Citrus Herb Chopped Garden Salad

This citrus herb chopped garden salad  makes good use of your garden bounty. Fresh herbs with bright citrus combine with crunchy vegetables for an easy, healthy tasty dish.

It’s that time of the summer when I feel pressured to use the abundance of herbs and vegetables from my garden. My hubby and I are learning how to can and so far we have a good supply of pickled jalapeño peppers, salsa and marinara going. But there are some garden goodies that seem better eaten fresh than canned. So the other day, I whipped up this citrus herb chopped garden salad because I wanted to use what we had hanging around on the counter. It was the perfect summer salad to me: bright, fresh and best of all crunchy. 

So let’s talk about what is in this garden salad starting with the vegetables. We always plant lots of peppers and tomatoes in our garden. So those guys were going in there for sure. My hubby loves hot peppers so I used a couple jalapeños for a little heat. The green beans and zucchini were also from our garden. The corn was left over from the night before and the red onion was from Aldi. 🙂

Citrus herb Chopped Garden Salad

For the dressing, I wanted something light and refreshing. I love citrus based dressings in the summer and since I had a few oranges, lemons and limes, I used all three. A combination of juice and zest really give this dressing that brightness I was looking for. From the garden I had parsley and mint and hanging in out in the refrigerator I had a bunch of cilantro. If I had any basil I would have added that too. The more the merrier in my book. 

To assemble I just chopped up the vegetables into bite size pieces and whizzed the dressing in my food processor along with the herbs. Then I tossed the vegetables with the dressing and ate it right away. I was still nice and crunchy the next day too. This is the perfect time of the year to make this salad because of all the fresh produce from gardens and farmers markets. It would be great for a picnic too because it would stand up to the heat.  And if you are using veggies from your garden you can show off all your hard work! Enjoy!

Check out these other summer garden inspired salads.

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Citrus Herb Chopped Garden Salad

This citrus herb chopped garden salad makes good use of your garden bounty. Fresh herbs with bright citrus combine with crunchy vegetables for an easy, healthy tasty dish.

Prep Time 5 minutes

Total Time 5 minutes

Servings 4

Author Denise Wright (MyLifeCookbook.com)

Ingredients

• 3 cloves of garlic
• zest and juice of 1 orange
• 1 lemon juiced
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves tightly packed
• 1 Tablespoon fresh mint leaves
• 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley
• 1 cup tomatoes chopped
• 2 cups of corn
• 1 cup red onion chopped
• 1 cup bell peppers chopped
• 1 cup zucchini chopped
• 1 cup green beans chopped
• 2 jalapeños chopped

Instructions

1. For the dressing, add the garlic, zest, juice, olive oil and herbs to a food processor and blend for a minute.
2. Chop all vegetables into bite size pieces and add to a large bowl.
3. Add the dressing to the vegetables and toss well.
4. Refrigerate until ready to use.