31 Simple Salads for Summer Picnics

Potlikker, as it's called in the South, is the savory, starchy liquid left over after cooking beans or greens. Here, chef Joe Kindred whisks the über-flavor liquid into a vinaigrette, but you can also use it in soups and pasta sauces, or thicken it with butter and drizzle over fish.

This fantastic salad gets a boost of flavor from a toasty roasted sweet onion and garlic dressing.

With similar ingredients you'd find wrapped up in taco, this brightly colored shrimp salad is light but satisfying. Enjoy with chips and beer on a hot day.

Daniel Humm’s terrific summer salad is crisp and lemony, with bits of meaty pancetta and lots of fresh mint. Since the snow peas aren’t cooked, it’s best to buy them super-fresh, preferably from a farmers’ market.

Grilling the bread for this panzanella (bread salad) adds a slight smokiness and crunch. Marinate the tomatoes ahead of time so all you have to do is grill the bread and assemble the salad to serve.

This salad is an extraordinary combination of ingredients that wouldn’t seem to go together: feta, strawberries and almonds.

In this riff on corn chowder, Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell toss corn, potatoes and bacon with cider vinegar. They grow at least five varieties of sweet corn each summer, and they’re always coming up with new ways to use it. Because the corn for this salad is barely cooked, it’s best to use the juiciest kernels available.

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.

To make the dressing for this pretty salad, Daniel Humm takes the zesty poaching liquid for shrimp—flavored with coriander seeds, garlic, peppercorns and orange zest—and reduces it. The salad is wonderful as both a first course or a light main course.

This warm, garlicky anchovy dressing here is fantastic with an assortment of juicy, peak-season tomatoes. To finish the dish, Amelia O'Reilly and Nico Monday top it with tangy pickled shallots and an oozy, soft-boiled egg.

Chef Mark Broadbent upgrades the standard lemony arugula salad by topping it with grilled asparagus, butter-fried eggs—duck eggs, when available—and freshly shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano.

The mangoes in this jalapeño-spiced salad are full of vitamin C. Be sure to use firm, underripe fruit: They add an essential tang to the recipe.

Daniel Boulud’s foolproof recipe is perfect for a French picnic.

For a crunchy, summery salad, Chris Cosentino tosses yellow wax beans, radish slivers, red onion slices, cannellini beans and fresh basil in a simple vinaigrette. To save time, you can also substitute canned cannellinis for the dried ones here.

Richard Blais garnishes his take on a caprese salad of tomato and mozzarella with pickled walnuts, made by tossing candied walnuts with a little vinegar. (Alternatively, use British pickled walnuts, available at some specialty food stores.) “The blue cheese and the celery give this dish a little ‘adultness,’” he says.

Seattle chef Ethan Stowell uses beets two different ways in this recipe. He roasts some of them, giving the salad a sweet flavor, and he thinly shaves the rest for a fresh, earthy crispness.

Grilling concentrates the sweet flavor of fresh baby carrots. (Bagged “baby” carrots will never taste the same.) Bryce Gilmore marinates them, then tosses them with a wonderful and unusual dressing he makes by cooking butter until brown, then pureeing it with marcona almonds and sherry vinegar.

Feta is a fun, briny addition to this salad’s Mexican mix of jicama, avocado and cilantro.

Daniel Humm varies the ingredients for this lovely appetizer depending on what he finds at the farmers’ market—on good days, beautiful heirloom tomatoes. He tosses them with briny oil-and-vinegar-marinated white anchovies, also known by the Spanish name boquerónes, which are available at the deli counter of many specialty-food stores.

In this hearty salad, chef Marco Canora cooks the vegetables until their flavor is fully developed before tossing them with a pungent anchovy dressing.

Chef Charles Kelsey tosses chickpeas and carrots with a deliciously unusual combination of smoked paprika, cumin and cilantro.

London chef Yotam Ottolenghi created this quick corn-and-herb salad that’s delicious alongside grilled meats.

Arugula pesto is peppery and bright. The trick is to blanch the arugula and squeeze it dry, so when you blend it with the pine nuts, garlic, olive oil and cheese, the resulting pesto isn’t too wet.

Melissa Rubel’s refreshingly crunchy, tangy salad makes for an excellent summer lunch or super quick dinner.

With their sweet, mild pea flavor and their juicy stems, pea shoots are becoming a popular salad addition. Here, they're the perfect foil for sharp arugula and radishes, herbal fennel and toasty hazelnuts.

Chicago chef Stephanie Izard makes the ultimate summer salad with a creamy version of sweet-salty Japanese unagi sauce, which is typically brushed over eel.

This hearty salad features some of summer's most bountiful crops: okra, tomatoes and sweet corn straight from the cob, with black beans, onion and avocado. Canned beans and an easy dressing make preparation quick and easy.

Paul Newman, the late co-owner of Dressing Room, Michel Nischan's restaurant in Westport, Connecticut, loved a good chopped salad. To add a tangy burst of flavor, Nischan pickles the carrots, celery and peppers before tossing them with the rest of the salad.

This colorful salad of green and yellow beans and waxy potatoes reminds Jonathan Benno of his brief stint in the kitchen at Al Di La, a wildly popular Italian restaurant in Brooklyn, New York. His friend Anna Klinger, the chef and co-owner, taught him how to make this deliciously tangy dressing, a mix of anchovies, poached garlic and olive oil.

Chef Scott Conant likes serving summer's juiciest, sweetest watermelon just with feta, salt and crunchy toasted almonds.

This rustic Italian salad is a great way to showcase perfect, in-season produce. Swap out the summer tomatoes and green beans for roasted root vegetables and fennel in the winter, or asparagus and shaved artichokes in the spring--the possibilities are endless.