Grilled Asparagus Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

This Year’s Best Summer Salad

This recipe for Grilled Asparagus Salad with Basil Vinaigrette has to be one of my favorite summer salads ever. All the green vegetables makes it a healthy lunch or dinner choice. But the real secret to making it onto my “best salad” list is the fresh basil vinaigrette. Oh my it is SO good!

I found the original recipe for this Grilled Asparagus Salad on one of my favorite food blogs, @LivingLou. My version adds extra greens (spinach). I typically use grape tomatoes instead of sun dried, and I usually use blue cheese instead of goat cheese because I LOVE blue cheese.

What’s makes Grilled Asparagus Salad so Good?

First let talk about all the fresh veggies

• Romaine lettuce–Chopped bite size-ish.
• Cucumbers–I like the English variety so I don’t have to peel them or seed them.
• Asparagus–Grilled and cut into pieces. I like the thinner asparagus because grill time is quicker.
• Green onion–I dice up both the green and white parts.
• Red onion–Thinly sliced (optional but a great addition)
• Tomatoes–Either diced grape tomatoes or I often use the sun dried version, also diced.
• Blue cheese (or goat cheese)–I add this right before serving the salad for a little extra punch of flavor. Yum!

For the basil vinaigrette dressing

• Olive oil–Make it a good-quality extra virgin olive oil. I use California Olive Ranch Everyday Extra Virgin Olive Oil. It’s easy to find, it’s reasonably priced and it’s darned tasty. And I love that it’s Made in the USA.
• White wine vinegar–I’ve been known to use rice vinegar and champagne vinegar with good results, too.
• Basil–It MUST be FRESH basil, so NO short cutting here.
• Garlic powder–Use just a smidge.
• Salt–I use Kosher salt.

I mix the dressing ingredients with my handheld stick blender but any blender will do the job.

How to Make Salad with Grilled Asparagus and Basil Vinaigrette

For the Asparagus

• Preheat an outdoor grill or stove top grill pan to medium heat.
• Place asparagus in a large bowl.
• Toss asparagus with olive oil and salt.
• Grill the asparagus for about 6-8 minutes, turning frequently, until charred and fairly soft.
• Let cool.
• Cut asparagus into 1-inch pieces.

For the Salad

• In a large mixing bowl, combine lettuce, spinach, cucumber, onion, avocado, tomatoes, blue/goat cheese and grilled asparagus.
• Add the vinaigrette to the salad bowl. Mix to combine thoroughly.

For the Vinaigrette

• Using a blender or handheld (stick) blender, blend the olive oil, vinegar, basil, garlic powder, and salt.

A few other favorite salads

Grilled Zucchini and Asparagus Salad

Topopo Salad

Crunchy Asian Chicken Salad

Print Recipe

Salad with Grilled Asparagus and Basil Vinaigrette

Author: Anita's Table Talk

Ingredients

• 1/2 pound asparagus
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 head romaine lettuce chopped
• 1 cup spinach chopped
• 1/2 English cucumber diced (or sliced thin)
• 2 green onions thinly sliced (green and white parts)
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion (optional)
• 1 avocado diced
• 1/4 cup grape tomatoes diced (or sundried tomatoes)
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese (or goat cheese, or feta cheese)

Basil Vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2-3 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

For the Asparagus

• PREHEAT outdoor grill or stove top grill pan to medium heat.
• PLACE asparagus in a large bowl. TOSS with olive oil and salt.
• GRILL asparagus for about 6-8 minutes, turning frequently, until charred and fairly soft.
• Let COOL.
• CUT asparagus into 1-inch pieces.

For the Salad

• In a large mixing bowl, COMBINE lettuce, spinach, cucumber, onion, avocado, tomatoes, asparagus, and blue/goat cheese.

For the Vinaigrette

• In a blender, BLEND olive oil, vinegar, basil, salt and garlic powder.
• COMBINE with salad to thoroughly coat and SERVE.