Avocado and Herb Salad

This Avocado and Herb Salad is a delicious example of the new trend in healthy eating ~  fat (the good kind) is back!  There’s no sacrifice involved with decadent avocados and lots of bright fresh herbs, in fact this easy vegan salad deserves a recurring role in your weekly meal plan.

My avocado and herb salad will get you your daily dose of superfood in the most delicious way possible

Try this fresh and creamy avocado and herb salad, it couldn’t be easier to throw together. It’s hard to believe that something so decadently silky and rich can be so healthy, but it’s true.

The avocado fruit (yes, it’s a fruit) is packed with vitamins and minerals, fiber, and the best kind of fat. It’s also low carb and full of cancer fighting antioxidants. If you’re looking to make a few healthy changes in your diet, the avocado should be one of your first stops.

Avocados are full of the good fat!

Don’t be scared off by the whole calorie thing…a half an avocado only has about 100 calories (and that’s the good kind of calories, too!)  The fat in avocados is monounsaturated fat, which helps to lower our cholesterol.

This avocado salad should be made right before serving

Avocados are notorious for going south soon after they’ve been cut. You can prep the other ingredients and have them all ready to toss with the avocados to make a very quick job of it. I always wash and dry my herbs first and then plop them in a mason jar full of water to keep them fresh, then all you have to do is lop off a handful and give them a rough chop.

The nice thing about an avocado salad is that it can be a year ’round treat, avocados are always available in the supermarket thanks to overlapping growing seasons in California and Mexico.

Tips for buying and using avocados~

• Plan ahead! The only way to buy avocados, if you ask me, is to buy them firm and let them sit on the counter for a few days. If you try to grab perfectly ripe ones at the grocery story you’re bound to end up with bruised, mushy, sub par fruit.
• Use very ripe, soft avocados for applications like guacamole or avocado toast where you’ll be mashing the flesh. Choose firmer fruit if you want to serve it in neat slices.
• Store hard or unripe avocados in a paper bag on the counter (not in direct sun) for several days to a week to ripen.
• If you’ve got a fully ripe avocado that you aren’t ready to use, you can store it in the refrigerator, and this will slow down the ripening.

Serve this avocado and herb salad  for a luncheon or dinner. I think it would go great with chicken salad summer rolls,  grilled chicken skewers, or Mediterranean sheet pan salmon. For a vegan meal, serve it with my rainbow summer rolls.

Reader Rave ~

“How light and flavorful! All those herbs really speak to me in this simply wonderful combination. Beautiful too! Go green!!!!” ~Tricia

Avocado and Herb Salad

3.88 from 16 votes

Avocado and Herb Salad ~ a super easy way to kick your diet back into gear.  There's no sacrifice involved with decadently nutritious avocados and lots of bright fresh herbs, in fact this vegan salad is a delicious example of the new trend in health ~  fat (the good kind) is back!

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Prep Time:10 minutes minutes

Total Time:15 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

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Ingredients

 

• 2-3 ripe but firm avocados
• 1 lemon
• 3 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 Tbsp capers
• 1 jalapeño pepper, minced (leave out seeds and membrane for a milder heat)
• a large handful of fresh cilantro, stems removed and rough chopped
• a large handful of fresh parsley, stems removed and rough chopped

dressing

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 Tbsp orange blossom vinegar or your favorite, red or white)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• salt and fresh cracked black pepper

Instructions

• Slice the avocado into thin slices and sprinkle with lemon juice to prevent browning.
• Add them to a wide shallow serving bowl along with the green onions, capers, herbs, and jalapeño.
• Whisk the dressing together and drizzle over the salad. Serve asap with a fresh grinding of coarse black pepper.

Notes

*recipe lightly adapted from The New York Times

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Author: Sue Moran

Keyword: appetizer, avocado, gluten free, healthy, salad, vegan, vegetarian

Nutrition

Calories: 223 kcal

Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. This information comes from online calculators.  Although The View from Great Island attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures are only estimates.

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Make this avocado and herb salad your own ~

• Make it with basil if you don’t care for cilantro.
• Make it a main course by adding grilled shrimp or thinly sliced grilled steak.
• Make it with citrus segments or great tomatoes, cut in wedges, either in place of, or in addition to, the avocado.