High-Protein Salads for Summer

Transcript:

Teresa: Hello and welcome back to “Ask a Nutritionist”, our weekly mini episode of Dishing Up Nutrition. I am Teresa Wagner, a registered dietitian with Nutritional Weight & Wellness. And today we're talking all about a favorite type of meal to eat during the summertime: high protein salads.

When the temperatures climb, many of us don't feel like turning on our oven or standing over a hot stove. So salads become a go-to meal. But there's one big problem. Many salads leave us hungry an hour later. If you've ever eaten a big bowl of salad greens and vegetables only to find yourself rummaging through the pantry shortly there afterward, you are not alone. The missing piece is usually protein.

Today I'll answer some of the most common questions I hear from clients about building satisfying high protein salads to keep us full, support blood sugar balance, and taste great all summer long.

How much protein should we aim for in a salad?

So let's start with the first question. How much protein should we aim for in a salad to keep us full? For most women, I recommend aiming for at least 30 grams of protein in a meal. That goes for salads too. And for men, 50 grams or more in those meals. Protein helps slow digestion, supports staple blood sugar, preserves muscle mass, and increases satiety. When a salad only contains a few grams of protein, it functions more like a side dish than a complete meal.

A good rule of thumb is to build your salad around protein first, then add vegetables, healthy fats, and a little bit of starchy carbohydrate. Think of protein as the foundation of the meal. So how do you get 30 grams of protein in a salad or 50 grams for our gentlemen? It is actually easier than you might think.

Examples of how to get in enough protein for salads

Here are a few examples. Four ounces of grilled chicken provides about 28 grams of protein. Five ounces of salmon, fresh or canned, gives you roughly 30 grams. One cup of cottage cheese is about 28 grams of protein. Two hard-boiled eggs plus two ounces of chicken breast gives you nearly 30 grams of protein.

And that is a great strategy, combining protein sources. For example, a steak salad plus some feta cheese, a grilled salmon salad topped with chopped up nitrate-free bacon. Sliced hard boiled eggs with diced ham and some cubed turkey breast for a cob inspired salad. A chicken salad with a yogurt based dressing, or maybe a taco salad with ground beef and some cheese. Layering proteins can make salads more flavorful and satisfying.

Easy summer salads

Now you may be thinking, I don't want to or I don't have time to cook during the busy summer months. So what are some easy high protein salads that I can quickly throw together? Summer is the perfect time to take advantage of convenience proteins. One of my favorite salads is our Mediterranean Quinoa Salad that you can find on our website at weightandwellness.com under the recipes tab.

Start with spinach, then you add some precooked quinoa, some cucumber and bell pepper, some cherry tomatoes, some kalamata olives, red onion, and some precooked chicken that you can find either in the deli or in the frozen section. The dressing, it just calls for olive oil and balsamic vinegar, but you could add in some garlic or some lemon juice, maybe some basil for some extra flavor. No cooking required, just assembly.

Another easy option is a rotisserie chicken salad with leafy greens, fresh berries, pecans, and goat cheese. I love to drizzle this salad with some lemon-infused olive oil and then using some strawberry-infused vinegar. Both can be found at specialty olive oil shops, or I am sure you can find it online.

You could also make a caprese style cottage cheese bowl, probably more for a snack, by combining cottage cheese, cherry tomatoes, some basil, salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and some balsamic. It's so good. Or try a smoked salmon salad mixed with cream cheese, capers, and some finely diced red onion. Put it over a bed of greens, or maybe you eat it as a dip with some cucumber slices and some gluten-free seeded crackers. These ideas just require a couple of minutes to put together, no cooking required, and even better, there's no pots and pans to wash.

Tips for preventing soggy salads

Another comment I hear from clients is I've tried making salads ahead of time for work the next day, but it ends up soggy and wilted by lunchtime. So for those of us prepping ahead, how do you prepare a salad without it getting soggy? This is one of the more common salad meal prep challenges.

The key is choosing heartier ingredients and storing wet ingredients away from the more delicate components. Using mason jars as your to-go containers gives you a clear view of what you have ready to go. So you're not trying to determine what is in what container before rushing out the door.

Plus, storing in glass versus plastic is a much healthier option. We don't want plastic leaching into our food. And with many salads having an acidic component, plastic can leach into the food even though it's cold. Some excellent meal prep-friendly options include a mason jar taco salad. Layer the wet ingredients like the salsa and the sour cream on the bottom, followed by black beans, the cooked taco meat, and then the chopped-up bell pepper and the lettuce go on top, or maybe in a separate container.

Another option is the Mediterranean chickpea and chicken salad. The chicken and the chickpeas go on the bottom, followed by the olives, the tomatoes, and the cucumbers, and then topping it with the salad greens, and last the feta cheese. Keeping the dressing separate until serving or putting it on the very bottom of the jar and then shake it up before eating to distribute the dressing.

Or try a Mediterranean chickpea and chicken salad. Chickpeas and chicken go on the bottom, followed by the olives and tomatoes and cucumbers. Top it with your greens and last the feta. Keep the dressing, maybe it's a Greek style dressing on the side, or maybe you put it all the way in the bottom. That dressing could be made of olive oil, red wine vinegar, some oregano and salt and pepper. Like I said, keep it separate or put it at the bottom of the jar. If you put it at the bottom of the jar, all you have to do is shake it up when you're ready to eat it and you're all set to go.

Another favorite is an Asian chicken slaw. Cabbage is the base because it stays crisp for days. Add some chicken, some shredded carrots, and maybe some edamame. Shake it up with a dressing once again, a combination of Bragg liquid aminos, or some other gluten-free soy sauce, a blend of olive oil and expeller pressed toasted sesame oil, some white vinegar and honey.

While the dressing is added ahead of time, these veggies may get a little softer, but they're not going to get soggy. And so you can store it and eat it for several days. Generally, cabbage, kale, broccoli slaw, and other chopped sturdy vegetable salads last longer than those delicate spring greens.

These sturdy salads are my go-to make a head salads that are perfect to batch and prepare to take to work. They are complete as long as you add enough protein. So when it's lunchtime, all you have to do is grab a fork.

We have several sturdy salad recipes on our website: the crunchy broccoli salad, the kale salad, the shaved Brussels sprouts and pomegranate salad, and my favorite, the cruciferous salad.

Budget friendly high protein summer salad ideas

Now let's talk about some budget-friendly, high-protein summer salad ideas. The proteins can be the most expensive part of putting a meal together, but there are some cost-effective strategies to help you meet protein goals without going over budget. Some of the most economical protein sources include eggs, canned fish, nitrate-free deli meat and rotisserie chicken. For more variety, one of the most economical ways of preparing meat is to bulk cook it using either a sheet pan, an instant pot, a crock pot, or in the summer, I like to fill the grill.

It takes only a short time to cook those proteins and it lasts for several meals. When done cooking, divide it into individual containers or added to one of the previous salads I mentioned. Freeze the leftovers that you won't be using within a few days, and then you'll have proteins for the following weeks.

Prepping proteins in bulk and using leftovers throughout the week can significantly lower your grocery bill and is much less expensive than going out for lunch or having something delivered.

Are vegetarian options enough protein for a meal?

Another common question we receive: are vegetarian options like bean salads or legumes enough protein for a meal. Beans and legumes provide soluble fiber, minerals, and some protein, but not enough to meet ideal protein needs on their own. Plus, they are high in carbohydrates.

For example, one cup of black beans contains only about 15 grams of incomplete protein, but has 40 grams of carbohydrates. Remember, we're aiming for around 30 grams of protein per meal for the ladies and 50 grams or more for the men, keeping carbs to about 30 grams as a general rule. So as you can see, this is a little bit flip-flopped.

When we have beans as our protein source, for beans and other legumes, we recommend keeping the serving size to about a half a cup for a little starchy carb, for some energy, some fiber, and a little bonus protein. But animal proteins are the best option to give you a complete protein without any carbohydrates, aiming for most of our carbohydrates to come from non-starchy vegetables with only a small amount coming from the starchy carbs, like the legumes, the beans, the whole grains, about a half cup per meal.

And for a visual, a half cup is approximately the same size as a half of a baseball. So it's really not that much. If this is new for you, I highly encourage measuring just to kind of get an eyeball sense of how much that actually is.

Realistically building a balanced salad meal

So let's put this all together and how you realistically build a balanced salad for a meal that hits your protein targets, gives you some fiber, some phytonutrients, and vitamins, and leaves you full and satisfied when you're finished.

I like to think of a balanced salad, as with any meal, is having three major components. First, the protein: chicken, turkey, beef, pork, fish, eggs, cottage cheese. Second, healthy fats, avocado, olive oil, olives, nuts, seeds, sour cream. Third, quality carbohydrates. This means unlimited amounts of those low starch vegetables, leafy greens, cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, zucchini, peapods, bell peppers, cruciferous vegetables.

Then keeping those starchier carbs to about a half a cup. So starchier carbs would be things like fruit, beans, legumes, lentils, chickpeas, whole grains, sweet potatoes, squash, quinoa. More ideas on how to put this all together: some of my clients like the idea of a Big Mac burger: ground beef, lettuce tomato, onion, pickles, a Thousand Island dressing.

Thousand Island is easy to make from home and won't have some of the junky ingredients we are trying to avoid that come in standard bottled salad dressings. To make it on your own, choose an avocado oil-based mayo, just squirt in a low sugar ketchup until it gets to that right color. Add some dill pickle relish, salt and pepper, lemon juice, you're good to go.

This salad is great over some diced sweet potato. I also love to make a spinoff of the Jennifer Aniston salad with chicken breast, a half a cup combo of chickpeas and quinoa for that starch component, mint leaves, parsley, cucumber, red onions, pistachios, and feta cheese. And the dressing is this lovely mix of olive oil, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, lemon zest, and a bit of maple syrup for a bit of sweet.

Or a classic mayo-based salad: salmon, tuna, or egg salad mixed with avocado oil based mayo, some diced celery and onion, a half a cup of frozen peas, thawed, mixed in, and then put that all over a bed of greens. These salads can be prepared in bulk and last for three to four days at a time, making healthy eating much easier during those busy summer weeks.

Salad dressings: making it taste good

Let's take a minute to talk about salad dressing because we can put the ingredients together, but how do you actually make it all taste good? We know that the bottled dressings are full of ingredients that we want to avoid, like heavily processed oils, sugars, and gums.

Making your own dressing is simpler than what you might think and always tastes better than those bottled dressings. The basic components of dressing are oil and acid like that citrus or vinegar, herbs, spices, or other flavorings. Experiment with plain or flavored olive oils and vinegars, citrus, garlic, Dijon mustard, maybe a little honey or maple syrup for a touch of sweetness, and spice mixes that you can get at the grocery store or at a local spice shop.

You can whip up homemade ranch in seconds with avocado oil based mayo, buttermilk, and a ranch spice mix. An Asian salad dressing can be made with sesame oil, rice vinegar or white vinegar, liquid aminos for a gluten-free soy sauce alternative, some garlic and ginger.

Green goddess is a popular dressing that's just a creamy base of either avocado oil-based mayo or maybe yogurt with olive oil to thin it out to the right consistency, then add some lemon or lime juice for acidity, garlic, and a combination of fresh herbs, or you can pick up a green goddess spice mix.

Putting it in a blender lets you avoid chopping up that garlic and those fresh herbs if you're using those ingredients. These dressings just take a minute or two to mix up, so they're much healthier and more flavorful than the bottled alternatives.

Wrap up

As we wrap up, remember that the secret to a satisfying summer salad is not just volume, but it's enough protein. Aim for at least 30 grams of protein for women and 50 or more grams for men. Include healthy fats and quality carbohydrates. And don't be afraid to use some convenient options that are pre-prepped and ready to go.

Or even better, spend a little time cooking protein in bulk to use throughout the week. It usually ends up being easier and quicker than you think once you try it. Thanks for listening to this week's “Ask a Nutritionist”. I hope these ideas inspire you to create delicious high protein salads all summer long.

And if you haven't already, please join our Dishing Up Nutrition Facebook group and connect with our dietitians and other listeners of Dishing Up Nutrition for more recipe ideas and healthy eating tips to try this summer. Thanks for listening and have a great day.

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