Spring has sprung, which means it’s time to whip out those bright and colourful salads that celebrate the best of the season’s harvest. Whether you’re cooking for family, adding colour to a weekend spread or packing a to-go salad for a beachside picnic, these spring-forward recipes will get the job done.
Get podding with Danielle Alvarez’s salad of farro with broad beans and ricotta salata, tuck into some tasty spears with Osteria Illaria’s salad of asparagus and grilled fennel, and of course, make way for the seasonal salads like the insalata primavera and the salade printemps.
To make the most of in-season veg, now’s the time of year to turn our gaze towards leafy greens (silverbeet, kale and Asian greens get a look in here), and podded numbers, including sugar snap peas and broad beans. Seeking some serious heft? Why not add roast cauliflower, broccoli or beetroot to the mix? Coupled with a mean dressing and your protein of choice, and that’s a winning formula in our eyes.
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Seasonal salads for warmer days
Grilled calamari salad with yoghurt and ouzo dressing
A calamari salad perfect for your next alfresco feast.
Hot-smoked ocean trout and pearl barley salad
This hot-smoked ocean trout recipe makes for a delicious and easy weeknight dinner.
Hellenika’s Greek salad
Take your salad to the next level with this authentic Greek salad from Hellenika.
Seared tuna and radicchio salad with pumpkin and pickled beetroot
This seared tuna salad takes things up a notch with pickled beetroot, green beans, rounds of pumpkin and jammy eggs.
Pan-fried barramundi with sugar snap pea and couscous salad
A quick, flavour-packed dinner with crisp-skinned fillets, herby grains and a creamy dressing, finished with fragrant brown butter.
Radicchio salad with port-glazed figs and pickled beetroot
A fresh, crunchy, fruity and festive salad for summer.
Baby vegetable slaw with grapefruit and tarragon
This elegant no-fuss slaw will bring colour and freshness to any feast.
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Lemon chicken with bean and radish salad
Quick, easy and healthy. This is a chicken dish you’ll want to commit to memory.
Heirloom carrot and mandarin salad
This light and bright salad is best served with free-flowing wine and some good friends.
Watermelon, duck and cucumber salad
Watermelon gives this duck salad a fresh upgrade.
Brown butter roasted carrot salad with chickpeas
This roasted carrot salad works perfectly as a festive side dish, too.
Grilled marinated artichoke and buffalo ricotta salad
Marinated artichokes are the star of this dish.
Grilled eggplant salad with freekeh, artichoke, tomato and labne
This Mediterranean-inspired eggplant salad is as nourishing as it is delicious.
Roasted eggplant and ezme salad
Drawing on traditional Turkish flavours, this roast eggplant salad is well-balanced and flavourful.
Fig, fennel and grain salad with citrus dressing
This bright salad makes for a hearty solo dinner or a crowd-pleasing side at a long lunch.
Matt Stone’s raw zucchini, pine nut and miso salad
A pretty-as-a-picture dish for spring.
Beetroot salad with feta and lentils
We all know someone who thinks salads are boring. Consider them converted with this flavour-packed number.
Oregano and honey pork cutlets with watermelon salad
These honey pork cutlets make the perfect weeknight dinner.
Asparagus and soba noodle salad with furikake pine nuts
Make it a meal: for a more substantial dish, stir-fry prawns in sesame oil and garlic and toss through the noodles.
Cherry and Chinese spiced duck salad
Australia’s cherry season takes a detour through China with this fresh twist on classic duck, hoisin and stone fruit.
Rice noodle salad with grilled steak, lime and Vietnamese mint
A quick, satisfying meal that punches above its weight in the flavour game.
Bitter green salad with apple and walnut
The bitter leaves and tart green apples in this classic salad perfectly complement the more decadent flavours of a Christmas menu.
Shaved zucchini, fennel and mint salad with burrata
A simple recipe for shaved zucchini, fennel and mint salad with burrata.
Shawarma-spiced chicken with pomegranate tabbouleh
Labanieh takes this sharwarma dish to a luxurious new level. Begin this recipe a day ahead.
Chicken, radish and bean salad with tarragon dressing
This simple salad is a great way to use up leftover roast or barbecued chicken.
Emma McCaskill’s green asparagus, fennel, lentil and labne salad
A combination that just works.
E’cco’s zucchini salad with pecorino, currants, sunflower seeds and lemon
A spring-ready salad with the added crunch of sunflower seeds.
Jacqui Challinor’s smoked eggplant and pomegranate salad
For lovers of eggplant.
Kelda Haines’s goat’s cheese, beetroot and blackberry salad
Goat’s cheese and beetroot, a classic combination that can’t be beat.
Sean Moran’s parsley salad with finger lime
A tabbouleh-like salad with the extra pop and zing of finger lime.
Roasted cauliflower, Brussels sprout and chickpea salad
A warm roast vegetable salad, brightened with chimichurri.
Chicken salad with asparagus and quinoa
If you’ve got the time, toast the quinoa in a little grapeseed oil until it’s golden brown before adding the water – it adds a great nutty flavour that works well with the asparagus.
Kohlrabi mosaic salad with almonds
Almost too pretty to eat – almost.
Quinoa salad with pomegranate, pumpkin and ashed goat’s cheese
One of our most popular recipes for good reason.
Crunchy slaw with peanut-lime dressing
Visually stunning, this slaw of red cabbage, kale and beetroot is a great salad to take to parties, picnics and barbecues.
Danielle Alvarez’s farro with broad beans, ricotta salata, mint and lovage
Recipe for farro with broad beans, ricotta salata, mint and lovage by Danielle Alvarez.
Broccoli tabbouleh
A unique twist on traditional tabbouleh, with broccoli, quinoa, and a dressing packed with herbs and zest.
Tuna salad with zucchini, radish and sesame dressing
Take tuna salad up a level with a version that combines sashimi, seeds and raw zucchini with a tahini-soy dressing to bind it all together.
Ultra-green chopped salad
This fast ultra-green chopped salad is packed full of the good stuff.
Insalata primavera
This versatile spring salad mixes and matches seasonal green vegetables for the optimal combination of textures and flavours. Experiment to your heart’s content.
Rice salad with peas, mint, zucchini, lemon and pine nuts
A versatile summery salad that can be served warm or cold.
Chopped spring green salad
Find the best of the season’s produce, and toss them through a zingy feta dressing. It doesn’t get much easier that this.
Flaked trout, blood orange and fennel salad
Embrace the best of the season in this bright dish that partners ruby-red blood orange with flaked trout, mint and the crunch of fennel.
Charlie Carrington’s Yemenite pickled cabbage and chickpea salad
When life gives you cabbages, make pickles. These Yemen-style pickled leaves work well with the fresh, chopped vegetables and nutty chickpeas.
April: red sensation pear, quail, walnut and radicchio salad
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for red sensation pear, quail, walnut and radicchio salad.
Cress salad with ginger-date dressing
An Ottolenghi-ish salad brimming with goodness, and a sweet and tangy date dressing.
Poached chicken and millet salad with peas and mint
Millet is cooked pilaf-style for this salad to add extra flavour. It makes the perfect vehicle for a lemon-laden dressing along with shreds of poached chicken and plenty of peas.
Grilled broccolini with peas, goat’s curd and mint
Eating your greens has never been this easy.
Zucchini, guanciale, mozzarella and fregola salad
Australian Gourmet Traveller fast recipe for zucchini, guanciale, mozzarella and fregola salad.
Salade printemps with goat’s curd and herb vinaigrette
Creamy goat’s curd and crisp spring vegetables come together in this herbaceous French salad.
Fior di latte, pea, broad bean and lemon salad
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for fior di latte, pea, broad bean and lemon salad.
The Summertown Aristologist’s spring salad with fresh curd
Spring on a plate – what’s not to love?
Osteria Illaria’s grilled fennel and asparagus salad
“Fennel’s flavour changes dramatically as you grill it, and it gives it more depth,” says Andreas Papadakis.
Red quinoa and quail egg salad
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for red quinoa and quail egg salad.
Chicken and avocado salad
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for chicken and avocado salad by Pete Evans.
Beau Clugston’s avocado and kiwi salad
“When I put a version of this on the menu at Le 6, I imagined summer back home on the north coast of New South Wales.” says Clugston.
Charlie Carrington’s grilled asparagus, peas and amba-spiced labne
A spring-ready salad with a gentle hum of spice.
Paula Wolfert’s orange and grated carrot salad with orange-flower water
Recipe for orange and grated carrot salad with orange-flower water by Paula Wolfert.
Broad bean, crisp pancetta and poached egg salad
Australian Gourmet Traveller recipe for broad bean, crisp pancetta and poached egg salad by Alex Kearns from Neutral Bay Bar & Dining and Glebe Point Diner.
Burrata with herb oil and cucumber
A simple, vibrant spring salad.
All your spring salad queries answered
What is a good spring salad?
A good spring salad starts with great basics, be it leafy greens, a grain, carb, protein or in-season vegetable, tied together with a punchy dressing. Our salade printemps with goat’s curd and herb vinaigrette is a reader favourite, as is our baby vegetables with grapefruit and tarragon. Whatever you choose, you can’t go wrong with crisp greens that make the most of the spring produce.
What are some good spring menu ideas?
When the weather starts to warm up, we find that our taste strays from slow-cooked, rich menus, to lighter, brighter stars packed with in-season fruit and veg. Spring is a great season for outdoor barbecues, accompanied by a side salad. If you’re hosting, why not put out a plate of burrata with herb oil and cucumber with torn baguette for starters, or serve up our red quinoa and egg salad with grilled seafood or charred chicken?
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