Chef notes
If you’re looking for a customizable recipe that will help you up your vegetable intake, Melissa Ben-Ishay’s fan-favorite salad might be the one for you. Yes, the woman who brought us all the teeny tiny cupcakes under the moniker Baked by Melissa has a recipe for green goddess salad that she says completely blew her (and a group of her friends) out of the water.
The dish takes around five minutes to come together, so if you’re pressed for time or need to whip up a quick snack, this recipe is a great blueprint to work with.
For the dressing, she makes an easy vegan pesto with fresh, torn basil leaves and green veggies like spinach or kale. It also features nuts (cashews or walnuts work great here), lemon juice, rice vinegar, nutritional yeast, a variety of alliums (chives, garlic and shallot) and olive oil. If the suggested nuts, oils or vinegars aren’t your preference, go ahead and swap them out for a different variety!
Similarly, the base of the dish can be as simple or as elaborate as you’d like. Ben-Ishay calls for green cabbage or iceberg lettuce, cucumbers, chives and green onions, but you can load it up with whatever chlorophyll-laden vegetables you’d like. “Go wild,” she says.
The chef wants those attempting this recipe to feel empowered to improvise anywhere you see fit. If you’re someone who likes a bit of structure, though, try it once according to the recipe before mixing and matching.
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