Delicious Salads That Keep Well For Days (20+ Make Ahead Salad Recipes)!

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by Robin

I LOVE salads that keep well for days – and I adore how often these recipes get better with time! Some kind of magic happens in the fridge – that turns a great-tasting salad into something even more wonderful with some time for the ingredients to get to know each other.

Why I also love lettuce-free salads for summer is their sheer convenience. I am a faithful meal planner during the school year – it keeps us on track for time and budget! But, for some reason, when school’s out I slack off almost completely.

We have this blind spot when planning our summer meals: Summertime meal planning sounds like, “We’ll just barbecue something. No problem.” And then Ed fires up the BBQ and grills something wonderful. Problem is 5 minutes before supper he pops his head inside and says, “Oh yeah, we’ll need a vegetable.” And then we scramble.

We don’t ever forget vegetables during the school year! What happens to our brains in summer?! If we’re lucky there’s something we can harvest from our driveway vegetable garden, but sometimes we’re a bit stuck.

This is where salads that keep well show their quality: they can happily be waiting in the fridge for when we forget to plan something. They’re also wonderful for potlucks and parties – make them days ahead and there’s no frantic prep right before.

I created this 3-Minute Broccoli Coleslaw with this in mind. It was inspired by an absolutely delicious coleslaw that my mother-in-law often makes. As usual with my recipes – I took her’s and figured out how to make it in the laziest way possible. The results are fast, easy and pretty healthy.

What follows is 20+ more ideas for great make-ahead recipes for salads that keep well – and get better!

Delicious Summer Salads that Keep Well for Days!

Make Ahead Salads that taste BETTER the next day

make ahead corn avocado feta salad recipe — Our Simple & Tasty Corn Feta Avocado Salad – Perfect for Leftover Corn on the Cob

Healthy & Simple Chopped Thai Chicken Salad with Peanut Dressing ~ That Keeps Well for Days! from Us

Delicious & Easy Mediterranean Lemon Feta Orzo Salad ~ that Keeps Well for Days from Us!

Tri Color Pasta Salad from Courtney’s Sweets

Roasted Corn and Chimichurri Salad from Two-Bit Art

Creamy Salad with Bacon from The Forked Spoon

loaded cauliflower mock potato salad — Low-Carb Loaded Cauliflower Mock Potato Salad from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Simple & Healthy Thai-inspired Crunchy Quinoa Salad ~ that keeps well for days! from us!

Broccoli Salad with Bacon from I Heart Naptime

Asparagus Potato Salad from Allergy Girl Eats

Honey Roasted Carrot Lentil Salad from Allergy Girl Eats

Butternut Squash Wild Rice with Cranberries and Fennel from Caroline’s Cooking

Primavera Pasta Salad from It Bakes Me Happy

Rainbow Buckwheat Salad from Strength and Sunshine

Asian Cucumber Salad from Dinner at the Zoo

Ramen Noodle Salad from Confessions of a Fit Foodie

Lemon Orzo Pasta Salad from Sunday Supper Movement

Forbidden Black Rice Mango Salad from Healthy Helper

Grilled Veggie & Quinoa Salad from The Mommy Mix

Mediterranean Lentil Quinoa Rice Salad from Garden in the Kitchen

This is just one of our collections of easy recipes! You can find more here.

Robin & Ed Hicken Creators

Robin and Ed are a DIY-loving couple with over 25 years of design and build experience. Also, Robin is a Nutritionist and former Registered Dietitian and Ed is an award-winning Business Educator. We share strategies for living a rich life on a DIY budget: creative money-savvy ideas for a stylish home, healthy meals and family fun. Our work has been published in the pages of Do It Yourself, Farmhouse Style and Better Homes & Gardens magazines.