This Nectarine and Avocado Salad with Ginger-Lime Dressing is both light and filling. It's perfect for a summertime dinner!
Are you a salad-hating vegetarian?
There's a small minority of vegetarians that are living in shame, afraid to tell the world who they really are. I was once one of them.
I was a salad-hating vegetarian.
The assumption is that if you're a vegetarian, you love salads. If you go to someone's house and they don't have a meatless entree for you, they'll say, "Don't worry, you can have extra salad—there's no meat in that!" And you push it around your plate a little bit and maybe eat a cucumber or two to be polite, then when no one's looking, you covertly dump that salad onto your husband's plate and move onto your dinner rolls. Mmm, dinner rolls. So bready!
But now, I've embraced salads and you can too! Here's what helped me get over my salad aversion.
Use Different Greens + Prepare Them Right
Have you seen our Guide to Salad Greens? There are a lot of greens out there besides iceberg and romaine! When people don't like a food, it always comes down to one of two things: the taste or the texture. For me, both were an issue with lettuce. I didn't like the crunchiness and I didn't like that lettuce flavor. Iceberg is completely out for me, but now, I'll eat romaine if I cut the crunchy stems out. I favor greens that don't taste lettuce-y, like arugula, spring mixes, and kale. I'm not a fan of raw kale in a salad, but when it's massaged, grilled, or baked for a few minutes in the oven (yes, really! this is my kale salad secret!), it's delicious. So find a green or two you like and stick with those when making your salads.
Upgrade Your Dressing
Dressings are tricky for me. I hate gloppy, thick dressings that a lot of restaurants serve—gross! But I'm also not a big fan of vinegar and a lot of lighter dressing options are heavy on that. Some of my favorite dressings are ones made with tahini, almond or peanut butter, or a mixture of oil and lemon or lime juice. If I make my own vinaigrette at home, I go light on the vinegar and I make sure to add sweet elements to the salad, which I find makes the acidity of the vinegar more palatable. I also really like sweet dressings—the Ginger-Lime Dressing for this salad recipe is sweetened with honey.
Add Some Substance + Excitement
A plate of greens and cucumbers with a token tomato or two is not a meal! Not only are those salads not filling, but they're also boring—I need something to chew on! Something to savor! I need some excitement in my salad! Some of my favorite additions are fresh fruit, marinated tofu or tempeh, chickpeas and other legumes, nuts and seeds, and whole grains. Cooked wheat berries are especially good in a salad because they hold their texture even when sitting in dressing for a while. We have some more ideas for meal-worthy salads here.
This Nectarine and Avocado Salad ticks a bunch of those boxes for me—it's got fruit, tofu, a sweet homemade dressing made with lime juice, and chewy wheat berries. It manages to be both light and filling at the same time and it's highly customizable. Brown rice or quinoa can be swapped in for the wheat berries; peaches or oranges for the nectarines; your favorite vinaigrette for the Ginger-Lime Dressing. Make yourself a salad you can enjoy and dig in!
Ingredients
- 1 5 oz package spring mix salad greens
- 2 nectarines pitted and sliced
- 1 medium avocado pitted, peeled, and sliced
- 1 cup wheat berries cooked according to package instructions and cooled
- ½ small red onion thinly sliced
- 1 8 oz package marinated tofu, cubed (optional)
Ginger-Lime Dressing
- ¼ cup lime juice
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp tamari
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsp cilantro minced
- 2 tbsp fresh mint minced
- 2 tsp lime zest
- 2 tsp ginger minced
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Divide the greens into 4 large bowls. Place the nectarines, avocado, wheat berries, sliced onion, and tofu on top of the greens.
- Whisk together the dressing ingredients and season to taste with salt and pepper. Drizzle the dressing onto the salads and serve.
Notes
This recipe was originally published on 9 June 2014.
Yum! I'm such a fan of big hearty salads for dinner and this one looks just great. I mostly quit eating salad dressing years ago when I realized I didn't like it very much and didn't feel that it was worth the calories. I usually just put lots of flavour in the salad its self so it doesn't need any dressing. This salad looks right up my alley with the nectarines and wheat berries. Bookmarked to try!
Oh man, I TOTALLY need dressing on my salads. Just not the gloppy kind. 🙂
SO pretty!!!
Soy-Free and Gluten-Free Tofu! O my gosh! You just made my life!
It's good! They sell it at Whole Foods. 🙂
This is so gorgeous!! I love all the color and all them flavors! That ginger-lime dressing sounds absolutely dreamy. I used to be a salad naysayer, too. croutons + tomato + lettuce = blah. You have such wonderful salad-ing advice - adding variety, flavor and texture makes for such a wonderful meal. I must be making this one soon!
Yeah, I feel like salads have come a long way. Back in the day, iceberg was pretty much your only option!
OMG! I have never seen hemp tofu before, having a soy allergy I would gladly opt for that one. Where did you find it? That salad looks amazing by the way;)
They sell it at Whole Foods! It's pretty good - the texture is different from regular tofu, so I think I still like regular tofu better, but I'll definitely buy this again for a change of pace. 🙂
This looks fantastic - I'm always looking for new and interesting ways to make a salad and might have to have a go at this for my work lunches next week!
I hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Ooooo...I HATED salads until I was about 26. I was the unhealthiest vegetarian for a long time! I refused to eat lettuce. I think I survived on cheesy cauliflower and carrots and dip for 10 years. *haha* But now I adore salads and make the point of having a large bowlful of greens every day! I love changing things up every day though - changing the greens, the mix-ins, dressings etc. I love the sound of this salad. I just got some nectarines in my organic delivery this week. Cannot wait to try this salad! 🙂
Yeah, I was a pretty unhealthy vegetarian too since I stopped eating meat so young. I'm surprised my skin didn't turn orange from ingesting so many Doritos. 🙂
Yay for beutiful salads! I went to a Salad "supper club" last week and it was probably the best meal of my life. I can't believe I used to say I didn't like salad!
I love all the components of this one- sweet, tangy & lots of different textures.
P.S. Whenever I click on your site a bunch of videos pop up! I have to stick my volume on mute.
GAH! I thought I had pinpointed the ad network that was doing that and I removed them from my site - I'm so upset to hear it's still happening. It doesn't happen in the US because I've banned those ads from all my networks (although occasionally, one or two will slip by), but for whatever reason, it seems like none of those rules apply internationally with some networks. 🙁 Can you tell me which spots you're seeing them in or email me screenshots? That will help me narrow down where they're coming from and I can make sure it stops.
They're not flashing up just at the minute but there's typically one on the right hand sidebar (just under your "affiliate link disclosure") and at the bottom of the post, to the right of the "oh my veggiemail" box.
Hope that helps somewhat!
Thank you! I'm hoping to get this taken care of within the next week or two. I *hate* ads like that!
It’s beautiful and all the layers of flavor are calling my name!! Summer in a plate!
Love all the colorful salads this time of the year! This one looks so refreshing, healthy, and delicious!
You and I are like salad hating twins! I love it. And I would love this salad because it has ALL THE GOOD STUFF in it! And a fun dressing, which is a must.
We're not picky, we just have discerning tastes. 🙂
I'm excited to make this salad, and have a question! When you say "1 cup wheat berries, cooked according to package instructions and cooled" does that mean 1 cup of uncooked wheat berries, and then make them according to instructions? Or does that mean once you've cooked the wheat berries, put 1 cup of cooked wheat berries into the salad?
It's always hard to phrase that in a recipe! You'll start with 1 cup of uncooked berries, then cook them according to the package instructions. 🙂
This salad looks really delicious and can't wait to try it.
Where can I find nutritional info on this recipe and dressing?