Butter Lettuce Salad with Parmesan Dressing

This crunchy salad is easy and fresh! Garnish this tender salad with parmesan vinaigrette, chives and breadcrumbs.

There’s nothing quite like the bright chartreuse of young lettuce leaves, and we can never resist a head of butterscotch at the spring store or farmer’s market. Here’s an easy way to make an impressive side dish: Salad with butter lettuce! These tender lettuce leaves are irresistibly coated in a creamy and savory pepper and parmesan vinaigrette and topped with a few simple veggie and parmesan shavings. A pinch of crunchy breadcrumbs rounds it all off: you won’t want to put your fork down! (At least we didn’t.)

Ingredients for butter lettuce salad

Butter lettuce is a variety of green lettuce that also includes Bibb lettuce and Boston lettuce. It has a soft, delicate texture and a mild taste, ideal for simple salads. It is often sold as a small head with the roots still attached to prevent wilting. You can often find this type of lettuce at farmers’ markets, especially in the spring when delicate leafy greens are in season. This is what you need to quickly conjure up a salad with this delicious salad:

• butter salad (like Bibb or Boston)
• shallot
• cherry tomatoes or radishes
• fresh chives
• italian panko
• Parmesan vinaigrette (see below)
• pieces of parmesanfor garnish (optional)

For the creamy parmesan vinaigrette

This parmesan and pepper vinaigrette is ideal for a buttery salad: its texture is just light enough to coat the tender leaves without overwhelming them. It also has the most irresistible creamy flavor you’ll ever want to bathe in (sorry not sorry!). Here are some things to keep in mind when dressing:

• The dressing resembles a simpler form of Caesar dressing. Skip the anchovies and substitute lemon for the red wine vinegar and you have this dressing! This is still one of our favorite dressings to this day.
• It’s Greek yogurt instead of sour cream to make it creamier. Using Greek yogurt delivers fewer calories than a traditional creamy dressing while still retaining the rich, smooth texture. It’s a powerful and healthy dressing for your repertoire!

A vegan alternative

Would you like to make a vegan butter salad? Instead, use this fresh, creamy cilantro sauce for a bright green dressing, or try it with Vegan Ranch or Vegan Caesar. These are all delicious creamy vegan dressing ideas that will add a little different character to this salad.

Instead of croutons, try breadcrumbs!

Have you ever tried breadcrumbs on a salad? As an alternative to croutons, we sprinkled the salads with panko. It brings a crunchy texture that spreads with every bite, and it is Then easy (not to mention durable). Here are some notes on panko and Italian panko to use in this butter salad:

• Panko is a Japanese-style mix of breadcrumbs which is airier and lighter than conventional breadcrumbs. It has a crunchy texture that goes better with salads (the breadcrumbs are much finer with an almost sandy texture).
• “Italian” means that herbs and salt are added. You should be able to find Italian panko or panko easily at your local grocery store.
• You only have regular panko? Mix ½ cup panko with ⅛ tsp kosher salt and ½ tbsp Italian seasoning (or 1 tsp dried oregano and ¼ tsp dried basil and thyme).

More green salads

Butter lettuce is one of our favorite types of green lettuce. But there is so much more to discover! Here are some recipes for tastier green salads and spring salads:

This butter salad recipe is…

Vegetarian. For gluten free, use gluten free panko. For vegans, use Cilantro Sauce, Vegan Ranch, or Vegan Caesar Dressing.