Salad Recipes

If you ask me, no party or potluck menu is complete without a variety of easy salad recipes. For large gatherings, my family loves salad recipe ideas like Seven Layer Salad, Italian Pasta Salad, Broccoli Salad with Bacon and Cheese, Easy Potato Salad, and Raspberry Pretzel Jello Salad (yep, in the Midwest this totally counts as “salad,” too)! For main dish salads for lunch or dinner salad recipes, it’s tough to top my fully-loaded Cobb Salad, Dorito Taco Salad, and Mediterranean Buddha Bowl, and Chicken Caesar Pasta Salad. 

Our Most Popular Salads

Sandwich Recipes

The Best Tuna Salad

Salad Recipes

Seven Layer Salad

Salad Recipes

Easy Potato Salad

Salad Recipes

Easy Cold Pasta Salad

Appetizer Recipes

Cowboy Caviar

Salad Recipes

Easy Garden Salad

How long can you store homemade salad dressing?

My rule: store homemade salad dressings in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Frequently Asked Question: Why is it only 4 days? The dressing is made of shelf-stable ingredients that last for months in my pantry.

Many salad dressings are made with ingredients that, individually, are shelf-stable and stored at room temperature in the pantry for months on end. So why, when you combine them together, does the dressing only last for 4 days in the refrigerator? When the store sells similar dressings, they last longer in the fridge.

1. Dangerous ingredients: My rule is based on ingredients with the most potential danger and aptitude for spoilage including dairy, garlic, or fresh herbs. Some salad dressings, including vinaigrettes made with dried herbs and no garlic, may last longer.
2. Chemical reactions: When you combine ingredients at home, chemical reactions take place that alter the properties of the individual ingredients. So even if vinegar is fine on its own, vinegar mixed with honey, garlic, or other ingredients isn’t the same as plain vinegar.
3. Lack of preservatives: Store-bought products are often manufactured with preservatives and stabilizers in their products. You aren’t adding these ingredients at home (at least, not if you are following my recipes!).

You are always free to keep your homemade condiments as long as you like. I provide the safest possible guidelines that I can based on my ServSafe Food Manager certification.