5 Tips to Boost the Flavour of Your Regular Salads

Do you find your salads a little too bland, bitter, earthy, or boring?

Unfortunately, not everyone might be a fan of green and colourful salads but you could surely make someone fall head over heels in love with salads if you add little supporting ingredients and make tiny changes. This will make the salad look attractive and palatable and enhance the nutritional value of the overall salad. Simple and useful additions like spinach needs a squeeze of lemon, beets like a good strong cheese to balance their earthy flavour and beans come alive with an extra pinch of herbs.

The greens found in a typical salad provide a variety of minerals and nutrients that are hard to get elsewhere. So, it’s essential not to cut salads out of your life altogether, instead find your kind of salad add-ons.

Importance of Salad Dressing Nutrition
Keep in mind that your choice of dressing can make or break your total salad calories. Some people, who like creamy dressing, add hundreds of calories and countless grams of saturated fat. Options like olive oil, although it is a healthier form of fat but dressings are high in fat.

So get going with your bowl of favourite salad. A little of almost any healthy dressing of these ingredients will perk up your boring salad.

Make salads protein-rich with add ons
To make your salad feel more filling, it is important to add proteins to your salad. Some good protein choices are as follows:

• hard-boiled egg whites
• grilled chicken
• boiled or steamed shrimp
• grilled salmon
• roasted turkey breast
• water-packed tuna pieces

Vegetarian protein options
If you don’t prefer meat or seafood, remember that you can get protein from other vegetarian salad foods such as

• tofu
• lentils
• garbanzo beans
• black beans

Other non-vegetarian foods, such as walnuts, almonds, and avocados, provide both protein and good fats.

With flavours, take care of portion size as well
Watching your portion sizes is important, though. Choose raw chopped or crushed nuts over salted, roasted, or slivered or whole so you can spread them out throughout your salad and therefore, use less.

For serious calorie-cutting, skip the calorie-dense dressing altogether. Squeeze lemon juice over your salad for a light citrus zest or simply eat the salad with a dash of herbs like flaxseeds, thyme, and parsley.

To make your salad more colourful, add a few more vegetables
Greens are a regular and common part of salad; add colourful veggies to your salad to give it a flavour. Some of the most nutritious foods are also the tastiest and lowest in fat and calories which makes them a good option to try. These are beets, peppers, red cabbage, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, sprouts, onions, peas, and, mushrooms.

Select your dressings mindfully
At a salad bar, take a moment to look over the selection before you start preparing your plate so you don’t make common salad mistakes. When you begin assembling your salad, first gather a large amount of low-calorie leafy greens right away. Try to take up about three-fourths of your plate with greens, so you’ll have less room for other high-calorie add ons.

Add a fruity look to your salad
If you have never eaten fruit in your salads, try adding cranberries, pineapple slices, peaches, apple slices or red grapes, tangerine sections, sliced strawberries. Fruits tend to add a sweetness that you may miss if you go without dressing, and they’ll boost your salad nutrition, too.

Many nutritionists suggest that you can increase ingredients like herbs, mustard, minced shallots, or onions to add flavour without calories.

Other common salad dressing:

• A drizzle of that Extra-Virgin olive oil adds richness and “fullness” to a dry salad.
• Lemon Juice and zest brighten citrusy flavors, especially with dark vegetables.
• Vinegar is similar to lemon and plays a supporting role but with more flavour options.
• Cured Olives adds saltiness and meaty texture with savory depth.
• Mince them fine and toss in some fresh herbs like basil, dill, tarragon, and marjoram.

Over to you
Happily, you should be able to find at least one or two useful tips from these, no matter what main ingredients you are using. Keep these tips handy and use them either when raiding a friend’s kitchen before a potluck or at the condiment table at a picnic. Start with a little, stir, and the taste is enhanced.