar Salad Recipe

Break from the idea of what a Caesar salad "should" be—this cabbage Caesar salad proves that any vegetable is improved with that savory, eggy dressing.

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Italian Pasta Salad Recipe

This dish is basically a pizza dressed up as a pasta salad, and it's perfect to pack up for a day at the beach.

Fresh Pea and Potato Salad Recipe

Blanching—a technique that involves finishing boiled vegetables in an ice bath—ensures that your fresh peas stay nice and snappy in this refreshing potato, salami, and pea salad.

Potato Salad with Bratwurst and Mustard Recipe

With bratwurst, potatoes, beer, and a homemade honey mustard dressing, this potato salad has all the flavors you love from your go-to beer hall. We recommend pairing this with your favorite golden beer—in a stein, of course.

Grilled Green Salad with Tahini Dressing Recipe

Grilling your greens? Yes, you should. Big chunks of tahini dressing-soaked bread make this salad even better.

Honeydew Melon and Fennel Salad Recipe

Halloumi, a dense and squeaky cheese that can be fried or grilled, adds heft to this chopped summer salad. If you're not already familiar with fennel, this salad is a great introduction to the crunchy, licorice-y bulb.

Kale, Chicory, and Chickpea Chopped Salad Recipe

Lots of crunchy, bitter chicories are balanced perfectly with tangy red wine vinegar, lush Castelvetrano olives, and some salty parmesan cheese in this riff on the kale salad.

Vegan Caesar Salad Recipe

Keep it lighter this summer—this recipe has all the flavors you love in a good Caesar salad, but none of the dairy.Get recipes like this and more in the Munchies Recipes newsletter. Sign up here.