A simple House Salad is a recipe everyone needs on hand. It’s a fresh and crisp salad that is easy to toss together. Plus, it doubles as both a side dish or a main dish. Top the fresh vegetables, croutons, and chicken with your favorite dressing, and it will be your go-to salad recipe when you’re craving something light.

overhead shot of salad in bowl with croutons

We love to make salads all year at our house and always have different ingredients on hand so we can easily toss one together. One of our favorites is a house salad – a basic salad recipe with just a few ingredients.

Table of Contents

What is a House Salad?
House Salad Ingredients
How to Make It
Recipe Tips
Other Salad Recipes You’ll Enjoy
Simple House Salad Recipe Recipe

What is a House Salad?

There are many variations but often with a common theme. The salad is crisp and fresh usually has some combination of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and croutons. Sometimes there’s cheese and other ingredients.

It’s a simple salad without a lot of bells and whistles. Because of this, it makes a great side dish, but you can also add a protein to make it more of a meal.

As far as the dressing, that’s up to you. I’m sharing some of our favorites, but pretty much any dressing you like will go well with it.

House Salad Ingredients

Chopped romaine lettuce
Sliced beefsteak tomato
Sliced red onion
Crumbled crispy bacon
Sliced cucumber
Diced cooked chicken breast
Croutons

overhead shot of salad ingredients in bowl.

How to Make It

Layer the chopped lettuce, tomatoes, onion, bacon, cucumber, chicken, and croutons in a large salad bowl.
You can add the dressing and gently toss it all together or toss the salad and serve the dressing on the side so everyone can add their own.

Recipe Tips

To make the prep easy, use a sharp knife. It makes it so much easier. You can also use a serrated knife to slice the tomato – use a sawing motion with light pressure, and you don’t have to worry about squishing the tomato.
Sometimes we leave the chicken out when we serve it as a side because it pairs great with easy weeknight dinners, and we’ve made it for holidays, too.
For the dressing, we love this salad with balsamic vinaigrette, Italian dressing, and ranch. With so many options available, you don’t have to have it the same way twice just by changing the dressing.
If you opt for the chicken, you can use shredded rotisserie chicken, grilled or baked chicken. It’s a great way to use up leftover chicken, too.

Although there are common ingredients in a house salad, what goes in a house salad can be adjusted based on what you like. So, feel free to add or omit vegetables to put your spin on it. Save this house salad recipe for the next time you’re craving something light. Pair it with your favorite dinner recipes, or serve it all on its own. It’s delicious either way – enjoy!

Other Salad Recipes You’ll Enjoy

Making a recipe or using a tip? Share on Instagram and tag us @easygoodideas so we can see your projects!

Overhead shot of simple house salad with croutons on top

Simple House Salad Recipe

5 from 1 vote

A Simple House Salad is a recipe everyone needs on hand – it’s a fresh, crisp salad and so easy to toss together.

Prep Time 10

Yield 4 servings

Serving Size 1 serving

Save RecipeRate Recipe Print Recipe

Ingredients

1 head romaine lettuce chopped
1 beefsteak tomato
½ red onion sliced
5 slices of crispy bacon crumbled
1/2 large cucumber sliced
1 cup chicken breast cooked and cubed
Croutons

Instructions

Put lettuce, tomato, onion, cucumber and chicken in a large bowl. Mix together well
Use your favorite store bought dressing (we used a balsamic vinaigrette). Add croutons.
Serve!

Recipe Nutrition

Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Keyword house salad, side salad, simple salad

A Simple House Salad can have many variations, but this one is the original without any bells or whistles. It makes the perfect side salad!