24 Keto Salad Recipes That Are Anything But Boring
Updated
Keto salads are not what you think. Not sad bowls of ice berg with a drizzle of ranch. These 23 recipes include broccoli-bacon meal preps, taco bowls, a keto take on the viral Green Goddess, and the cauliflower potato salad that has fooled people at more than a few cookouts. I keep at least one of these in the fridge every single week.
A salad seems like the one automatic keto order until you look at the dressing. Bottled dressings sneak sugar in constantly, and croutons, candied nuts, and dried cranberries pile carbs onto lettuce fast. The fix is simple: fat first. Ranch, blue cheese, olive oil, avocado. Every salad in this collection is built that way, and my broccoli chicken salad is the one readers make on repeat.
Chicken Salads
Lunch that actually holds. All five of these work straight from the fridge the next day, which matters more than it sounds when you're trying to stay on track midweek.
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Sesame Chicken Salad
6.9 grams net carbs, 37.4 grams protein, a 4.8 average across more than 15 ratings. The sesame dressing on this grilled chicken salad is the reason I started making dressing from scratch instead of buying it.
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Thai Chicken Salad
Does a peanut dressing belong on a keto salad? At thirteen-ish net carbs it is the highest on this list, but the cabbage crunch, fresh herbs, and peanut-lime combination make it a meal rather than a side.
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Broccoli Chicken Salad
Broccoli, bacon, shredded chicken, creamy dressing. Three and a half net carbs. I make a double batch Sunday night and it covers lunches through Wednesday, sometimes Thursday.
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Avocado Chicken Salad
Avocado and chicken. That is basically the whole recipe (in the best way). 2.3g net carbs, ready in five minutes, and the creamy dressing comes together in the same bowl you serve it in.
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Taco Salad
Seasoned ground beef, lettuce, cheese, sour cream. All the taco fixings, no shell needed. Under five net carbs and faster than driving to get actual tacos.
Meal-Sized Salads
These are not side salads with ambitions. Enough protein and fat to carry you through the afternoon without hunting for something else an hour later.
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Prosciutto & Brie Harvest Salad
Prosciutto. Brie. Walnuts. This one reads like a charcuterie board that landed in a bowl, and the a 4.8 star average from more than 20 ratings suggest I am not the only one who thinks so. 5.4g net carbs.
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Chef Salad
30.5 grams of protein in a single bowl. Ham, turkey, hard-boiled egg, multiple cheeses, vegetables. The Chef's Salad has always been the most honest item on any menu, and this version keeps that spirit intact.
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Sandwich Bowl
Not a sandwich. All the same stuff, no bread. Deli meat, provolone, banana peppers, Italian dressing in a bowl. Under five net carbs and thirty-eight grams of protein, which was the actual point all along.
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Jennifer Aniston Salad
Is thirteen net carbs too high for a salad bowl? Depends who you ask. For a lunch that actually fills you up, the cauliflower rice swap on this Green Goddess makes it worth the count.
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Keto Antipasto Salad
Salami. Pepperoncini. Provolone. The Italian antipasto dressing is the thing that sets this apart from every other chopped salad. More than 20 ratings at four-point-five stars, under four net carbs.
Classic Picnic Sides
The ones people reach for at cookouts without asking what is in them. Potato salad, coleslaw, macaroni salad. All of them converted without tasting like a conversion.
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Low Carb Keto Potato Salad
Cauliflower standing in for potatoes. Under two net carbs, same creamy-tangy dressing, same yellow mustard color. I have served this at three barbecues without anyone noticing it was not the real thing.
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Keto Macaroni Salad
What makes this macaroni salad work: the dressing hits the same creamy, slightly sweet, slightly acidic note as the original. 4.4g net carbs, a 4.7 rating from more than 30 readers from people who brought it to actual cookouts.
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Mexican Coleslaw
3.4g net carbs, more than 15 ratings at 4.7 stars, and a lime-cilantro dressing that makes this the coleslaw people ask about at cookouts. Holds well for three days, which matters when you are feeding a crowd.
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Keto Fruit Salad
Does a fruit salad fit on a keto table? With strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries and a poppy seed dressing that is not loaded with sugar, yes it does. About five net carbs and the thing that always goes first.
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Keto Jello Salad
Zero-point-two net carbs. Jello salad with cream cheese and berries, which sounds strange until you taste it, and then you understand why your grandmother made it for forty years. A 4.6 star average from more than 10 ratings.
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Keto Strawberry Pretzel Salad
Technically a dessert. Nobody at a party has ever complained about that. The keto pretzel layer is the part that took the most testing, and it holds up under the cream cheese without turning to mush. Nine net carbs, serves twelve.
Lighter Sides and Dressings
Quick builds, fifteen minutes or less. These sit alongside a main without fighting it for attention.
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Caprese Salad
Caprese. Fresh mozzarella, ripe tomatoes, basil, good olive oil. 3.4g net carbs. There are recipes I return to because they are clever, and there are recipes I return to because they are just correct. This one is the second kind.
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Asian Cucumber Salad
Thin-sliced cucumbers, rice vinegar, sesame oil, a little sweetener. Tastes like the cucumber salad at a Japanese restaurant. 4.2g net carbs and done in ten minutes.
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Lemon Garlic Kale Salad
Rated 4.7 by more than 20 readers. The lemon-garlic massage is the step most people skip the first time and then never skip again. 2.4g net carbs, parmesan on top.
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Broccoli Cauliflower Salad
Raw broccoli and cauliflower, bacon, a creamy dressing that holds everything together. Six-point-seven net carbs and the kind of side the non-keto people at the table keep picking at.
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Jalapeno Popper Salad
All the jalapeno popper flavors on crisp romaine. Cream cheese, bacon, fresh jalapeno. The heat stays with you a little, which I actually like. Under five net carbs.
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Pesto Vinaigrette
Pesto vinaigrette at 0.7g net carbs. I make a jar on Sunday and it goes on everything through the week, not just salads. The basil-to-acid ratio is the thing that makes it work.
