This Accompaniment Salad is the perfect complement to almost any main dish. Crisp lettuce with tomatoes, avocado, and cucumber dressed with a red wine vinaigrette and topped with parmesan cheese and croutons.
We have been making a version of this salad for years, and decided to finally write it down. It goes with all sorts of dishes, from casual weekday meals to special occasion meals.
Try pairing it with our Maryland Crab Cakes, Shrimp Scampi, Shepherd’s Pie, and even our elegant Seared Filet Mignon. It's also excellent with a classic Italian dish like Meatball Parmigiana.
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Why Make This Recipe
- Classic salad to have in any cook’s repertoire
- Goes with so many different foods, or just add a protein to make it into a meal
- Easy to make in just 15 minutes
🥗 Ingredients
- Romaine Lettuce: We love the crunch of romaine in this recipe, but you could replace with whatever lettuce you prefer. Mixed greens are also a great choice.
- Cherry Tomatoes: Use gold or red cherry tomatoes, or substitute with chunks of ripe full-size tomatoes.
- Cucumbers: Use mini cucumbers or a large seedless English cucumber so that you don’t need to peel them before adding to the salad.
- Avocado: Optional, but that creamy avocado texture is so good next to the crunch of the cucumbers and lettuce.
- Red Wine Vinegar: Feel free to substitute white wine vinegar or sherry vinegar in this dressing.
- Olive Oil: Extra-virgin is our preference here.
- Parmesan Cheese: Shredded parmesan gives you the best combination of flavor and texture, but you can substitute goat cheese or feta cheese instead.
🥣 Step-by-Step Instructions
Rinse 1 head of romaine lettuce, pat dry with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel, then slice into 1 ½-inch sections.
Rinse ½ pint of cherry tomatoes, then pat dry and slice in half. Cut an avocado in half, remove the pit, then slice through the flesh to make cubes that you can peel off the skin. Cut a seedless cucumber into slices or bite-sized pieces.
To make the vinaigrette, whisk together 1 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar and 1 teaspoon dijon mustard, then slowly whisk in 5 tablespoons olive oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Arrange lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado onto 4 small plates.
Divide ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese and 1 ½ cups of croutons between the plates. Drizzle with dressing, and serve.
🧐 Recipe FAQs for Accompaniment Salad
An accompaniment salad is served with a main course and should complement the flavors of that main course. Also known as a side salad, accompaniment salads should be light and contain lots of vegetables. They should not fill you up so much you don’t need the main course!
An appetizer salad is served before the main course, and stands on its own. It does not need to complement the flavors of the main course.
You can make the red wine vinaigrette in advance, and prep the cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and lettuce. Keep the lettuce in damp paper towels in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble. The avocado chunks will brown if you cut them more than a half hour or so in advance. And the whole salad can get soggy if it is assembled and dressed ahead of time.
Yes, if you are serving a large gathering, you can absolutely double or triple this recipe.
👩🍳 Expert Tips
To make this salad into a main course, add on grilled chicken, shrimp, salmon, or tofu. You can also add other ingredients like sliced red onion, sweet peppers, or olives. The possibilities are endless—check out this roundup of the Best Salad Toppings for more inspiration.
You can also take the vinaigrette a little farther by adding either fresh or dried herbs, or adding a little honey for sweetness. Store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator and shake well before using.
Want to make your own croutons? Just cube day-old bread and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then toast in the oven or in a large skillet until lightly browned and crispy.
Rinse the romaine lettuce well, and make sure to pat dry as much as possible. Lettuce with water on it will make the rest of the salad soggy. You might try putting it in a salad spinner as well to really remove any extra liquid.
Got an unripe avocado? Put it in a paper bag with a ripe banana for a day or two to ripen the avocado quickly. When it is ripe, it will give slightly when you press it gently.
Want a gluten-free version of this recipe? Just replace the croutons with chopped nuts or toasted pumpkin seeds. You’ll still get a great crunch without the gluten.
How about trying this side salad with other dressings? We pair this salad with different dressings depending on what main course we are eating. Some of our favorites include this Healthy Ranch Dressing, this Sesame Ginger Dressing, and this Apple Cider Vinaigrette.
Other Delicious Salad Recipes
This is one example of an accompaniment salad, but really you can use any salad in small servings. Just make sure its flavors complement your main dish. Here are some other ideas:
If you try this Accompaniment Salad recipe, we would love to hear from you! Please rate this recipe and leave a comment below—your feedback is invaluable to us.
And please follow along on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or subscribe to our newsletter. We’d love to inspire you with more delicious, healthy, and seasonal recipes!
📖 Recipe
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Accompaniment Salad
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- ½ pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1 seedless cucumber
- 1 ½ tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 5 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup shredded parmesan cheese (42.5 grams)
- 1 ½ cups croutons (75 grams)
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Rinse lettuce, pat dry with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel, then slice into 1 ½-inch sections.
- Rinse cherry tomatoes, then pat dry and slice in half.
- Cut avocado in half, remove the pit, then slice through the flesh to make cubes that you can peel off the skin.
- Cut cucumber into slices or bite-sized pieces.
- To make the vinaigrette, whisk together red wine vinegar and dijon mustard, then slowly whisk in oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Arrange lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and avocado onto 4 small plates.
- Sprinkle each with shredded parmesan cheese and croutons.
- Drizzle with dressing, and serve.
Notes
You can make the red wine vinaigrette in advance, and prep the cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, and lettuce. Keep the lettuce in damp paper towels in the refrigerator until you’re ready to assemble. The avocado chunks will brown if you cut them more than a half hour or so in advance. And the whole salad can get soggy if it is assembled and dressed ahead of time. Expert Tips:
If you are serving a large gathering, you can double or triple this recipe. You can take the vinaigrette a little farther by adding either fresh or dried herbs, or adding a little honey for sweetness. Store in an airtight jar in the refrigerator and shake well before using. Want to make your own croutons? Just cube day-old bread and toss with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then toast in the oven or in a large skillet until lightly browned and crispy. Rinse the romaine lettuce well, and make sure to pat dry as much as possible. Lettuce with water on it will make the rest of the salad soggy. You might try putting it in a salad spinner as well to really remove any extra liquid.
Nutrition
Instagram Users: Now that you've made this side salad recipe, tag us @vanillabeancuisine or #vanillabeancuisine because we’d love to see your results!
More About Molly
Cooking healthy(ish) meals with seasonal ingredients is my passion. Trained as a French pastry chef, I spent over 10 years as a personal chef. Here you'll find well-tested recipes that you and your family will love!
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