Make-Ahead Salads For Your Next Get-Together, Potluck, or Picnic
🥗 Move over lettuce! You can make these 20 salads a day in advance when you're hosting to get ahead! Or bring them to your next gathering because they're healthy, hearty and hold up well!
The Magic of Making Ahead
There’s nothing better than when I’m hosting friends, family, or having a get-together at my house to be able to make whatever I can in advance!
The same goes for when I’m going to an event and I’m supposed to bring a dish to share - I love getting it done the day before.
It saves me from feeling like I’m living in the kitchen the day of the event when I’m the hostess, and just helps me relax more when I know I have the sides or salads done, ready, and waiting in my fridge.
With all of these salads that you’ll find below - a combo of pasta salads, bean, corn, or grain salads - you can make them 24-36 hours in advance. That’s all I would push it for optimal taste and texture.
Many of these do not have mayo which is nice for outdoor events. But with any of them, if you’re bringing a dish to an outdoor event in the middle of summer, make sure to keep things in the shade and keep your serving bowl on ice. Use common sense. Just because you can make them in advance, doesn’t mean you can store them out of refrigeration for hours and hours.
Pasta Salads
🍋🥒🍅 This Mediterranean Lemon Chicken Pasta Salad is loaded with flavor, ready in minutes, and showcases Mediterranean-inspired ingredients! It’s perfect for summer potlucks and barbecues (no mayo!) and feeds a crowd. Or, make it for an EASY family dinner with planned leftovers!
Taco Pasta Salad – EASY, ready in 20 minutes, and loaded with great Mexican-inspired ingredients including corn, black beans, tomatoes, cilantro, avocado, and more! Very kid-friendly (and adult friendly) and they’ll all want seconds!
BLT Pasta Salad — EASY, ready in 15 minutes, feeds a crowd, and PERFECT for potlucks and parties. Creamy ranch dressing perfectly coats the pasta and BACON. Guaranteed family FAVORITE!
Tomato and Mozzarella Pesto Pasta Salad features tender pasta, cherry tomatoes, and fresh mozzarella are coated in Parmesan cheese and DELICIOUS pesto sauce! EASY, ready in 15 minutes, and great for easy meals with planned leftovers or for parties because it feeds a crowd!
Shrimp Pasta Salad 🍤🫛🌿 with tender pasta, juicy shrimp, crunchy celery, bell peppers, and peas are tossed in a creamy and tangy homemade dressing for zesty perfection! Great for summer gatherings to serve as a side salad or make it for a lighter yet satisfying stand alone meal for lunch or dinner! Very EASY and always a crowd FAVORITE!
Chicken Orzo Salad has juicy chicken tossed with orzo, tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, and a super flavorful lemon vinaigrette! Easy, healthy, ready in 30 minutes, and a perfect way to use your garden fresh veggies!
Chinese Chicken Pasta Salad takes me back to the grocery store pasta salad I grew up eating in the ‘80s with big juicy chicken chunks and texture galore from the rainbow of crispy veggies! Fast, easy, fresh and healthy!! Great for picnics, potlucks, and easy dinners!
Greek Lemon Chicken and Orzo 🥒🍅 is so EASY, ready in 25 minutes, and feeds a crowd! Juicy lemon chicken with orzo, fresh spinach, cucumbers, and tomatoes make this a dinnertime WINNER! Great for parties, picnics, and potlucks too because people LOVE this one!
Italian Chicken Pasta Salad is easy, ready in 20 minutes, and showcases some of my favorite summer ingredients. It’s perfect for summer potlucks and BBQs, or as a no-fuss family dinner!
🥓🎉🙌🏻 This Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad is CREAMY, delicious, and ready in just 20 minutes! Made with rotini pasta coated in a creamy ranch dressing and tossed with bacon, peas, cheddar cheese, and more, it’s the perfect FAST and EASY side dish to bring to summer potlucks and barbecues. Or, serve it for a tasty lunch or as part of a quickie weeknight dinner that’s a sure-fire family FAVORITE!
Bean, Corn, or Grain Salads
Mexican Bean Salad with Corn 🌽💃🏼 is such a fast and easy recipe to make! Plus, it’s loaded with flavor and textures galore. Two kinds of beans, juicy corn and tomatoes, crisp peppers, and green onions are tossed in a lime-chili-cumin vinaigrette that’s perfectly light!
Easy 5 Bean Salad 🫘🙌🏻🥗The BEST bean salad with 5 types of beans, artichoke hearts, red onions, veggies, and takes just 10 MINUTES to prepare! Everything is tossed in a tangy, savory yet slightly sweet vinaigrette that ties everything together perfectly. Serve this as a protein-packed side dish for dinner, at picnics and potlucks, or as a stand-alone healthy lunch option. The recipe is EXTREMELY flexible, too!
🥗 Smoky Roasted Chickpea Salad with Buttermilk Chive Dressing is an EASY salad with smoky roasted chickpeas, vegetables, kale, and topped with homemade chive-infused buttermilk dressing! An accidentally vegetarian, gluten-free, HEALTHY, and SATISFYING salad, it’s quick, delicious, and filling!
Mexican Corn and Black Bean Salad is full of smoky grilled flavor and a personal favorite! An EASY corn salad with black beans, zucchini, red onions, cilantro, lime juice, and more! So much Mexican-inspired FLAVOR in every bite of this family favorite recipe that’s sure to be a hit!
Twelve Superfood Salad 🥗🫐🥬🍇 is the only “lettuce” salad in this roundup and that’s because the kale stands up so well so you can make it in advance. And this superfood salad is packed with 12 superfoods! This is a great clean out the fridge meal and is easily customized to suit whatever you need to use up. Best of all you just FEEL so good eating it. The most popular salad recipe for the last decade on my site!
🫒🧀😋 This Mediterranean Quinoa Salad is a massive personal favorite and I could eat it all the time! It’s ready in 20 minutes with Mediterranean-inspired ingredients, including chickpeas, Kalamata olives, artichokes, and goat cheese, to give layers of flavor and texture in every bite! It’s naturally gluten-free and vegetarian, too!
Roasted Curried Cauliflower and Chickpea Salad is an EASY, healthy, lettuce-less salad with roasted curried cauliflower and chickpeas as the STARS! Topped with raisins, pistachios, cilantro, and a DELISH tangy Greek yogurt dressing!
🐟🌿 This Chickpea Tuna Salad is a quick and EASY protein-packed recipe with fresh veggies for a light crunch! With bright, tangy flavors and a satisfying texture, it’s ready in 10 minutes for quick lunches or as a side salad for dinner!
🍗🍅🌿 My Pesto Chicken Caprese Salad combines JUICY chicken, ripe tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, and a homemade pesto. A fun twist on classic Caprese, it’s easy, ready in 20 minutes, and loaded with rich basil flavor! The balsamic keeps the basil from oxidizing.
🍂🧡🥗 My Roasted Brussel Sprout Salad is a HEARTY salad that celebrates the flavors of fall including roasted Brussels sprouts and dried cranberries along with quinoa, chickpeas, spinach, and goat cheese! Perfect for lunch, a meatless main, or a HEALTHY side dish - save this one for the holidays, too!
