What to Do If You Hate Salad

Are you a salad hater? I am here to tell you, it is ok to hate salads + you don’t have to eat them if you don’t want to. Making a hearty, irresistible salad isn’t an easy task to accomplish. Planning for a salad and preparing it isn’t easy either. Especially when they turn out bland and unfulfilling anyway. My tips today give you lots of ideas of what to do if you hate salad.

Tara’s Tuesday Tips: What to Do If You Hate Salad

8 Reasons Some People Hate Salad

Words from salad haters …

1. To make a salad taste good it must be drenched in dressing (personally I don’t think this is a bad thing, but salad-haters put this at the top of the list)
2. About an hour after eating a salad, you NEED to eat again.
3. Do all the veggies get cut the same size? Can some stay long like a green bean or a pepper slice? If there is something on top that normally is finger food, can one just stick their fingers in the bowl and eat it without a fork? This level of inconsistency annoys some people.
4. Salads are served cold and therefore not considered a hearty, hot, filling meal by salad haters.
5. The “diet food” reputation of a salad does not make it appetizing to those that are anti-diet.
6. It’s too complicated. Chop this, shred that, did the olives go bad since the last time a salad was made, do I have enough dressing, where is the protein, too complicated.
7. Lettuce is gross. Yep, a salad hater has said this to me. Some lettuce is bitter, some bland, some peppery, some taste like dirt, some have dirt on them, the list goes on.
8. BORING. This one I can get on board with, a salad can get boring if you let it. If you let your salad be boring enough times, you become a salad hater.

So, if you are a salad hater, now what?

What to Do If You Hate Salad

Add Concealing Ingredients

Salt, fat, heat, herbs, spices, citrus. All great concealers to mask the taste of a bitter arugula or a bland iceberg lettuce.

Drop The Assumptions

This isn’t the 1980’s. Society has evolved into a place where salads aren’t only for when you are “dieting” and leg warmers and leotards aren’t a necessary gym accessory. Make your salad whatever you want it to be. Wear leggings + leotards if that’s your thing, proudly go to the gym in your favorite gym clothes. 

Forgive Yourself

It is ok to hate salad. Yes, you will be judged in public, but remember, in the privacy of their own home, the salad haters are there and you may be giving them a voice.

Get Good at DIY Dressings

Like DIY projects but hate salad? Consider a good homemade dressing a project. Experiment with it until you love it. This is a game changer. Check out all my dressings + salad creations right here!

Say Goodbye to Boring

As with anything in life, if it isn’t fun or it is disgusting or mundane or monotonous, we won’t go running back for more. Kiss boring salads goodbye and pile your bowl high with fun things like grilled artichokes, plant-based chick’n nuggets, hummus, olives, roasted quinoa, avocados, the list goes on and on. Get out of the salad rut + you will be a salad lover. 

Don’t Let Your Salad Leave You Hungry

Make your salad a hearty, filling meal with perhaps a few warm ingredients on top like roasted chickpeas or air fried broccoli or buffalo tempeh.

Make a Smoothie Instead

Alright, you hate salad, now what? Make a smoothie. Dump all the greens in the blender, add a scoop of protein powder + some fruit and give it a whirl. You don’t have to eat the salad to get your greens.

Remember Your Salad Is Just a Vessel

You know that lettuce you were complaining about? Think of it as a vessel for the toppings that make that bowl a meal. Maybe the thing you hate is the vessel itself not the salad. Now what? Swap it out. Make the base grilled veggies or quinoa or zoodles or roasted sweet potatoes.

Salad is Not Required

There is no super secret rule that says if you are vegetarian or vegan or plant-based you MUST eat salad and love it. Nope. No salad required in the making of a vegetarian. Remember, you can be a voice for all the salad haters afraid to say they hate salad and happily eat a bowl of cooked veggies instead.

Food For Thought

Vegetarians are so much more than lettuce loving herbivores. Liking salad is not a requirement of being health-conscious and disliking salad does not compromise your admission into the vegetarian club. As someone who hands-down LOVES a good salad, but I live with the love of my life who HATES salad, I can sympathize with both sides of this argument. So, I have devoted a good portion of my little piece of the internet to taking the boring, unlikable salad and making it into a meal packed with yum + fun + giant spoonfuls of nutritious toppings. That being said, you are in the right place to find a way to tolerate salad if you find it in your heart to do so. Above all, I hope you find a way to enjoy good food (salad or not) in the company of good people.

All the best,

Tara 👩🏻‍🌾💚🥗

A Few Other Salad Tips You Might Enjoy

How To Build a Salad That is Filling

The Vegetarian’s Guide to Silken Tofu

How Do You Eat Salad In Winter?

How To Build A Healthy Salad (That Still Tastes Good)

Oil-Free Salad Dressings

⭐️Did you learn what to do if you hate salad? Leave a comment below, I love to hear from you! ⭐️

📷I love to see your creations! Tag @myvegetarianfamily on Instagram and hashtag it #myvegetarianfamily

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