Italian Salads

By Food & Wine
Updated October 23, 2019
These Italian-inspired salads include a fresh take on a classic caprese, crisp shaved fennel and more.
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Antipasto Salad with Bocconcini and Green-Olive Tapenade

John Kernick
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Inspired by the antipasto in Italian-American restaurants, Silverton developed a sophisticated version for Jar in Los Angeles. It features shredded and vinaigrette-dressed iceberg lettuce and salami mixed with petite mozzarella balls (bocconcini), which she loves because each is a perfect little bite.

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Chopped Italian Salad

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Antipasto ingredients are sliced and diced to make a fun, flexible chopped salad. We've thrown in our favorites, and so should you. Add the dressing ingredients to the bowl, too, and mix them when you toss the salad—it's the Italian way.

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Summer Farro Salad

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Marco Canora says you can swap in any starch—like bread or pasta—for the farro (a nutty Italian grain) in this recipe. Canora simmers farro in water with sautéed onion, carrots and celery. The aromatic vegetables add delicate flavor to the cooked grains.

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Warm Castelfranco with Vincotto and Blu di Bufala

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This simple and magical combination of ingredients from Carlo Mirarchi includes Castelfranco (a mild radicchio), vincotto (aged vinegar) and the superb blue cheese blu di bufala. It’s a very Italian dish, but Carlo Mirarchi gives it a personal imprint by adding fish sauce to the dressing.

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Garlicky Caesar Salad

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Frank Falcinelli created his take on this classic nearly 20 years ago: romaine with a pungent dressing made from anchovy, Worcestershire, Tabasco and, irreverently, jarred mayonnaise.

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Fennel and Red-Onion Salad with Parmesan

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Crisp raw fennel, pungent onion, and a sprightly lemon and orange dressing make for a delectable salad. A food processor with a slicing attachment cuts the fennel in no time.

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Shaved Raw Asparagus with Parmesan Dressing

Ā© John Kernick
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Asparagus often makes wine taste vegetal. To counter that, chef Mark Ladner mixes shaved spears with a supremely wine-friendly ingredient: parmesan.

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Green Bean-and-Blood Orange Salad

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"Blood oranges are part of my Sicily fascination," Renato Poliafito says. He uses the segments to add color and tang to green beans and reduces the juice with balsamic vinegar to make the dressing.

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Crunchy Vegetable Salad with Ricotta Crostini

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Michael White's fennel-and-asparagus salad uses a variety of herbs, including chervil and lemon balm, but it's equally delightful here made with just basil and tarragon.

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Mozzarella with Summer Squash and Olive Puree

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This dish, from chef Mathieu Perez is a take on the classic Italian mozzarella-tomato-basil Caprese salad. It depends on young, very fresh zucchini and summer squash. To prepare the recipe like Perez does at the restaurant, grate the olives finely with a Microplane grater instead of pureeing them.

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Big Italian Salad

QUENTIN BACON
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Part green salad, part antipasto salad, this recipe combines lettuce, celery, onion, peperoncini, olives and cherry tomatoes—all tossed in a dressing made with olive oil, vinegar and a little mayonnaise.

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Eggplant Caponata

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Sicily's caponata is a tangy eggplant salad served as a side dish or appetizer. This version adds bits of velvety avocado, full of monounsaturated fats that can help lower cholesterol.

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Pan-Fried Scamorza with Arugula Salad and Two Pestos

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Rosita Missoni loves pan-frying scamorza, a firm Italian cow's-milk cheese, to give it an irresistible crust. Provolone would also work.

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Mushroom Salad with Mint

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Mushrooms are packed with minerals like selenium that have been shown to guard against some cancers. Here they're drizzled with lemon juice in a salad Joe Bastianich calls "soulful but still filling." He adds, "Raw mushrooms are a great conduit for good olive oil."

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Butter Beans in Miso Bagna Cauda

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Shaved-Fennel Salad with Anchovy Vinaigrette

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For a New York City-inspired dinner at City Grit, Sarah Simmons created this crisp salad to represent Staten Island. “In my mind,” she says, “that borough is all Italian. Or at least I think it is.” Dried cherries, toasted pine nuts, endive and radicchio give the salad sweet, savory and bitter flavors.

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Antipasto Salad

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Giardiniera with Ham and White Beans

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This recipe is a nod to the pickled vegetables (giardiniera) in a Gramercy Tavern salad. Grace Parisi quickly soaks baby cauliflower in vinegar and sugar, then combines it with snap peas, white beans, ham and sunflower seeds to create a unique main-course dish.

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Arugula Salad with Ricotta Salata

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For this crunchy, nutty salad, Lidia Bastianich likes to use dandelion greens, which aren't always easy to find. Instead, arugula stands in for the elusive dandelion greens.

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Serrano Ham and Arugula Salad with Pomegranate Salsa

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This vibrant dish, layered with arugula, bright white slices of ricotta salata and strips of salty serrano ham, is the sort of composed salad that Suzanne Goin uses to showcase seasonal ingredients. Another of her favorite winter salads is made with blood oranges, dates and Parmesan cheese.

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Fennel and Aged Pecorino Salad

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This crisp salad combines fennel, scallions and parsley with shavings of sharp, salty aged pecorino cheese; the pecorino from the small Tuscan town of Pienza is especially tasty.

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Arugula Salad with Prosciutto and Oyster Mushrooms

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When he was a boy, Fabio Trabocchi loved foraging for mushrooms in the woods around his house. In this elegant salad, he tosses lightly sautéed oyster mushrooms with arugula and tops them with thin slices of prosciutto and Pecorino Toscano.

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Spinach Salad with Bagna Cauda Dressing

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In the Piedmont region of Italy, the warm anchovy–olive oil sauce called bagna cauda is typically served as a dip for vegetables. Here, Justin Smillie turns it into a warm dressing for baby spinach, adding fresh bread crumbs for crunch.

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Spring Peas and Greens with Cacio e Pepe Dressing

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Inspired by cacio e pepe (cheese and pepper), the classic Italian pasta sauce, this salad features spring greens and fava beans topped with a delicious buttermilk dressing.

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Lemony Chickpea Salad

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Serve Tom Colicchio's fresh-tasting chickpea salad with warm, soft pita bread to soak up the olive oil dressing.

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