Menu
Unilever Food Solutions » Home
  • Home
  • Chef Inspiration
    • Chef Inspiration
    • Fighting COVID-19 together
    • Stock & Soup Secrets
    • Chef Lifestyle & Tips
    • Smarter Hotel Buffets
    • Tea in the Food Business
    • Managing Your Restaurant
    • Allergens & Intolerances
    • Healthy Eating
    • Tips for Chefs
    • Food Trend & Festive Occasions
    • Western at Your Fingertips
    • Events and Promotions
    • Food Safety
    • Knorr Concentrated Chicken Liquid Seasoning - When Extraordinary Happens
  • Recipes
  • Products
    • All Products
    • Bouillons and Stock Bases
    • Mayonnaise & Dressings
    • Sauces
    • Seasonings
    • Seasonings and Bouillons
    • Tea
  • Who we are
  • Tiếng Việt
      • Tiếng Việt
      • English
    • Select your country
  • Contact Us
  • {query} Search Products
  • {query} Search Rewards
  • {query} Search Recipes
  • {query} Search Other
All
  • Tiếng Việt
    • Tiếng Việt
    • English
    • My account
    • Contact Us
    • Log out
  1. Home
  2. Chef Inspiration
  3. Tips for Operators
  4. 5 Tips and Tricks to Spruce Up Your Salads
  1. Tips for Operators
  • Facebook-Link opens in a new window - article - 5 Tips and Tricks to Spruce Up Your Salads
  • Line-Link opens in a new window - article - 5 Tips and Tricks to Spruce Up Your Salads
  • Pinterest-Link opens in a new window - article - 5 Tips and Tricks to Spruce Up Your Salads
  • Google Plus-Link opens in a new window - article - 5 Tips and Tricks to Spruce Up Your Salads
  • Tips for Chefs

5 Tips and Tricks to Spruce Up Your Salads

Transform the humble salad into a main course worth shouting about.

As the world moves toward healthier eating choices, salads have become increasingly popular. In fact, they have now moved up the ranks to become a main dish in many restaurants. To figure out how to add variety and innovation to your salads, here are some simple tips and tricks to make your salads more interesting and flavourful than ever.

1. Include an unusual ingredient

Adding exotic items that diners don't normally expect to see in a salad is a simple but effective way to make your salads instantly more appealing to customers. Some examples include replacing croutons with fried wanton skins – a unique twist that’s interesting enough to arouse curious diners into giving the innovative dish a try.

2. Add fruits


Fresh fruit adds a sweet touch to your salads and is a natural complement to other ingredients in the mix. The boost of colours in the salads is also a great way to enhance its visual appeal. In Vietnam, innovative restaurants are incorporating bananas, pineapples, raspberries and strawberries into their salads. With a little thought and creativity, you’ll find that almost every fruit can be worked into your salads.

One fun way to incorporate fruits into your salads is to create themed mixes that use fruits which share common traits – such as a “Tropical Paradise” salad that’s full of tropical fruits like mangos and papayas.

3. Salt and drain cucumbers


The cucumber is a popular mainstay of salads, providing a satisfying crunch to your greens. But do take note – cucumbers retain a lot of water, so use them intelligently or risk having salads watered down after being left on diners’ tables for a few minutes too long.

A neat trick to avoiding this is to salt and drain your cucumbers before adding them to your dish. You can do so by slicing your cucumbers and putting them into a bowl, sprinkling some salt, then placing the bowl into a refrigerator overnight and voila! Your cucumber slices are ready to take centre stage.

4. Create edible bowls


What you serve your salad in can be just as important as what you serve in it. What do we mean? Check this out – some chefs have begun to cheekily use “edible bowls” as part of their salads. There are a variety of ways to create an edible bowl, with the most popular version using pita bread.

Serving your salads in a whole grain pita bread shell is a creative way to showcase your salads as a star “main course” meal. To add a Vietnamese twist to this idea, try experimenting using popiah skins and other local foods!

5. Add nuts or seeds


Many vegans and vegetarians eat nuts and seeds to get their daily source of protein. However, few restaurants take this nutritious ingredient into consideration when planning their salads.

Stand out from the crowd by going nuts with your greens! Cashews, walnuts, peanuts and sunflower seeds are fantastic sources of protein, and these versatile ingredients go incredibly well with all salads.

Knorr Aromat Seasoning Powder 1kg

Knorr Aromat Seasoning Powder 1kg

Made for Chef by Chef. An original blend of herbs and spices that enhances the natural flavour of food.

Find out more
Buy it now How to order Free sample

Get inspired!

As you’ve seen, it’s pretty easy to transform regular salads into dazzling main course delights or incredibly appetising starters. All it takes is a dash of inspiration, some creativity, a couple of interesting ingredients and perhaps… an innovative new way of presenting your salads.

Top recipes

  • Spicy Prawns and Winged Bean Salad
  • Seared Duck Salad, Orange Sauce and Cherry Vinaigrette
See all recipes (115)

Back to Tips for Chefs

Related Articles

    • Tips for Chefs
    Plate Your Food Perfectly – Celebrity Chefs Reveal Their Secrets
    • Tips for Chefs
    Personal Hygiene & Kitchen Safety Tips
    • Tips for Chefs
    Getting to the Heart of Vietnamese Pho

  • Home
  • Chef Inspiration
  • Recipes
  • Products
  • Who we are
  • eNewsletter sign-up
  • Select your country
  • Please Recycle
  • Legal terms
  • Privacy notice
  • Cookie notice
  • Sitemap
Register for our eNewsletter to keep up to date!

By signing up now you will receive recipes, industry trends, free samples and more.

Find us on...
  • YouTube
  • Facebook
Unilever Food Solutions » Home

© 2021 Unilever Food Solutions | All rights reserved

Unilever Food Solutions » Home

Install this webapp on your iPhone Install this webapp on your iPad Install this webapp on your Android phone Install this webapp on your Windows phone

Tap the share icon below and choose add to homescreen. Tap the share icon above and choose add to homescreen. Tap the share icon below and choose add to homescreen. Tap the share icon below and choose add to homescreen.

x