When it comes to your personal health and wellness, flexibility is key. So what does that look like, in terms of nutrition? Meal prepping may come to mind, but contrary to popular belief, the key is ingredient prepping.

Ingredient prepping gives you flexibility, enabling you to live your best, healthiest life with freedom. And after a turbulent 2020, we know to expect the unexpected.

Instead of eating the same meal for the entire week, you prep dishes instead, combining them with other components (like fresh greens, eggs, and grains) as you please. Flexibility is needed so that we’re able to adapt more freely to life’s twists and turns.

Hence why this baby arugula salad and grain salad is an amalgamation of prepped ingredients. It’s the finale of our Back to Basics series, which covers all the ingredients you need for this very salad. That includes:

Roasted chicken
Soaked steel cut oats
Roasted beets (or roasted vegetables of choice).

Don’t have these ingredients prepped? Want things done in a hurry? Not to worry. You can still make this salad semi-homemade, i.e. with rotisserie chicken, or any grains and vegetables you have at hand.

My hope isn’t to discourage you with a laundry list of things to cook, but rather to empower you to get creative with what you got it. Truly, you could make a salad with any leftovers or ingredients you have at hand, as long as you have some fresh greens to toss them with. Let’s dive in!

How to Make a Good Salad

How do you make a good salad? One that you actually crave?

The secret are these three things: flavor, temperature, and most importantly, texture. I breakdown the framework that can be used across any salad in this guide.

Simple Salad Dressing with Lemon

Meet your two best friends: lemon and olive oil. This makes for a simple salad dressing; add some salt and pepper, and you’re good to go.

I tend to eyeball with a few drizzles and squeeze of lemon. Once you understand the structure of a dressing, you’ll be doing the same.

Generally speaking, a salad dressing is a 3-to-1 ratio of oil and acid:

3 parts oil
1 part acid

Hate measuring? Want to perfect the eyeballing technique? I’ve got you covered.

To preface, ideally, you’re using a cruet of sorts (oil container with narrow spout). If not, you place your index and middle finger at the mouth of your oil container, leaving a small gap between your fingers for the oil to seep through. This is to control and reduce the flow of your oil otherwise you’ll end up with a soggy #SadSalad).

To dress a single serving of salad:

Trace your bowl 3 times with a light drizzle of olive oil. Move quick!
Squeeze a quarter of lemon.
Finish with salt and pepper.

(Admittingly, this magical dressing dance makes me feel like a witch, and I’m all for it.)

If you want to be dive deeper into how to make a good salad dressing, head over to my salad guide.

List of Salad Ingredients

Here are the ingredients for this baby arugula salad and grain salad. Feel free to make swaps with any ingredients or leftovers you have at hand—any greens, vegetables, grains, or plain yogurt will do.

For the Baby Arugula and Grain Salad

Steel Cut Oats soaked, at least 7 hours
Avocado or Olive Oil for quick sauté
Baby Arugula
Roasted Chicken, chopped or shredded omit if vegan
Roasted Beets or any roasted vegetable
Dairy-free Yogurt, plain and unsweetened plain, unsweetened (I used Cocojune’s coconut yogurt)

For the Simple Salad Dressing with Lemon

Lemon
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Nutritional Breakdown: The Fab Four

This salad has your nutrition covered. It encompasses the Fab Four to keep you satiated for 3+ hours and your blood sugar balanced. With this recipe, you best believe you’re getting protein, fat, fiber, and greens:

Protein: Roasted Chicken or Steel Cut Oats if vegan
Fat: Dairy-free yogurt, Olive Oil
Fiber: Roasted Vegetables, Steel Cut Oats
Greens: Baby Arugula

How to Make the Salad: Step by Step

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to make this baby arugula salad and grain salad:

Sauté the Oats

Drain ½ cup of overnight steel cut oats (soaked at least 2-7 hours in advance). Set aside. If vegan, add an extra ¼ cup of oats.
In a small pan, add 2 tsp of avocado or olive oil on medium-high heat and sauté the drained oats. They will sizzle briefly due to the water content in the oats, but don’t worry as it will die down quickly.
Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Once the oats are golden brown, set aside.

Assemble the Salad

In a medium salad bowl, dollop 3 tbsp of dairy-free yogurt and spread evenly across the surface.
Next, place 4 cups of baby arugula on top of the yogurt.
Layer with sautéed oats, ¾ cup roasted beets, and 1 cup chopped or shredded roasted chicken. If vegan, omit chicken and add extra roasted beets/vegetable of choice.
Finish by drizzling 3 tbsp of olive oil, ⅓ juice of a lemon, and salt and pepper. Add a drizzle of honey (optional, Mike’s Hot Honey is highly recommended). Toss the salad and enjoy!

Gave this salad a try? Made your own version? Let me know in the comments below!

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