Salads

A Classic – Beautiful Caesar Salad

December 21, 2025 by Becky Spoon

I love a Caesar Salad. I love the richness of the dressing and the crunchy croutons on top and don’t forget about the Parmigiano Reggiano shavings!

The garlic croutons that top this classic salad are wonderful (included the recipe within the salad recipe) as is the anchovy-infused, very creamy dressing… A wonderful, rich, anchovy dressing makes this salad a meal. Serve with crusty Italian Bread if you like.

What to serve this with?

This is the perfect side dish for my cast iron skillet ribeye steak. Here is the link for my ribeye steak: https://the2spoons.com/happy-birthday-cast-iron-skillet-ribeye-steak.

Happy Birthday - Iron Skillet Ribeye Steak — Happy Birthday – Iron Skillet Ribeye Steak

This salad can be served as a side dish or as a main course. I love to add grilled shrimp or grilled chicken when I’m serving as a main course. When I add grilled shrimp I merely coat the shrimp in olive oil and season with a little salt and lemon pepper and grill until pink. Here’s the link for my ribeye steak! Happy Birthday – Iron Skillet Ribeye Steak

Don’t stop at grilled shrimp or chicken for your salad, Try these toppings for an even more delicious and healthy dish.

Shaved Carrots– take a vegetable peeler to already washed and peeled carrots to add to your salad.

Sunflower Seeds– sunflower seeds give an extra crunch and an extra boost of vitamin E and magnesium.

Sweet Potato Croutons– these are just like the croutons you’re probably used to seeing expect that they’re made from sweet potatoes, which means they’ll give your salad an addition of vitamin A and antioxidants.

Tomatoes– tomatoes are classic additions to salads, but not traditional additions to the salad; therefore, adding them to your remixed version will give it an extra boost of flavor.

Chopped, Cooked Bacon– the saltiness and natural taste of bacon (pork or turkey) goes perfectly with the other savory flavors of the Caesar salad.

Sprouts– adding in sprouts gives the Caesar salad a different spin in taste and nutrition. Mixing in a handful to your newly revised creation packs a serving size addition of necessary vitamins and minerals.

Sliced Hard Boiled Egg– hard boiled eggs gives these traditional salads extra flavor, and texture.

Chopped Nuts– chopped nuts gives the Caesar salad a crunchy texture, just as with sunflower seeds, as well as being another great source of protein, not to mention the variety to choose from, including cashews, peanuts, almonds, and walnuts.

what do you need to make the salad?

cloves of garlic
anchovies
egg yolks
dijon mustard
fresh squeezed lemon juice
worcestershire
olive oil
parmigiana reggiano
salt & pepper

Here is my homemade crouton recipe: So Easy – Crispy Homemade Croutons

Need a multi purpose food processor? I recently purchased this model and I love it! https://amzn.to/3KWXY4m

Here’s the recipe! Enjoy!

Caesar Salad with homemade dressing

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Prep Time 10

Course: Appetizer, Side Dish

Cuisine: American, Italian, mediteranean, Mexico

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

For the Dressing

2 garlic cloves
4-6 anchovies
2 large egg yolks
1-2 tsp dijon mustard
juice of 1/2 to whole lemon
1-2 tsp worcestershire sauce
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
salt & pepper

For the Salad

1-2 heads romaine lettuce using the hearts and not the outside leaves
Caesar dressing
extra virgin olive oil
lemon for drizzling
parmigiano reggiano
homemade croutons (link in main content)

Method

For the Dressing

Insert the chopping blade onto the food processor. With the machine running, drop the garlic through the tube to mince. Add the anchovies and chop to form a paste with the garlic.
Add the egg yolks, dijon mustard , lemon juice and Worcestershire sauce to the blender bowl. Process the until the mixture is combined, about 30 seconds.
With the machine running on low speed, add the olive oil very slowly through the feed tube. Emulsify for a minute or so to desired thickness.
Add the cheese and pulse a few times. Taste to see if you need a little salt as the cheese is salty. Add a little cracked black pepper.
Chill in the refrigerator before serving if desired. Store any left in an air tight container.

To assemble the salad

Either chop or tear the romaine into bite size pieces or line individual plates with romaine heart leaves. Drizzle a little lemon juice then followed by extra virgin olive oil. Lightly salt and pepper. Add the desired amount of dressing and toss. Top with slivers or sprinkling of cheese and the croutons. Bon Appetite!

i love this easy egg salad.

June 26, 2024 by Becky Spoon

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This egg salad recipe is perfect for those who enjoy the flavors of fresh dill and lemon. It combines the creaminess of soft-boiled eggs and mayonnaise with a delightful tartness from the lemon. The dill adds a wonderful freshness to the dish. In addition, the inclusion of green onion and sweet relish provides both vibrant color and a burst of flavor. And for an extra kick, a touch of yellow mustard adds just the right amount of punch.

I enjoy having this as a breakfast option, paired with a slice of toasted and buttered whole grain bread. It becomes even more delightful with a squeeze of lemon and an extra sprinkle of dill on top. Alternatively, it also works well as a sandwich any time of the day.

the most delicious egg salad!

I start my eggs already in the water. Many say to bring the water to a boil, then add the eggs. If you choose that way, you’ll need to cook them for maybe 8 1/2 minutes. I tend to like starting mine in the water because I’m less likely to break them! Lol! Here’s a tutorial from the Food Lab/Serious Eats: https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/the-secrets-to-peeling-hard-boiled-eggs.html

In the Instant Pot, I find it convenient to boil eggs as they become easy to peel. Place the eggs and one cup of water in the pot’s liner. For a hard boil, set the pressure cooker for 10 minutes and perform a quick release. Alternatively, for a natural release, set it for 5 minutes, wait for 5 minutes, and then release if necessary. In my case, I set the timer for 8 minutes and performed a quick release to achieve a slightly softer texture for my egg salad. After removing the eggs from the pot, gently tap each end on the kitchen counter and roll them to remove the shell effortlessly. If the shell doesn’t come off easily, peel the eggs under running cold water. Finally, chop the eggs to your desired consistency, perhaps leaving them a bit chunky or use a bean masher like I do sometimes.

Add your other ingredients and serve immediately on the bread of your choice. I love it on toasted bread for breakfast and top with a little more dil or a soft sandwich bread. It’s perfect on sour dough!

Want more breakfast ideas?

Want more toast recipes? Try my Avocado with Poached Salmon Toast: Perfectly Delicious Avocado Toast with Poached Salmon

Here’s the recipe for this delicious egg salad! Enjoy!

Egg Salad

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Prep Time 5

Total Time 16

Servings: 2 Servings

Course: Breakfast, Main Course, Salad, Snack

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

3-4 Eggs
2 Tsp Mayonaise (more if you need)
a squeeze of yellow mustard
1-2 tsp sweet relish
1 Tsp Fresh dill
1-2 thinly sliced green onion
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Cover the eggs with cold water, bring to a boil and cook 6 1/2 minutes to 8 1/2 minutes depending on the doneness you like. These were a medium soft. Remove from the heat and submerge in cold water and peel. Chop the eggs to your desired size and add to a small bowl.
*see the notes in the post if you want to cook in your Instant Pot.
Add the chopped dill, the zest of the lemon, the lemon juice, the mayonnaise, and the salt and pepper to taste.
Combine and serve on buttered and toasted French bread or on your favorite toasted bread or in a grainy bread sandwich!! You will love this!

Notes

If you are using extra large eggs, you may want to add a little more mayonnaise and lemon.

you will love this southern potato salad.

September 14, 2021 by Becky Spoon

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Just looking at this picture you can see all the deliciousness that is in the Southern Potato Salad. Just because that potato salad is a side dish doesn’t mean it can’t be the star of your meal or the best side dish ever. When I was growing up there was never a family reunion, picnic or BBQ that we didn’t have potato salad.

Mom made delicious potato salad. It was basic and I’ve just worked on this recipe forever, tweaking it along the way. For example, I add a little Old Bay. Unlike the jar of pimento that is traditional in Potato Salad, I made this recipe with the addition of red bell pepper and green bell pepper.

Are you familiar with Old Bay? It is so versatile and can be used in so many different Southern recipes. https://amzn.to/3AcFnql

Here’s some tips to making this potato salad:

As soon as you’re able to handle the potatoes, peel the potatoes. If you leave skin on, that’s ok.
Add the potatoes to a bowl, chop into medium size chunks and douse with a good amount of apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar and salt and pepper. Toss a little and let them sit for about 30 minutes to absorb the vinegar. You don’t want enough for the vinegar to stand in the bowl, just enough that will be absorbed.

you will love this southern potato salad.

I served this with my pulled pork sandwich the other day. It’s the absolute best side dish for bbq!

here’s the recipe for the pulled pork sandwich ! love these! best texas pulled pork sandwich.

Southern Potato salad

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Servings: 6 servings

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

7-8 whole Youkan Gold Potatoes
2 tbsp red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
4 hard boiled eggs, diced
1/4-1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1-2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
2-3 tbsp dill relish (depends on your preference)
1 tsp sweet relish
1 tsp fresh dill, chopped or a pinch of dried dill
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp Old Bay (optional)
pinch of cayenne (optional)
pinch of smoked paprika
1/2 tsp yellow mustard
quality mayonnaise like Hellman's or Dukes
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Add the potatoes whole, skin on to a pot of salted water. Cook until fork tender. When done, drain and place the potatoes in a large bowl that you can easily mix your ingredients. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, yet still warm, remove the skin. If you leave some of the skin on that's fine.
Dice your eggs and add to your potatoes that you have allowed to sit with the vinegar and a little salt and pepper. Add your onions, bell peppers, celery and your dill and sweet relish. Add your seasonings, your mustard, and start with a little mayonnaise at a time until you reach the creaminess you desire. Check for salt and pepper.
Place your potato salad in a serving dish and sprinkle with a little smoked paprika. Chill until ready to serve.

love this mayonnaise free potato salad.

July 5, 2020 by Becky Spoon

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I love, love, love this mayonnaise free potato salad. Rather than the usual mayonnaise based potato salad, this has a delicious vinaigrette and it is so easy.

Not only is this dish light, refreshing, a little tangy, it’s the perfect dish for serving outdoors in the summer rather than a mayonnaise based. No worries leaving this our for a while or just inside on our counter for a while. I serve it at room temperature, never refrigerated until it’s just the leftovers, if there are any.

love this mayonnaise free potato salad.

I served this dish with my barbecue chicken and some Mexican corn. Honestly, I can’t think of a better potato dish than this for both of those. Here’s the link for the barbecue chicken: https://the2spoons.com/best-summer-barbecue-chicken-on-the-grill-with-my-1-go-to-sauce/

and, here’s the recipe for the Mexican street corn: https://the2spoons.com/delicious-grilled-mexican-street-corn/.

love this mayonnaise free potato salad.

I used red potatoes in this dish that I sliced on my mandolin. I love to use the mandolin, but be careful, because you can cut yourself easily if you don’t use the guard. The mandolin is good for so many vegetables, but I love it for potatoes that I want uniform. I put it on the largest setting and they were perfect for this dish. Then, you cook until just done, not falling apart. While they are still hot, you add salt and pepper and apple cider vinegar for added flavor, which makes a huge difference.

I do that even with a mayonnaise based potato salad because of the added flavor. Here’s the link for a mayonnaise based potato salad which is equally good. I just like the vinaigrette based for summer especially outside. https://the2spoons.com/delicious-2-step-potato-salad/

Here’s a link for a mandolin if you don’t have one. They are well worth the purchase: https://amzn.to/38sHFEu

love this mayonnaise free potato salad.

Here’s the recipe for this deliciousness!! Hope you try this dish soon and enjoy!

Mayonnaise Free Potato Salad

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Servings: 6 servings

Course: Side Dish, Vegetable

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Equipment Method

Ingredients

2 lbs red potatoes or Yukon gold
pinch of salt and pepper
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 cup diced green onion
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

For the Dressing

2 1/2 tbsp spicy brown mustard, grainy mustard or dijon
1/4 tsp each salt and pepper
3 tbsp red wine vinegar (or white wine)
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp good extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup fresh chopped dill

Equipment

mandolin

Method

Wash potatoes, then slice into 1/4-inch slices. I used the largest setting on my mandolin. Add to a large saucepan and cover with water. Add a healthy dash of salt (for flavor) and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat slightly (to medium/high) and continue cooking for 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are easily pierced with a knife and also easily slide off the knife. Keep a close eye on them because you don't want to overcook or they will break apart too easily.
Once the potatoes have finished cooking, drain and rinse with cool water. Then once mostly dry, add to a large serving bowl. Season with a dash of salt and black pepper and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
Add mustard, garlic, salt, pepper, red wine vinegar, and apple cider vinegar to a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Then, while continuing to whisk, slowly stream in the olive oil to emulsify the oil and vinegar. Add the dill and whisk once more. Adjust seasonings.
Add the dressing to the potatoes along with the green onion and parsley (optional), and toss to combine. Taste the potato salad and adjust salt and pepper again. Allow to sit at room temperature until ready to serve.

the best spicy summer fruit salad.

July 4, 2020 by Becky Spoon

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I started eating this spicy summer fruit salad and could not stop eating it! So delicious. Tart, sweet, spicy, salty…are just a few words to describe. This fruit salad is loaded with mango, papaya, pineapple, watermelon, cucumber, YES CUCUMBER, unsweetened coconut, oranges, lime juice and Tajin which is a chile-lime salt! Do you know what Tajin is? I didn’t until I visited friends in Mexico, had it and realized that we can get it in the US. This is the Tajin seasoning: https://amzn.to/2NVTERz.

the best spicy summer fruit salad

I actually saw this recipe on the Food Network the kitchen a couple of weeks ago. They were doing their COVID -19 episodes and this was Katie Lee made this salad for the show. I’m telling you, my mouth was watering the entire time. I had to make this salad and I’m so happy I did. It’s one of those dish’s that while I was eating it I was shoveling it in my mouth saying “oh, my gosh” the entire time!

Before I give you this new recipe, here’s another salad with fruit, strawberries and blueberries. https://the2spoons.com/colorful-spinach-and-berries-salad-with-dill/. I’ve made this salad for at least 10-15 years.

the best spicy summer fruit salad

Here’s the recipe for this mouth watering salad!

Spicy Fruit Salad

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Servings: 4 servings

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

2 cups cubed mango
2 cups cubed papaya
2 cups pineapple
2 cups watermelon
1 English cucumber chunks
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
2 oranges, sliced into wheels
Juice of 1 lime
chile-lime salt, such as Tajin to taste

Method

Mix the mango, papaya, pineapple, watermelon, cucumber, coconut flakes and oranges in a large bowl. Stir in the lime juice. Sprinkle with the chile-lime salt to your desired spiciness level.

delicious 2 step potato salad with smoked paprika.

June 23, 2020 by Becky Spoon

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I call this 2 step potato salad because I literally make it in two steps. Wow, what a difference it makes too! You know how you eat potato salad sometimes and there are lots of ingredients but when you bite into a big potato there is no flavor in the potatoes!

Because I want my potatoes to be well seasoned and flavorful, I make it in 2 steps. While my potatoes are still hot I add my seasonings, white or red wine vinegar and a little mayonnaise. I roughly mash the potatoes just to break them up so that all the flavors will be in every single bite. I then store in the refrigerator for a while to allow the flavors to meld. If you don’t have one of these bean mashers to make refried beans, which was perfect for breaking up my potatoes slightly, you have to have one. https://amzn.to/3hScK91.

Another reason I do this is because in this case I used red potatoes which are waxy and the seasonings will not get into the potatoes. I have found that if you allow your potatoes to cool then add your vinegar and mayonnaise, you will have a watery salad. This way it is creamy and so flavorful! So good.

delicious 2 step potato salad with smoked paprika.

You know how your Mom always put paprika on the top of your potato salad? I still do this, but I use a smoked paprika. So much difference and depth of flavor because of the smokiness. https://amzn.to/2Nn2ZBW.

delicious 2 step potato salad with smoked paprika.

I made this over the weekend with my 3 ingredient fried chicken. I think potato salad is the perfect side dish for fried chicken especially in the summer time. Pack up a picnic lunch of fried chicken, along with this perfect side, some bread, cheeses, maybe some wine or beer, fresh summer fruit and you will have the perfect meal!

Here’s the link for my fried chicken:

Here’s the recipe for this 2 step potato salad!

Southern Potato salad

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Servings: 6 servings

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Ingredients Method

Ingredients

7-8 whole Youkan Gold Potatoes
2 tbsp red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar
4 hard boiled eggs, diced
1/4-1/2 red onion, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green pepper, diced
1-2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
2-3 tbsp dill relish (depends on your preference)
1 tsp sweet relish
1 tsp fresh dill, chopped or a pinch of dried dill
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp Old Bay (optional)
pinch of cayenne (optional)
pinch of smoked paprika
1/2 tsp yellow mustard
quality mayonnaise like Hellman's or Dukes
salt and pepper to taste

Method

Add the potatoes whole, skin on to a pot of salted water. Cook until fork tender. When done, drain and place the potatoes in a large bowl that you can easily mix your ingredients. When the potatoes are cool enough to handle, yet still warm, remove the skin. If you leave some of the skin on that's fine.
Dice your eggs and add to your potatoes that you have allowed to sit with the vinegar and a little salt and pepper. Add your onions, bell peppers, celery and your dill and sweet relish. Add your seasonings, your mustard, and start with a little mayonnaise at a time until you reach the creaminess you desire. Check for salt and pepper.
Place your potato salad in a serving dish and sprinkle with a little smoked paprika. Chill until ready to serve.