Welcome to the Summer House Salad!
Isn’t she pretty?
I call this my Summer House Salad for a few reasons. First, I’m a longtime fan of the classic house salad — it’s a bowl I return to often. This version keeps that comforting base but leans bright and seasonal for summer. Second, the name evokes a dreamy summer house vibe: easy, relaxed, and full of sun-ripened produce.
Summer House Salad it is!
This salad is a chopped-style mix that’s easy to make for dinner or a big summer cookout. If you’ve seen my spicy rainbow salad from a few years back, this shares that same satisfying chopped-salad energy but uses simpler, more accessible ingredients and skips the heat. It’s colorful, filling, and the kind of salad that looks gorgeous on the table while still being effortless to toss together.
It starts with a base of greens — spring mix, baby spinach, or whatever you prefer. I sometimes arrange the components in neat sections for photos, but in everyday life I just toss everything together. The mix of textures and flavors is what makes this salad so satisfying: crisp vegetables, sweet fruit, creamy avocado, briny feta and a bright herb vinaigrette.
We have:
- Tomatoes
- Corn
- Cucumbers
- Avocado
- Radish
- Red onion (pickled onion works great)
- Mango for sweetness
- Peas
- Fresh herbs — mint and basil
- Feta (or your preferred cheese)
I often garnish with chive blossoms when they’re in season — they’re edible and add a lovely oniony-floral note. The dressing is an herb-forward vinaigrette built around mint and basil. It blends into a silky, almost-creamy texture without any dairy, and it’s versatile enough to drizzle on bread, roasted potatoes, shrimp, or another salad.
Don’t worry too much about exact ingredients — swap what you don’t love and add more of what you do. Love corn? Use an extra ear. Not a cucumber fan? Leave it out. The key is fresh produce, crunchy texture, and the mint-basil dressing tying everything together.
Though this salad can look fancy when plated, that’s just presentation — it’s perfectly fine to toss everything in one bowl. If you want to make it more substantial, add beans, grilled chicken, or shrimp. It’s become a staple because it’s bright, satisfying, and easy to adapt.
Summer House Salad
Summer House Salad
4
people
30 mins
30 mins
Ingredients
- 6 to 8 cups spring greens
- 3 roma tomatoes, chopped
- 2 radishes, sliced
- 2 ears sweet corn, kernels sliced from cob (raw is fine)
- 1 mango, peeled and chopped
- 1 avocado, chopped or sliced
- 1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/3 cup sweet peas
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh herbs (mint, basil, chives), for sprinkling
- Salt and pepper
Herb Vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons fresh mint
- 2 tablespoons fresh basil
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Place the greens in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper. Add tomatoes, radishes, corn, mango, avocado, red onion, peas, feta and herbs. Toss to combine.
- Drizzle with the herb vinaigrette and serve. To prep ahead, wash and chop vegetables and store separately; add avocado and feta just before serving.
Herb Vinaigrette
- Combine all vinaigrette ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Some herb pieces may remain — that’s fine. Store leftover dressing in the fridge in a sealed container for a few days.
Notes
Total staple in my life now.