Hearty main-dish salads

Pancetta and Egg on Hearty Greens
Photography by Jim Norton

Canadian Living food specialist Soo Kim shares her expert advice on preparing delicious, main-dish salads.

"Worried that a dinner salad means endless washing and chopping?" she says. "It doesn’t have to if you wash all your fruits and vegetables when you get home from the grocery store. While you’re at it, chuck older perishables to make room for the fresh ones."

It's also helpful to tuck away serving-size portions of fresh meat or poultry before storing in the freezer.

Though dark greens are a popular choice for dinner salads, they don't always have to be made of leafy vegetables - include a selection of legumes, dried pasta, carrots and potatoes to your salad shopping list. Stock up on pantry basics such as quality extra virgin olive oil and favourite vinegars, and you'll alwasy have easy-to-blend dressings that will serve as a base for many other salad recipes.

Our Tested-Till-Perfect salad recipes below are filling main course dishes that burst with flavour and will keep everyone's forks busy – with a crisp Caesar, tender potato salad or crunchy corn and beans, you'll soon find a new supper favourite!