10 Spectacular Memorial Day Salads

Warm weather brings sunshine filled days, picnics, barbecues and lots of backyard entertaining.  This collection of 10 Spectacular Memorial Day Salads are from right here in my own recipe file on Melissa’s Southern Style Kitchen. It features some of the salads I return to over and over again for my own special potlucks and celebration meal preparation. When planning your menu it’s important to remember the dietary needs of your family and friends as well as serving side dishes that are dressed to impress. Be it. pasta, potato, or a fun salad like my layered Southwestern cornbread salad, side dishes are just as important as the entrée.

Helpful Tips for Serving 10 Memorial Day Salads for a Cookout

• Make a Plan: Plan your Memorial Day menu in advance. Take note of salads that needs to be kept chilled or salads that will be served warm or at room temperature.
• Choose the Entrées: A traditional Memorial Day menu typically consists of hot dogs and hamburgers. That said, you may choose to grill chicken, steak, kabobs, pulled pork or smoked brisket or even pizza for the kiddos! Whatever your choose, complementary salads should be included on the menu.
• Offer a Variety of Salads: Have a choice of salads on the menu that feature a variety of flavors and textures for crunch. Include fresh vegetable salads, Mexican street corn salad, sweet pea salad mixed with cheddar cheese and crispy bacon, crisp cucumber and cherry tomato salads along with pasta salads and classic potato salad.
• Let Everyone Pitch In: When planning a cold salad bar, coordinate with other cooks so that there will be a variety of salads to enjoy with different flavors and textures and no duplicates. There’s no need to have several classic potato salads or classic macaroni salads.
• Condiments: Serve condiments in inexpensive plastic squeeze bottles to make them easy to pick up and use.

Set-Up a Memorial Day Salad Bar

• Choose a Variety of Vegetables: You could set-up a salad bar with fresh ingredients and vegetables that will appeal to everyone, Start with the basics like lettuce, cherry tomatoes, red onions, cucumbers, bell peppers, feta cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese. Include a variety of fresh herbs, pickles and salad dressings for everyone to build their own salad recipe while you grill the hot dogs and burgers.
• Keep Salads Chilled and Covered: When serving food outside for a cookout, make sure you take care with how long mayonnaise based or creamy salads and veggies are exposed to the heat. They should be kept on ice or in a cooler for food safety. It’s helpful to have a large cooler filled with ice to store foods safely between serving times.
• Backyard Parties: To keep salads cold, you can also insert the container into a large bowl filled with ice to keep them nice and cool.
• Pack Utensils and Serving Spoons: Don’t forget to pack the serving spoons to serve the salads once you reach your destination. You may want to include a slotted spoon for fruit salads. Have multiple serving spoons available in the event that some get misplaced or dropped on the ground.
• Fruit Salad: You may also enjoy this Red, White and Blue Fruit Salad from Eating on a Dime.

Scroll Through the Images for 10 Spectacular Memorial Day Salads Recipes

If you like the picture, click on the link just above it and see how to make your favorites. Hopefully, having them in one place will remind you of the ones I’ve shared with you and give you side dish inspiration.

Loaded Baked Potato Salad

Chicken Bacon Ranch Layer Salad 

5-Bean Salad

Layered Southwestern Cornbread Salad 

Cilantro Lime Cole Slaw

Homestyle Macaroni Salad

Sweet Pea Salad 

Chopped Chickpea Salad with Avocado 

Mediterranean Penne Pasta Salad

 

BLT Macaroni Salad