Individual Salad Cups with Rhubarb Vinaigrette are perfect for entertaining, whether you’re having a family picnic, throwing a wedding shower, or hosting a spring brunch. Make a few extra to keep in the fridge for healthy snacking, too.
Fessing up here: I have a thing for cutesy individual sized foods, I can’t help myself. I think maybe in one of my past lives I must have been a caterer, or event planner or something. I love little crisps, crumbles and layered salads in mason jars, and appetizer dip cups that encourage you to eat and mingle at the same time.
These salad cups solve the age old problem of how to serve salad to a crowd, especially an outdoor crowd. No more awkward gymnastics with tongs, no more soggy paper plates…or soggy salad for that matter…all you have to do with these elegant finger salads is grab one and go. You don’t even need a fork. Problem solved!
the tart rhubarb vinaigrette will be your new favorite dressing
I’m also giving you a bonus with today’s recipe – an amazing rhubarb vinaigrette, which could have been a post all by itself. It’s creamy, tangy, fruity, and really good. And so pretty, too! You can make it a day or two ahead and save yourself time.
Of course you can make these salad cups with any other salad dressing you like, but I definitely recommend making it yourself, and making it something a little extra special, since it’s the main “star” of this appetizer. Here are a few more homemade dressing ideas to try:
how to layer up the perfect salad appetizer cups
- Layer each salad cup starting with the dressing at the bottom.
- Arrange your lettuce leaves and veggies on top. I put colorful heirloom cherry tomatoes on a pick for easy dipping, too.
- You get extra points for tucking in a few fresh herbs, like basil and thyme, but this is optional. If you like you can slip slices of cucumber onto the rims of the cups, too.
- You can make the dressing a little bit ahead and store it in the fridge, but I recommend assembling these cups close to when you plan to serve them so the veggies don’t get soggy in the dressing.
what kind of lettuce works best for these individual salad cups?
You can see I used endive lettuce, and that’s important because this is finger food, and you want the leaves to have some ‘backbone’ to them, to hold up to being dipped and eaten by hand. I used both green and red endive, but you could also use very small romaine leaves if you can find them.
how to choose the best ingredients for salad appetizer cups
These cups won’t look very appetizing with wilted lettuce or wrinkled tomatoes, so use whatever looks good at the time you’re shopping. Remember to stick to veggies that are fairly firm and crunchy so they’ll stand up to dipping. My recipe below will tell you what I used, but feel free to experiment with what’s fresh and delicious in your area.
- red and green endive leaves
- snap peas or snow peas
- all colors of bell peppers
- radishes
- carrots
- scallions
- green beans
- cherry tomatoes
- celery
- jicima sticks
- small broccoli florets
- cucumber wedges
Individual Salad Cups with Rhubarb Vinaigrette
Ingredients
rhubarb vinaigrette
- 6 Tbsp fresh rhubarb puree, recipe below
- 4 Tbsp champagne vinegar, or other mild white vinegar
- 4 tsp honey
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard, I used whole grain
- 4-6 Tbsp mild olive oil
- pinch of salt and black pepper
salad cups
- 8 plastic tumblers, the kind that flare out, not the straight ones (mine were 10 oz)
- 8 appetizer picks
- 1 head green endive
- 1 head purple or red endive
- 1 yellow bell pepper
- 1 red bell pepper
- 2 carrots
- 8 scallions
- about 16 green beans
- 8 radishes
- 16 snap or snow peas
- about 24 small multicolored cherry tomatoes
- 8 small radishes
- fresh basil and/or thyme leaves for garnish
Instructions
- To make rhubarb puree, wash and trim the ends off of several stalks of rhubarb. Cut them in 1 inch pieces.
- Put the rhubarb into a saucepan and add a splash of water. Bring up to a boil, turn down the heat, and summer it for about 5-10 minutes until the rhubarb softens. Add a little bit of extra water if it runs dry.
- Let the mixture cool a bit and then puree in a small food processor. Measure out 6 tablespoons for the dressing recipe.
- To make the Rhubarb Vinaigrette put all the ingredients in a small food processor and blend until creamy. Taste and adjust any of the ingredients to your liking. Refrigerate until needed.
- When ready to assemble the cups, spoon 2 tablespoons of the dressing into the bottom of each cup.
- Trim the ends off the endive and carefully separate the leaves. You will need about 3 leaves per cup. Trim the leaves as necessary, from the bottom end, so that they extend an inch or so above the rim of the cup, as shown in the photos.
- Cut the bell peppers and carrots into thin strips and layer them into the cups, along with the trimmed green beans, pea pods, and scallions.
- Thread 3 tomatoes onto each skewer and add it. Finish with the radish and herbs for garnish.
- The cups should be full but not crowded. Assemble just before serving.
more appetizers perfect for entertaining
Daughter married with similar feelings so we gave them money, they used as a down payment on a
house. They were married on the deck of the house with family and a few friends.
I think it’s a great way to go – weddings have gotten crazy lately, and the newest study says that the less a couple spends on their marriage, the longer and happier it will be 🙂
This might be one of the most beautiful food things that I have ever seen. I am looking forward to making it for my next gathering.
Thanks so much Suzan, you made my day 🙂
These are great! I am planning a camping birthday party and am definitely going to make these! Thank you so much. As for the cake – a surprise reception for friends and family with a cake shaped like a house and a request for financial-house-help as gifts? Good for them and good for you! I love celebrations.
Thank you for your wonderful blog.
Haha, great idea Erica! And these cups will be perfect for a camping party, just be careful about keeping everything fresh and crisp. Thanks for stopping by 🙂
These are such fun and super cute too Sue. What a splendid idea. As for that rhubarb vinaigrette, you are a genius. I love rhubarb, but would never have thought to do this with it.
As for the cake – make one anyway and just say it’s from you to wish them luck. It doesn’t have to be too fancy, just delicious.
I hope you try the vinaigrette, it has such a nice berry-like tang, and you can’t beat that color. As for the cake, I think I will just do that, 😉
cute…totally!
practical? sadly, no. I could
never serve this at a dinner–
people would be looking to
invert and dump it onto a
plate to get the total taste of
the salad. but…pretty. thnx
for posting.
Well, I envision that you would carry them around, appetizer style. If you don’t provide a plate, they can’t dump it 😉
Crudité to go! Fabulous. GREG
They are too pretty to eat, Sue. Definitely my kind of food.
Delicious recipes
I have such a thing for cute food too! And these are too cute! I have got to try these sometime!
It’s a disease, Michelle…;)
These salads are a work of art, and I am blessed with rhubarb in my backyard!! thanks, sue!!
Soooo jealous of your home garden…