Simple Butter Lettuce Salad

The BEST Butter Lettuce Salad

Butter lettuce is my favorite of all leafy greens! Crisp, refreshing, rich, savory, barely sweet and zippy, this gorgeous butter lettuce salad hits all of the spots. Butter lettuce is one of those underrated, often-overlooked ingredients that feels completely luxurious! It’s called butter lettuce, it even sounds luxurious. I highly recommend incorporating into your everyday meal planning, or at least your every week.

What is Butter Lettuce?

“Butter lettuce” (sometimes called “butterhead lettuce”) is a term that actually encompasses a few varieties of butter lettuce, including Boston lettuce and Bibb lettuce. There isn’t too much variation in terms of flavor, though, so any of these lettuces that you see at the store or in the market will yield just about the same gorgeous salad. Any of the lettuces in this type of lettuce family will be delicate and (you guessed it) a little delicately sweet and buttery in flavor. That delicate, rich sweetness is why we love it so much for this salad! It makes for a perfect complement to all of the sharp, savory things we toss it with to make a super duper crave-able salad.

The Perfect Butter Lettuce Salad Recipe

This particular salad is inspired by a dish served at Pollo Bravo, a restaurant I love here in Portland. In their version, radicchio is star, but is a little too bitter to please all of the palates that I am usually looking to please (ahem, kids!). Plus, radicchio is often expensive. Versatile, kid-friendly and widely-available year round (thanks, hydroponics!) butter lettuce is one of my favorite salad lettuces, so making the swap was a no-brainer. If you happen to have a household full of radicchio hounds, though, feel free to try it that way, too. But anyway, back to that delicious butter lettuce...

How Do You Make Butter Lettuce Salad?

Take Boston lettuce, wash and dry it and add your favorite dressing. But wait! If you add more goodies, you’ll make that beautiful butter lettuce really shine. Here’s everything I add to elevate a totally-fine salad to an even-our-kids-can’t-stop-eating-it butter lettuce salad recipe. 

• Castelvetrano Olives: These tiny green Sicilian olives are so brightly flavored, just salty enough, and buttery, they’re the perfect fit for this salad. They add texture and their vibrant color seems to just enhance the bright green of the butter lettuce.
• Panko: Crisp, airy Japanese breadcrumbs (well, technically they’re flakes, but that’s a story for another day) are always, always, always in my pantry. They lend exactly the crunch we’re looking for to just about anything we find ourselves wanting to add crunch to, including this salad. 
• Manchego: This Spanish aged sheep’s milk cheese is creamy and salty, but hard enough to shave on top of this salad for a super yummy hit of umami.
• Apple cider vinegar-honey vinaigrette: Tangy and sharp, apple cider vinegar and sweet honey are a vinaigrette dream team, complementing and contrasting in ways that will make you dream of all of the other things you might drizzle this dressing on.
• Chives: Using fresh herbs in salads is one of those restaurant-y tricks that just makes a salad taste so, so good. They may seem like an afterthought, but the light-as-air oniony flavor of fresh chives really brings a lot to this salad.

What to Serve With Butter Lettuce Salad

Clean, sharp, crunchy and satisfying, my butter lettuce salad is the perfect foil for a big, rich holiday meal, giving even a prime rib an element of virtuousness. It’s also just as lovely as part of a lighter spread—maybe a low-key brunch with friends, starring this salad and a spring-y five onion tart?

Tools You Will Need

• A lovely platter.
• Microplane for the Manchebo.
• If you have space to store it, we highly recommend a salad spinner.

How'd You Like it?

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