Chopped Vegetable Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette
This Chopped Vegetable Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette is easy, delicious and the perfect addition to a summer picnic table!
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What do you eat for lunch everyday? Not like on a weekend or some other special day. Just your regular, run-of-the-mill weekday. For me, it often involves leftovers of some sort because, well, I almost always have a fridge full of leftovers. (On a side note, I really do try to make smaller batches when I cook and bake for Spiced, but it never works out. I mean who wants 4 cupcakes when you can have 12?)
But back to lunches! For me, lunches in the summer usually mean salads…which is great! Healthy, tasty and really easy to make? Count me in! I’ve been munching on this Chopped Vegetable Salad for several days now…and I can’t get enough of it! Top it with a nice Tarragon Vinaigrette, and you’ve got a salad recipe that tastes like it came from a restaurant. Except it didn’t. It came from your kitchen. And you made it. How awesome is that?!
The best thing about this salad is that you can easily adapt it to your own tastes or whatever fresh veggies are on sale that week. I often double the amount of broccoli because I absolutely love raw broccoli in salads. Sometimes I use green peppers, but colored peppers add a nice pop of color if you are taking this salad to a picnic or summer party. And I don’t know about you, but I think raw green beans are a really fun addition to summer salads. They’re unique, and they add a really nice crunch to the salad. After all, who wants a non-crunchy salad? Not me!
I’m not terribly picky when it comes to salad dressings. I’ll top this Chopped Vegetable Salad with whatever dressing I happen to have around. (For the record, it’s really, really tasty with ranch dressing!) But this time, I was feeling a vinaigrette, so I whipped up this fun Tarragon Vinaigrette. It sounds fancy, but it’s really quite simple to make. The secret is good extra-virgin olive oil. Like the kind you keep in the back of the pantry. Since the olive oil doesn’t get cooked, get out the good stuff! Oh, and the tarragon vinegar is pretty clutch here, too. Add in a couple of common spices that you probably already have in your pantry, and you’ve got one heck of an awesome vinaigrette!
This salad makes a wonderful addition to a summer picnic table, but I also find that it works great as a healthy summer lunch. I make a big batch on the weekend and then just divide it into smaller containers for lunch for me and my wife. Just make sure to add the vinaigrette right before you eat it…otherwise, the salad can get a bit soggy. No one wants a soggy salad.
Chopped Vegetable Salad with Tarragon Vinaigrette
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 5 cups broccoli florets
- 3 bell peppers I often use a mix of colored peppers
- 3 large carrots
- 3 cups fresh green beans
- 2 heads romaine lettuce
For the Tarragon Vinaigrette
- 1 cup olive oil
- ¼ cup tarragon vinegar
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 medium onion finely diced
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp dry mustard
- 1 Tbsp sugar
Instructions
For the Salad
- Chop the broccoli, peppers, carrots, green beans and lettuce into bite-sized pieces. Layer all of the Salad ingredients in a large serving bowl, alternating colors and lettuce.
For the Tarragon Vinaigrette
- Combine all of the ingredients in a medium bowl; whisk together until well combined. Let vinaigrette sit for 15 minutes before adding it to the salad.
- Pour Vinaigrette over Salad immediately before serving.
Longing for one of your famous burgers with this salad!
Haha! Thanks…now get into the kitchen and make a burger! 🙂
I am always looking for new and delicious dressings! I love that you used tarragon! Yum, take care, Terra
And the best part is this one is super easy, too, Terra! Have a great weekend!
Tarragon has become one of my very favorite fresh herbs. LOVE the idea of this vinaigrette… over the salad like you have it, or over a piece of fish! 🙂
Ooo, I’ve never thought about putting the vinaigrette over a piece of grilled fish. That sounds amazing, Becca! You’re always full of awesome ideas!
The pictures look good enough to eat!
Do you buy “tarragon vinegar” or do you create it?
Thank you so much, SueAnn! And good question about the tarragon vinegar. You could create it if you wanted, but I just picked up a bottle in the market. It’s with the salad dressings and vinegars. Nice and easy. 🙂
That is one awesome VEGAN salad my friend!
I’ve been meaning to ask you…are you a vegan? Because it definitely looks like it! 😉
Thanks, Mike! I’ve been so inspired by your vegan recipes that I had to get in there and create one myself. I appreciate the inspiration!! 🙂
I just cleaned out my fridge and was thinking I need to make smaller amounts of food. I’m not much for leftovers, but my husband will eat them. I like fresh salads and and this tarragon vinaigrette sounds wonderful. Love those flavors 😀
Yeah, we occasionally have to do that, too, Cindy. We end up with all sorts of random jars of condiments. Laura is really good at figuring out how to make dinners out of random bits of leftovers…but the condiments are another story! This salad never has leftovers, though…so delicious!