Dandelion Salad

This basic dandelion salad recipe shows you how you can use this healthy plant in your kitchen and adjust the recipe to your taste and liking.

Dandelions are chock-full of health benefits. If you’ve been following me you might know that I love this plant.

If you think of it as a weed, you might catch two birds with one stone: dig it up and eat it 🙂

There are so many ways to use dandelions in your kitchen and home.

This post is a collaboration with two of my blogging friends. The theme is “summer salads”. Please be sure to check out (scroll to the bottom of this post for pictures to get your mouth watering!):

Jersey with her Smoked Steak and Chicken Salad (https://farmhouse-bc.com/smoked-steak-and-chicken-salad/)

Amanda Swilley with her Yummy Chicken Salad (https://cozytastyhome.com/the-best-chicken-salad-recipe-ever-summer-salad-recipe-collab/)

Using dandelions in salads:

For this salad, we’ll be using the leaves of the dandelions. However, both the blossoms and the roots are edible. The roots lend themselves better to teas and tinctures. But you can always add a pop of color to your salad by sprinkling some dandelion petals on it.

Dandelion leaves are bitter. Now, please don’t let that turn you off!! Not only is bitter very healthy for your bile flow, your kidneys, your liver, and your stomach. But it can actually also be very tasty.

If you are new to this flavor, make sure that you pick very young leaves as they will be less bitter. The older and bigger they get, the more bitter they become.

Often, once people get used to the bitter taste, they actually start enjoying it.

Regardless of your fondness or not of the bitter taste, it’s always a good idea to balance it. I am doing that with fat (oil), something acidic (apple cider vinegar), a touch of sweet (maple syrup), and salt (both from salt and parmesan cheese).

Making the vinaigrette:

I am always starting with the 3:1 ratio. That means, 3 tablespoons of oil to 1 tablespoon of vinegar. For this dandelion salad, I often use olive oil or avocado oil but I have also mixed olive oil and pumpkin seed oil. The latter is actually one of my favorites!

Both for the color and the taste, I prefer either apple cider vinegar or a sherry vinegar versus balsamic vinegar.

Also, I like to add a bit of mustard (about 1 scant teaspoon) and some maple syrup (another scant teaspoon).

You can just add some salt and pepper and be done.

Additions to the salad:

For a very simple salad, you can pick, wash, and dry the dandelion leaves, add the vinaigrette and enjoy your salad.

I would like to give you some ideas, though, how you can “spiff up” your salad with additional toppings.

Parmesan is one of my favorites. It has a touch of sweet and saltiness on top of adding depth of flavor. Ideally, you use freshly grated parmesan but any will work.

Avocados are another great topping. Again, the fat helps balance the bitterness.

Pumpkinseeds and sunflower seeds add both crunch and interest to your dandelion salad. I have used them raw but roasting definitely brings out their flavor more.

Not ready for a pure dandelion salad?

Now, you might be a bit skeptical of the bitterness of the dandelions or not ready to commit to eating a pure dandelion salad. No problem! You simply prepare your favorite (green) salad, find some dandelion leaves, chop them in small pieces, and just sprinkle them on top.

Feel free to play with the amounts here. It’s almost like adding dandelions like an herb rather than making it the main ingredient. In either case, you’ll get the health benefits. And I hope that you will truly enjoy the dandelions 🙂

Here are my blogging friends’ yummy summer salad recipes:

Amanda Swilley with her Yummy Chicken Salad (https://cozytastyhome.com)

Jersey with her Smoke Steak and Chicken Salad (https://farmhouse-bc.com/smoked-steak-and-chicken-salad/)

I would love to hear all your comments below!

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