Grilled Summer Salad with Lime Dressing

Want healthy salad recipes for summer? This grilled vegetable salad is easy to make and loaded with fresh flavors. Using sweet corn and vidalia onions along with thin ribbons of zucchini, my Grilled Summer Salad has a tangy lime dressing and salty bites of queso fresco for a veggie salad that’s perfect for barbecues and potlucks.

 Summer salads don’t need to be complicated to be good. Just use the freshest, sweetest, at-their-peak vegtables and they’ll do the work for you! For this veggie salad, I used the cheapest (read: most plentiful) ingredients out there for a beautiful, flavorful healthy grilled side dish that my whole family devoured.

Grilled Vegetable Salad Ingredients

• Sweet Corn on the Cob
• Vidalia Onions
• Zucchini 
• Vine Ripe Tomatoes
• Queso Fresco (can substitute feta or goat cheese or eliminate cheese for vegan)
• Cilantro

Although my husband is usually the “grill-master” in our house, I sometimes take over the duties as I did with this grilled vegetable salad. He will point out that my onions didn’t hold together quite as well as his obviously would have and I got a little too much color here or there, to which I reply with a back-handed swat to the air. Don’t even go there…

How To Grill Veggies For Summer Salad

1. Preheat the grill to medium high (about 450° to 500°).
2. Lightly brush the corn and vidalia onion slices with olive oil.
3. Arrange the vegetables on the grill and cook, turning and adjusting occasionally, until the corn and onion are tender and have a nice char on them.
4. Note: Grilling sliced onions can be tricky. Use a wide spatula or flat grill mat or pan to prevent them from slipping through the grates if you like. (I always count on 1 or 2 rings sliding through, like a sacrifice to the Grill Gods.)
5. When the vegetables are done, transfer to a baking sheet to rest.

Two Ways To Prepare Zucchini and Squash

Farm fresh squash and zucchini are delicious both raw and grilled. For this summer salad, I opted for grilled, but you can also use them raw Here’s how:

• For Raw Zucchini: Very thinly slice the zucchini into ribbons. When I say thin — I mean THIN. I had my mandoline set on its finest possible setting to achieve these ribbons, however, you can also use a vegetable peeler to get a similar result. 
• For Grilled Zucchini and Squash: Use a sharp knife to slice the zucchini lengthwise into planks about ¼” to ⅓” thick. Brush them with olive oil as you did the rest of the vegetables and grill them until tender.

 
Best Tomatoes For Grilled Vegetable Salad

Campari tomatoes, Beefsteak tomatoes or Ugly Ripe tomatoes are all good options for this summer salad.  After all, before you know it, summer will be a distant memory and we’ll be relegated to those sad, mealy orange-hued wannabes. So for this veggie salad, find the heaviest, juiciest tomatoes you can. They’ll pay dividends in this healthy salad recipe. 

Quick Lime Dressing Ingredients

Yes, you COULD dress this salad with your favorite bottled Italian, but this quick lime dressing adds so much more flavor and it’s super easy to make. Just whisk the ingredients (below) in a small bowl and drizzle over the salad. This dressing is bright and tangy and will give oomph to the vegetables.

• Garlic 
• Dijon Mustard
• Lime Zest
• Lime Juice
• Kosher Salt
• Black Pepper
• Olive Oil

Queso fresco (Mexican crumbling cheese) is my pick to add a salty bite.  It’s a semi-firm cheese that holds up well in this salad without being too creamy  I usually find it at the market by the grated packaged cheeses, but you can also make your own queso fresco.  If you don’t have it, you could also substitutecrumbled feta or skip the cheese for a vegan salad.  Sprinkle with fresh cilantro leaves for an herbaceous note.  

Serve the salad immediately or if you want to make it ahead of time, use this Pro Tip: — don’t add the lime dressing until just before serving> — otherwise the veg will lose its snap!  

More Healthy Salad Recipes For Summer:

• Quinoa Asparagus and Feta Salad
• Mediterranean Style Fattoush Salad
• Chicken Kale Farro Salad with Honey Balsamic Dressing
• Inauthentic Tabbouleh
• Key Lime Mango Crab Cake Salad

More Grilled Vegetable Salads:

• Luscious Grilled Greek Orzo Salad
• Savory Grilled Vegetable Tomato Mozzarella Caprese
• Hearty Grilled Vegetables with Feta and Farro

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