Dinner Salad Board Recipe
Serve this Epic Dinner Salad Board when you want a fresh, colorful spread that feels both healthy and inviting. Loaded with crisp lettuce, plenty of veggies, and fresh fruit, this recipe is a beautiful way to serve salad for a luncheon, light dinner, or easy side dish for gathering around the table.
Here’s a fun and beautiful way to serve salad to dinner guests—my Epic Dinner Salad Board. It’s fresh, colorful, and perfect for entertaining, whether you serve it as a light main dish, a side for grilled meats or pasta, or as part of a luncheon or holiday spread.
This Dinner Salad board idea is incredibly versatile—you can easily swap in your favorite toppings or whatever fresh ingredients you have on hand.
Why You’ll Love This Epic Dinner Salad Board
- Fresh and beautiful: It’s a colorful, vibrant way to serve salad for guests.
- Perfect for entertaining: Easy to set out for dinner parties, luncheons, holidays, or casual gatherings. Love this for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, too!
- Customizable: Swap in your favorite ingredients or whatever produce is in season.
- Easy to serve: Guests can build their own plate with the toppings they love most.
- Works with any menu: Serve it as a light main dish or alongside grilled meats, pasta, soup, or sandwiches.
- Simple but impressive: It looks stunning on the table with very little effort.
Ingredients to Buy for an Dinner Salad Board
All you need for this beautiful salad board is a mix of fresh greens, colorful produce, a few proteins, and your favorite toppings.
- Start with a base of spinach, romaine, and mixed greens. Then layer on fresh ingredients like cucumber, apple, bell peppers, carrots, tomatoes, mandarin oranges, blueberries, and chopped herbs.
- Add avocado and quartered lemon slices for freshness and garnish, then include a little crunch with candied walnuts and sliced almonds.
- For protein, I love adding shredded rotisserie chicken, chopped bacon, and chickpeas. Finish it off with crumbled feta or goat cheese, sliced grapes, and a couple of favorite dressings like Thousand Island and Dijon vinaigrette.
How to arrange the salad board
- Start by spreading a generous layer of mixed greens, spinach, and chopped romaine across a large round board or platter to create a fresh, full base.
- Next, place small bowls evenly around the board for the “featured” ingredients—dressings, shredded chicken, cheeses, nuts, and fruits—spacing them out so every section feels balanced.
- Then fill in the open areas with rows or clusters of sliced vegetables like cucumbers, peppers, carrots, and radishes, along with fresh fruits like apples, grapes, and berries.
- Add larger items like halved avocado and lemon wedges as focal points, and tuck in herbs for a pop of color.
- The key is to layer and fill every space so the board looks abundant, colorful, and inviting—perfect for guests to gather around and build their own salad.
My favorite salad dressing?
Our family loves the Marzetti Simply 60 Dijon Honey Mustard Vinaigrette. Have you tried it? Only 60 calories per serving!
Serving
Serve this Epic Dinner Salad Board as a fresh and beautiful addition to so many meals. It pairs perfectly with a light chicken dinner or alongside a cozy bowl of soup for an easy soup-and-salad night, but it’s also hearty enough to stand on its own as a main dish when loaded with protein and toppings. You can easily tailor it to match your menu, too—serve it with an Italian dinner by adding salami, mozzarella, pepperoncini, and Italian dressing, or give it a Greek twist with feta, olives, cucumbers, chickpeas, and a lemony vinaigrette. It’s one of those versatile, crowd-friendly dishes that works for just about any gathering.
Sandy’s tips and substitutions:
You can find boards to buy, here.
Everyone asks … this 28 inch board feeds anywhere from 12-24 guests. But it’s no longer availabe (for a few years now).
Think about whether you’re serving off of this board for an appetizer, and then it could easily feed 24. But if it’s a dinner board, the most would be 12. If it’s a side salad (like this recipe), then it could be 10-12? It really comes down to portion size!
More dinner board ideas to try:
Get the Recipe:
Dinner Salad Board Recipe
Ingredients
- 5 cups spinach
- 3-4 heads romaine
- 5 cups mixed greens
- ½ English cucumber, sliced
- 1 honey crisp apple, sliced
- 8-10 baby bell peppers
- 1 cup shredded carrot
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 1 small can Mandarin oranges
- 1 cup blueberries
- ½ cup chopped herbs, mint, cilantro, or parsley
- 1 avocado
- ½ cup candied walnuts
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- ¾ cup Thousand Island dressing
- ¾ cup Dijon vinaigrette
- 2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
- ½ cup chopped bacon
- 1 15 ounce can chickpeas
- ½ cup crumbled feta or goat cheese
- ½ cup crumbled blue cheese
- 1 cup sliced grapes
- 4 radishes, sliced
- Lemon to garnish
Equipment
Instructions
- On a large prepared board, place the side ingredients in small bowls and place on the board. Place 1-2 salad dressings in small bowls.
- Fill in the open areas with chopped lettuce, adding radish, cucumber, and peppers.
- Garnish with a whole avocado and fresh quartered lemon.
Hello and welcome to my home and table!
I’m Sandy—lover of food, family, cooking, THE BIG BOARD, travel, and bringing people together. Through great recipes and connection around the table, we become better, stronger, and more courageous people. Feasting on Life is real, and every time we do it, we grow a little more. Read more...
You said 28 inch borad in picture. However you don’t sell that board. Where did you purchase the one in the pucture?
Hi Veronica, we updated this post. That 28-in board (also NOT food safe) was d/c a few years ago, which is why we came out with our own line of THE BIG BOARD! Thanks for asking!
You are so talented! Â You need to publish another book about charcuterie boards. Â I have searched Amazon for you and did not find any with pictures and instructions!