What Are the Most Popular Salads?

If you’re not a fan of salad, it’s easy to assume that people only eat it because of how well it fits into a diet and all of its health benefits. It can be hard to look at the green leaves and the assortment of cheeses and meats and understand what people love about it. For anyone who knows, this simple salad we just described has your stomach rumbling.

Salad is one of the most popular meals on the planet. It’s good as a snack, a meal, and a starter, depending on how you make it and how much you make. But few salads are made the same, even of the same type. So really, when you order or make a salad, it’s a style of salad that you’re getting.

We were wondering which of these styles were the most popular, so we did our research to see what others consider the most popular salads in the world. Some may surprise you, and others may just be your favorites.

What Makes Something a Salad?

Salads are cold dishes made up of various mixtures of raw or cold vegetables and/or fruits. The second you cook any of the vegetables, you no longer have a salad. However, if you add cooked meat or extra cooked ingredients on top of the raw and cold vegetables, it’s still a salad.

What Are the Most Popular Salads?

We searched around, seeing what some of the most popular salads were across food sites, and looked into what were the most consumed salads on record. Then of those popular ones, we went with what we enjoy making and eating ourselves.

The five salads that reign supreme right now are a mix of salads that are made of ingredients that were easy for restaurants to make and serve quickly as appetizers.

Macaroni Salad

This is a pasta salad, which makes sense given the name. While it’s common to use elbow macaroni pasta, it’s not required.

This goes well as a side dish with a meat dish such as chicken, which tastes better with the smattering of ingredients that goes into macaroni salad. The most common recipe uses raw diced onions, dill or sweet pickles, celery, and salt and pepper.

Fruit Salad

As its name suggests, fruit salad goes heavy on fruit instead of vegetables. Since fruits tend to be juicier and sweeter, if you’re someone with a sweet tooth, you’ll prefer this salad bowl. It can be made with any assortment of fruits, so if we’re at home or in the kitchen, we’d use our favorites.

Also, this salad is more of an appetizer or a snack. Fruits can be an entree recipe item, but they’re not typically something that pairs with dinner. They’re flavorful in a way that whatever you eat afterward will taste different than what it’s supposed to.

Greek Salad

This is one of the oldest styles of salad, with its origins unsurprisingly coming from Greece. Since then, the recipe has changed multiple times to the point that there is a Greek salad for every occasion. But the original salad as we believe it to be today is close to a tomato salad.

It uses slices of tomatoes, cucumbers, and red onions with salad, black pepper, oregano, and olive oil. Today, other versions may use things like feta cheese, bell peppers, capers, anchovies, sardines, and more.

What makes Greek salad different from other salads is that it does not use lettuce or vinegar, which are two of the most popular ingredients in salads.

Caesar Salad

No, Caesar salad is not named after Julius Caesar, and is not nearly as old as the Roman Empire. It’s actually named after an Italian immigrant restaurateur, Caesar Cardini. According to his daughter, he invented the recipe for his restaurant in 1924, which means Caesar salad is a younger and more recent salad recipe than the others on this list. This may also have led to its immense popularity and its spot on many restaurant menus, including ours.

Caesar salad is famous for its ingredients of romaine lettuce, olive oil, raw egg, garlic, Parmesan cheese, and Worcestershire sauce. Together, they make one of the most popular salads in the world.

Coleslaw

Did you forget that coleslaw is a salad? It’s made with shredded raw cabbage, a condiment, and either vinaigrette or mayonnaise. The most popular condiment to use as an ingredient is salad dressing, which should say it all.

You can find coleslaw at most events because it goes with everything. It works as a snack, an appetizer, and a meal. This has led to it becoming one of, if not the most, popular salads around. If you’ve never tried it, you’re missing out.

Visit Kevin’s Restaurant for Salad With Your Meal

At Kevin’s Restaurant, we serve multiple salads on our menu. Some include the popular Caesar salad, with classic romaine hearts, seasoned croutons, and Grana Padano. It’s perfect to go before any meal you can find here, or you can go with Kevin’s house salad made with mixed greens, heirloom cherry tomatoes, carrots, Persian cucumber, pickled red onion, and matchstick potatoes with cashew dill dressing.

Don’t wait, make a reservation today! If you get an outdoor table on Thursday, you can bring your pups for our weekly Pups on the Patio!