Field Greens Salad (Spring Mix Salad)

This Field Greens Salad is fresh and flavorful with an easy homemade balsamic vinaigrette, along with mouthwatering homemade croutons. Eating your greens has never been so tasty.

This is a salad that I have been making for years and it’s one that everybody loves. The original recipe inspiration came from a little wine bistro we used to live down the street from. The food there was phenomenal and they had the best fresh salads.

Their field green salad was no exception and was a favorite salad of ours. That tasty salad started with a delicious spring mix salad base and was topped with their homemade salad dressing and crunchy croutons. Just so good!

After enjoying this particular salad at the restaurant a few times, I had to figure out how to make it at home. That way we could enjoy it anytime we wanted to.

How to Make a Field Greens Salad

This is a simple salad and easy to pull together. To me, good recipes that are simple and easy means using ingredients typically found in your pantry or fridge (or easily found in your local grocery store), not too many ingredients and not a ton of time to make.

In this case, the main part of the salad is made up of only three ingredients:

1. For the salad greens, I use mixed spring greens. I feel these are the best greens for this salad given the variety of leafy greens included in the mix.
2. Grape tomatoes. Just cut in half. They have great color and flavor.
3. Red onion. Again, great color and a bit more subtle flavor as opposed to a white or yellow onion.

Simply mix these ingredients together in a large bowl. To complete the recipe, you dress with a simple balsamic vinaigrette and top with yummy homemade croutons. See below on how to make my go-to dressing for this salad as well as the crunchy, chewy croutons.

How to Make a Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette Dressing

Actually, making your own salad dressings is pretty easy. And, the nice thing about making your own dressings is that you can try different combinations of ingredients to make it taste just like you want it to.

This dressing recipe consists of balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard and olive oil whisked together in a small bowl. Once that is combined, add in the salt, pepper and onion powder. And just like that, you made your own balsamic dressing!

If I’m not using the dressing right away, or I have some extra, I like to store it in a glass mason jar with a tight lid. It makes it super easy to mix back together if there is any separation of ingredients. Just give it a good shake.

If you don’t have a mason jar, any airtight container with a lid will do. Just put in the fridge until ready to use.

And, If you like this recipe and want to continue experimenting with making your own salad dressing, both this Steakhouse Wedge Salad and this Roasted Asparagus Salad have fun homemade dressings you may like.

How to Make Homemade Croutons 

The croutons are a big part of what make this salad so fantastic (to be honest – croutons are often my favorite part of a salad!). They’re really quite easy to make. All you need to do is cube the bread and saute the cubes in a skillet with some olive oil.

I like to use ciabatta bread to make this, but French bread or sourdough are also great choices. You’ll really enjoy the little crunch that these croutons give to the salad.

Serve as Both a Side Salad and a Main Dish

This easy spring mix salad is, of course, a perfect side salad. But, the best part? You can take this easy salad recipe, top with sliced grilled chicken or steak and now it’s a main course entree.

Just like that, you went from side salad to main course. So easy! And, the salad really is great any time of year.

So, whether you serve this fresh green salad as a starter or as a main dish, it’s definitely company / dinner party worthy.

Tips and Tricks

• For the best results, don’t make the croutons more than a couple of hours ahead of time. If you do make them before you’re ready to serve the salad, don’t store them in a plastic bag or plastic container. Cover them lightly with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel, until you’re ready to serve the salad.
• Instead of whisking the olive oil slowly into the other dressing ingredients, you can add all of the dressing ingredients to a tightly covered glass jar and shake vigorously until the dressing has emulsified.
• Make sure not to dress the salad until right before you’re ready to serve.

Ingredients Needed to Make This Field Greens Salad

Full instructions can be found below in the recipe card

• Balsamic vinegar – This adds a sweet fruity flavor to the dressing.
• Dijon mustard – Adds flavor and helps to emulsify the dressing.
• Olive oil – Also adds a bit of a fruity flavor
• Salt – Enhances the flavor of the dressing.
• Black pepper – I prefer to use fresh cracked pepper.
• Onion powder – Imparts just a hint of onion flavor in the dressing.
• Ciabatta bread – Used to make the homemade croutons.
• Herbes de Provence – This seasoning mix elevates the flavor of the crispy croutons.
• Spring mix greens – Any tender variety of greens works well for this salad.
• Grape tomatoes – Add a pop of color as well as flavor.
• Red onion – I prefer red onion both for the vibrant color as well as a more mild flavor than other varieties of onion.

How to Make a Field Greens Salad

• Start out with a package of fresh field greens. This type of lettuce mixture is also called spring mix greens, mixed greens or tender baby greens. The mix is made up of a variety of tender leaf lettuce and range in color from green to red, to purple.
• Toss the greens with a very simple balsamic vinaigrette that consists of balsamic vinegar, dijon mustard, olive oil, onion powder, salt and pepper.
• The croutons are really what puts this salad over the top. I like to make the croutons with ciabatta bread. Either a loaf of ciabatta or rolls works.
• Either way, you cut them into bite size cubes. Add the cubes to a skillet with hot olive oil and toss them until they’re browned and crispy on the outside. After they’re browned, sprinkle them with herbes de provence and a little salt. If you don’t have any herbes de provence on hand, Italian seasoning also works.
• For added flavor and texture, grape tomatoes and thinly sliced red onion complete this salad.

Delicious Mains to Pair with the Field Greens Salad

There are so many different dishes to pair with this salad. These are some of my favorites:

• Sicilian Meatloaf
• Skinny Fettucine Alfredo
• Turkey Veggie Bolognese
• Chicken Provencal Soup
• Grilled Shrimp with Garlicky Parmesan Orzo
• Vegan Cream of Mushroom Soup
• Creamy Chicken Parmesan Soup