The recipes below prove that a little bit of cheese can add a lot of flavor to salad. Often, cheese adds so much flavor and rich texture that you can skip a heavy dressing.
What is your favorite cheese to put in salad? Share your recommendation here.
1. Feta
Carrot & Feta Salad with Paprika Dressing. Photo by Jennifer Meier
The salty flavor of Feta means you don't have to add any extra salt to your salad. Often, you don't even need to add dressing - the creamy, moist texture of the cheese is enough.
- Quinoa and Feta Salad with Sweet Potatoes, Basil and Garlic-Lime Dressing
- Butter Lettuce Salad With Feta, Mandarin Oranges and Kalamata Olives
- Roasted White Bean and Tomato Salad with Feta and Pesto
- Carrot & Feta Salad with Paprika Dressing
- Fattoush Salad With Feta
- Pearl Barley Salad with Mushrooms and Feta
- Chopped Salad With Feta
2. Parmigiano-Reggiano
Arugula and Parmigiano-Reggiano Salad. Photo by Jennifer Meier
This salty, nutty Italian cheese is most often grated over pasta but it's equally delicious grated or shaved over salad. A delicious substitution for Parmigiano-Reggiano is Grana Padano.
3. Blue Cheese
Wild Rice and Blue Cheese Salad. Photo by Jennifer Meier
Blue cheese has always been popular in salads, usually in a creamy blue cheese dressing. You can make your own blue cheese dressing or just crumble the cheese right over the greens. Salty, sharp blue cheese is balanced beautifully by slightly sweet flavors in a salad: try beets, candied nuts, dried fruit or slivers of apple or pear.
4. Cheddar
Fennel and Apple Salad with Sharp Cheddar. Photo by Jennifer Meier
A few chunks or handfuls of grated cheddar can turn a light salad into a filling meal. Sharp cheddar is especially good.
5. Goat Cheese
Goat Cheese & Beet Salad Photo by Jennifer Meier
The popularity of goat cheese in salads soared when chefs started garnishing salads with fried rounds of goat cheese. Fried or not, it's still a great cheese for salad, even if simply crumbled on top of greens.
