Want to recreate a salad bar experience at home? This quick and easy salad buffet menu is a great choice for entertaining at any time of the year. These salad recipes not only taste wonderful, but most can be made ahead and last for several days in the fridge. Add a basket or two of rolls or some chewy bakery bread to your buffet table and offer some brownies or cookies as dessert. Mix and match the following recipes and you're well on your way to an easy buffet party!
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Classic Potato Salad
J Shepherd/Photographer's Choice RF/Getty Images
What would a salad bar or buffet be without traditional potato salad? Enjoy this one featuring classic ingredients such as chopped hard-boiled egg, onion, and celery in a lightly-seasoned mayonnaise dressing. Garnish with tomato slices and chopped scallions, if you like, for serving.
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Pesto Chicken Pasta Salad
Mariha-kitchen/Getty Images
Pesto chicken pasta salad is a delicious addition to any buffet and so easy to make when you use pre-prepared sauce, packaged cubed cheese, and a store-bought rotisserie chicken. Simply boil up some penne pasta and frozen peas, chop up a bell pepper, and combine these with the chicken and cheese in the sauce. A little mayonnaise and yogurt adds extra creaminess.
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Spinach Salad With Strawberries and Pecans
Diana Rattray
Fresh spinach leaves, juicy seasonal strawberries, and crunchy toasted pecans are simply fabulous when combined. This quick and easy recipe dresses them in a lovely balsamic vinaigrette that is low in calories, but high in flavor. Go ahead and add some goat cheese or blue cheese crumbles on top if you like and multiply the recipe as needed to feed a crowd.
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Classic Macaroni Salad
 The Spruce
Macaroni salad is a crowd-pleasing classic that you can always count on. This recipe calls for chopped hard-boiled eggs, diced vegetables, and a well-seasoned mayonnaise and mustard dressing that is sure to be popular at buffets, picnics, potlucks, and cookouts. Make it ahead of time and store in the fridge so it's well-chilled when serving.
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Quinoa and Black Bean Salad With Corn and Cilantro
Bill Boch/Getty Images
Serve up a salad that vegans at your gathering can cheer for with this protein-rich grain salad that's god great crunch and flavor. Nutty-tasting quinoa mingles with creamy black beans, sweet corn kernels, and herbaceous fresh cilantro in this Mexican-inspired salad that's seasoned with fresh lime juice and spiked with cayenne pepper.
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Dairy Free Tuna Salad
Debbi Smirnoff/E+/Getty Images
Tuna salad is a popular addition to salad bar and buffet plates. This version includes egg-and-oil-based mayonnaise for creaminess, but omits the sour cream sometimes included in tuna salads, so it's suitable for those avoiding dairy. It gets a great sweet and sour flavor from both sweet pickle and dill pickle relishes, plus a little kick from optional garlic powder.
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Crunchy Broccoli Salad
Diana Rattray
Vitamin-packed broccoli is the star of this crunchy salad that's sure to disappear quickly from potluck and buffet tables. Raisins, sunflower seeds, crumbled bacon, red onion, and peas add fabulous flavor and crunch to fresh florets in this salad bar favorite that's finished with a tangy, creamy, and slightly sweet dressing.
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Green Goddess Chicken Pasta Salad
VeselovaElena/Getty Images
Pasta, chicken, bell peppers, green peas, and diced Havarti cheese are tossed together in this delicious salad with an herbaceous green goddess dressing. You can buy prepared dressing or make your own from scratch using our recipe.
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Tomato, Corn, and Basil Salad
Molly Watson
Basil leaves add fresh flavor to juicy chopped tomatoes, and crunchy sweet corn in this simple, tasty salad. It's so quick to prepare and tastes refreshing on hot summer days. You can make it up to two days in advance and store in the fridge, reserving the basil to add at the last minute before serving.
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Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
Anita Schecter
Chickpeas are rich in protein with a nutty flavor that makes them a popular salad ingredient. They are the featured players in this delicious Mediterranean salad that co-stars cherry tomatoes, red onion, fresh parsley, crumbly feta cheese, and a tasty olive oil dressing flavored with mustard, oregano, garlic, and lemon juice.
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Roasted Beet and Feta Cheese Salad With Sumac Dressing
Anita Schecter
Roasting beets is super easy and produces tender, sweet chunks that are perfect for salads. This colorful salad includes red onion, tangy feta cheese, and your preferred salad greens, all tossed in a creamy sumac dressing.
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Curried Chicken Salad With Diced Apple
rian Leatart/Photolibrary/Getty Images
Diced cooked chicken is dressed up to create this delightful curried chicken salad recipe. It's a great tweak on classic chicken salad with diced apple, chopped pecans or peanuts, crisp celery pieces, mayonnaise, curry powder, and a few other simple seasonings.
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Vegan Couscous Salad With Chickpeas
Philippe Desnerck/Getty Images
This vegan and vegetarian couscous salad is a calorie-conscious dish with great flavor. This recipe prepares the couscous in vegetable broth for added flavor and tosses in nutty-tasting chickpeas for extra protein, along with chopped cucumber, red bell pepper, and green onions, all tossed in a light lemon, olive oil, and Dijon mustard vinaigrette.