Take A Bite

Okay so maybe not every salad kit. I suppose Caesar salad and coleslaw would fall into the “salad kit” category, but those seemed like a cop-out. I also omitted the saute kits. I limited this research to the tall skinny (do you know what I mean?) salad kits intended to be more of a meal or hefty side. I tried a majority of their current offerings. The only one I didn’t try was the Peanut and Crispy Noodle Salad Kit, because of #peanutallergy.

First, a few tips for eating Trader Joe’s salad kits. Tip #1, I recommend tossing the pre-packaged dressing. They give you way too much to dress the amount of the salad in the bag. Salads are typically a healthy option, but the salad dressing can make a salad go from good to bad, quick. Every dressing I saw in these kits had sugar in them. Not that I don’t eat sugar, but I don’t want to expend my sugar consumption in a salad dressing. A little olive and vinegar is all you need. I noted how I dressed each salad as I reviewed them.

Tip #2, beef them up with extra greens. I brought these salads for lunch most days and they are the perfect amount to get 2 servings out of one bag. At $2.99 to $3.99 a bag, a $2 or less lunch is a win. However, I would add to their volume by buying an extra bag of spinach to make the salad a little bigger.

Tip #3, add protein/healthy fats. These are all great with avocado, some shredded rotisserie chicken, chopped up turkey burger, chicken sausage, shrimp, salmon, you name it.

Sesame Crunch Chopped Salad Kit
bok choy, savoy cabbage, red cabbage, carrots, sesame sticks, cashews and nori seaweed flakes with toasted sesame ginger vinaigrette

This kit was surprising. The flavors were bolder than I thought and the nori seaweed flakes gave it an interesting kick. I would buy again, but it wasn’t my favorite. It would be a good green addition to an Asian meal. For instance, paired alongside TJs coveted Mandarin Orange Chicken or potstickers.

I added avocado and used coconut aminos to dress my salad.

Southwestern Chopped Salad Kit
green cabbage, romaine, cotija cheese, roasted pepitas, tortilla strips, green onion, cilantro and a southwest avocado dressing

This salad is a Trader Joe’s staple and comes up on several lists for the top items to try at TJs. My friend Maddie who inspired this whole blog post told me it was her favorite, but wanted me to research the other options out there to help her break out of her routine of buying this same salad every time. For good reason, it’s great and would make for a great side dish to Tex Mex or barbecue.

I added avocado and used salsa for the dressing! It would be great with shredded chicken, grilled shrimp or taco meat.

Tahini, Pepita & Apricot Slaw Kit
shredded carrots, broccoli stalks, green cabbage & kale with a tahini orange dressing

You had me at tahini. I stinking love tahini. Even though the only tahini part of this salad was in the dressing…which I threw away. The apricot was also the subtle star of this salad show.

I didn’t have any tahini but I 100% would have done a drizzle of apple cider vinegar and tahini if I had it. Instead, I did apple cider vinegar, dijon mustard, and olive oil. With it being a slaw and having stiffer vegetables, it needed a thicker creamier dressing to break through them, than just a vinaigrette. I added avocado too of course.

Veggies & Greens Salad Kit
crisp & crunchy blend of veggies including cauliflower & Brussels sprouts with radcchio, kale, dried pear crumbles, pistachios & honey ginger dressing

This salad was an underdog that came out being one of my favorites. It seemed underwhelming with a name like “veggies & greens,” but I was pleasantly surprised. I had forgotten about the dried pear and thought it was dried ginger (which I love). Either way, it was the perfect sweet note. The pistachios were salty and roasted. I wish there were more.

I ate this with avocado and made a simple dressing of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper. This is my go-to dressing. Like I mentioned above, this too needed a thicker dressing with all of the stiff greens. I even heated this salad up for 30 seconds in the microwave. May sound weird, but I kind of enjoy eating salads warm and it too helped break down the stiff greens a bit. This would make an excellent easy side dish or with a piece of grilled salmon over the top.

Organic Mediterranean Style Salad Kit
Romaine lettuce, shredded broccoli stalks, radicchio, celery, seasoned flatbread strips, feta cheese, dried tomatoes and roasted chickpeas with a red wine vinaigrette.

This is in rotation as one of my favorite Trader Joe’s Salad Kits! I love greek salads and Mediterranean food in general. The dried tomatoes were a fun surprise and the seasoned flatbread added just a little crunch without being carb-heavy.

Yellow Curry Chopped Salad
Mixed cabbage and carrots with naan chips, cashews, golden raisins & yellow curry ginger lime vinaigrette.

I love a curry moment and had bigger expectations for this salad that what delivered. I actually didn’t toss the dressing that came with this salad, but I did only drizzle a tiny amount. I wanted that good curry flavor, however it lent way more sweet than rich and spicy and savory like I want from curry. The naan chips were also hard as a rock and not quite what I was wanting.

Lemony Arugula Basil Salad Kit
Arugula, rainbow ribbon carrots, almonds and parmesan cheese with a basil lemon vinaigrette.

This is one of the more versatile TJs salad kit. It may be my all time favorite. It’s the perfect base for an entree salad if you beef it up with avocado, and more veggies. I love it as an easy side dish for pan seared salmon.

Buffalo Ranch Chopped Salad
Green cabbage, romaine lettuce, cauliflower stalks, celery, kale, carrots & blue cheese crumbles with a buffalo ranch dressing.

I am not usually a buffalo or a ranch girl when it comes to flavors, but I wanted to give all salad kits a fair shot. I tried the dressing on this salad and it was not for me, so I set it aside and drizzled this with a little barbecue sauce. Delicious honestly, but I love barbecue sauce. Some shredded chicken, extra carrots, and chopped celery would be great added to this salad. If you are a buffalo aficionado, some crock-pot chicken shredded with buffalo sauce would be awesome here.

Suggestions on what my next Trader Joe’s quest should be? Chips? (after lent of course because I gave up these little kryptonites) Dip? Frozen food?

Annie

updated 8/24/20

updated June 2019

Build your own at Coolgreens

Back again for another installment of Bites About Town. You can see my first post about the best Matcha Latte in OKC here. I love my city and the bites it has to offer. Today's spotlight bite is, salad. Salads can get a bad rap or get overlooked on a menu, but they can also be a showstopper. To correlate with everyone's efforts to eat healthy in the new year I'm rolling out my Top 5 salads in OKC. I can't rank them individually because they all reign supreme. I will share my #1 fav of the moment, but you have to keep reading to find out.

Grilled Chicken Chop Salad at Mary Eddy's
Ingredients: heirloom tomato, cucumber, avocado, danish bleu, house bacon, chopped egg, green goddess vinaigrette and chicken.
Notes: I've dined at Mary Eddy's, the restaurant in the new 21C Museum hotel, a few times for dinner, and was left a little underwhelmed. Little did I know I was ordering the wrong thing. Skip the rest of the menu and head straight for the salads. The Chop salad at Mary Eddy's is insanely flavorful, perfectly filling and includes everything you want in an entree salad. I highly suggest adding chicken. They pack some amazing flavor into that little chicken breast. {they have since added chicken to the salad on the lunch menu and changed the portion to a side salad on the dinner menu}. Best part is, the whole salad is sprinkled with flakey Maldon salt. Lucky for me, my company often has lunch meetings at Mary Eddy's meaning the more chop salad the better.

BB Salad at The Jones Assembly
Ingredients: grilled chicken, lardon, avocado, gruyére, spiced hazelnut, red onion, sourdough crouton, green goddess
Notes: I’m bias here because I work for The Jones, but when we were developing the menu back in 2017 we knew we had to have just a good ole basic salad that you can eat anytime of day and never get tired of it. Enter the BB Salad aka the Basic Bitch Salad. Yes that really is what BB stands for. I love the sweet and crunchy hazelnuts combined with the soft avocado. I love the bite from the red onion and the flavor on the grilled chicken. I am also a sucker for bibb or romaine lettuce in a salad, so it wins in the greens department. And the lardons, gahhh I could eat these plain as a snack. I usually ask for mine without the cheese and croutons and with dressing on the side to save my carb and dairy intake, but I’m also just annoying like that.

Image via Yelp

Farmer's Market Salad at Upper Crust
Ingredients: Boston bibb & arugula, fuji apples, candied walnuts, gorgonzola, white balsamic vinaigrette.
Notes: Any pizza place has to include a few salads on their menu. Usually you get a boring house or caesar option, but sometimes they can blow you away with a salad better than the pizza. This is the case with the farmer's market salad at Upper Crust. It's perfect to share if you are getting a pizza, but also great as an entree if you want to skip the carbs. The white balsamic vinaigrette is incredible. I actually went and bought white balsamic after first having this salad. Try it, you won't regret it.

Falafel Salad at Saturn Grill
Ingredients: mixed greens, house vinaigrette, fresh tomato, persian cucumber, red onion, yogurt tahini & spicy red pepper sauces, & crispy house made falafel
Verdict: I have a mad love for falafel and all greek food for that matter. This is my sister and I's favorite, we even tried to recreate it at home (read these tragic old school posts for our recreation). If you've ever tried to make falafel at home, you know it is probably a fail. No need to try when you should just go to Saturn and order yourself the falafel salad. The crispiest falafel and best tahini and red pepper sauce. Highly recommend.

Texas "Chop House" Rotisserie Chicken Salad at Red Rock
Ingredients: Iceberg (sub romaine), black beans, tomatoes, jicama, sweet corn, corn tortilla strips, Monterey Jack cheese, chipotle bleu cheese dressing (sub for balsamic), avocado and barbecue sauce. Perk, it comes with cornbread!
Notes: My parents and I got into a bit of a routine of going to Red Rock this summer and sitting on their patio enjoying the live music and lakeside view. That is when I discovered the deliciousness that is their rotisserie chicken salad. With fun ingredients like jimica, tortilla strips, barbecue sauce and a whole avocado it keeps me coming back for more. Pro tip-swap the blue cheese for balsamic and the iceberg for romaine. Also get your dressing on the side because this salad is HUGE and filling. Can easily be taken home for leftovers.

Grilled Shrimp Salad at Republic
Ingredients: grilled shrimp, brussels sprouts, spaghetti squash, spinach, red onion, crispy salami, smoked gouda, horseradish vinaigrette
Notes: If you have never had this salad, I urge you to run to Republic and try it. It's loaded with (honestly) a weird assortment of ingredients, but it totally works. The shrimp is grilled perfectly and has so much flavor and I can't get enough of the crispy salami. One of my favorites by a landslide.

Image via Facebook

Gusto Chopped Salad at Pizzaria Gusto
Ingredients: Romaine, radicchio, tomato, red onion, pepperoncini, kalamata olives, chickpeas, provolone, salami, croutons, vinaigrette.
Notes: Another chop salad made the list, but rightfully so. Similar to Upper Crust, I could go to Pizzaria Gusto and skip the pizza all together just so I could enjoy every last bit of their chopped salad. The big pieces of provolone are a home run. It's full of Italian flavors, which I love. Gusto also makes all of their dressing in house, so they are free of scary additives-win!

Brussels Sprout, Napa Cabbage, Kale and Burrata Salad at Cafe 501

So now that I've given you the run down on my five favorite salads in OKC, I'll unveil my favorite. Drumroooolllllllllll please.

Favorite salad in OKC (as of now) is...the Grilled Chicken Chop Salad from Mary Eddy's!! Mary Eddy's has me craving this salad weekly. I will happily go eat at Mary Eddy's with you just so I can share this amazing salad with you.

Update: The Jones BB Salad places just under the chop salad. With all of the new spots popping up around town, I don’t eat at ME quite as frequent as I used to. However, you can fined me at the bar enjoying a BB Salad most Friday’s during the week.

I asked for some of y'alls favorite salads when creating this post. Fan favorites included the Rotisserie Chicken salad from Republic, the Caprese and Southwest Spicy from Cool Greens, the Salmon Caesar at Saturn Grill, Simply Falafel's Greek Salad and the BLT salad from The Drake were popular choices. What are some of your favorite salads in the city?

Annie