If you love chopped salads, you’re going to love the viral Tiktok green goddess salad.
This salad has been all over my Tiktok. Green goddess salad isn’t anything new, but Baked by Melissa does it with a twist and it’s pretty amazing.
I have this thing where I love eating salad with a spoon. Weird, I know, but chopped salads will forever and always be number one in my heart. So when I saw Baked by Melissa dicing up cabbage and cucumbers and mixing them with sliced green onions, I was sold. She serves it up with a creamy vegan green dressing and scoops it up with tortilla chips, pure magic!
What is green goddess salad
Any salad that’s tossed with green goddess dressing is a green goddess salad. There are hundreds of takes and variations which is nice because it’s perfectly customizable.
Green goddess salad dressing
Its pretty green tint is what inspired the name “green goddess.” Invented in San Francisco, the original recipe calls for anchovies, green onions, parsley, tarragon, mayo, sour cream, and chives all blended into a creamy tangy dressing. The green goddess salad dressing we’re making today doesn’t have much in common with the classic aside from the chives and green onions. There’s no anchovies, mayo, or sour cream, making it completely vegan. The dressing is a riff off vegan pesto and is herby, fresh, bright, and slightly tangy. It also has an addictive cheesiness to it because of the nutritional yeast.
Green goddess salad ingredients
The salad itself is simply cabbage, cucumbers, green onions, and chives, all cut into a very fine dice, similar to a finely chopped coleslaw. The dressing is Melissa’s green goddess dressing, which is a take on a vegan pesto with walnuts and nutritional yeast instead of pine nuts and parmesan.
How to make green goddess dressing
For the dressing you’ll need:
- lemons – the juice of two lemons adds freshness and acidity
- olive oil – extra virgin olive oil for the good fats
- rice vinegar – a bit of extra tang and hint of sweetness
- shallot – a sweeter onion flavor
- garlic – because garlic
- basil – for that herby freshness found in pesto
- spinach – for a bit of extra green
- nutritional yeast – adds cheesy savoriness and B12 vitamins
- walnuts – a hint of a nutty base
- salt – to meld all the flavors and highlight the highs
Place the ingredients into a blender, with the liquid ingredients first, then blend until smooth and creamy.
Storage and make ahead
The salad keeps for 2-3 days in the fridge, either dressed or undressed. If you want to make it ahead of time just to have around, it’s better to dress it beforehand. The acid in the dressing keeps it fresh and cabbage is very hearty, it’ll taste great!
What is nutritional yeast?
Nutritional yeast is cheesy, nutty, and full of flavor. Think of it like powdered cheese, but vegan and shelf stable. It’s a flaky, golden powder that’s made from a species of yeast grown specifically for food, then harvested. When harvested, heat deactivates the yeast, then it’s washed, dried, and crumbled. The result is a cheesy, nutty, savory ingredient that is used to make vegan cheese sauces, vegan dips, in soups, scrambles, stews, and more. Like its name implies, it’s super nutritious, full of protein, B vitamins, and antioxidants. This recipe works best with large flake nutritional yeast, which you should be able to find anywhere that carries bob’s red mill, or online.
Variations
This particular salad is vegan but if you don’t have nutritional yeast at home and aren’t vegan you can substitute in parmesan for the nutritional yeast.
- Add crispy bacon for protein and crunch
- Add diced chicken breast or crumbled firm tofu for lean protein
- Top it off with toasted sesame seeds for a nutty finish
- Spicy green goddess salad: add 2-3 diced jalapeños and 1 diced green pepper
- Guacamole green goddess salad: add 3 diced avocados and the juice of one lime
- Super green green goddess salad: swap the cabbage for 1 pound shredded brussels sprouts, add 1 pound chopped spinach, and 1 head shredded kale
- Taco goddess salad: swap the cabbage for lettuce and add 1 cup crumbled cojita cheese and 1/2 diced small onion
Hope you enjoy. Give scooping it up with a spoon a try, maybe you’ll be a chopped salad spoon convert too!