This Green Goddess Salad recipe is so good every time I take a bite, I feel like screaming, “I can’t believe this is cabbage!”. If you’re looking for a delicious and refreshing salad that’s super easy to make and ridiculously budget-friendly (you will never pay for bagged salad again), then you need to try Green Goddess Salad. The creamy, herb-packed Green Goddess Dressing it’s made with is to die for.
What Is Green Goddess Salad?
Green Goddess Salad is believed to have been created in the 1920s in San Francisco as an homage to an actor in the play The Green Goddess. It’s usually a mixture of leafy greens and a zesty, herbaceous Green Goddess Dressing.
Ingredients for Green Goddess Salad
My recipe for Green Goddess Salad uses cabbage as the primary green, so this salad keeps well, making it a perfect choice for potlucks. Though I keep things simple to keep this recipe budget-friendly, this salad is often served with croutons and grilled shrimp or chicken. Here’s what you’ll need to make Green Goddess Salad:
- Green Cabbage: is the base of our salad. It’s very budget-friendly and has a great shelf life. But if cabbage isn’t your thing, you can def sub this cabbage with about 8 cups of your favorite chopped greens.
- Fennel Bulb: adds the traditional black licorice note that Green Goddess is known for. You can substitute the fennel with a cup of fresh tarragon leaves. make sure to reserve the fronds for an addition to the Green Goddess Dressing or to use as a garnish.
- Green Onions: add pungency to the mix. If you don’t have green onions, sub with half a small white onion.
- Italian Parsley: adds deep green color to the salad and grassy notes. You can substitute it with curly parsley if you wish or fresh basil.
- Green Goddess Dressing: this herbaceous concoction is fantastic when prepared fresh (definitely check out our easy recipe!), but you can also get it pre-made at most major supermarkets.
How To Store Green Goddess Salad
This salad keeps really well. Though you can mix the dressing into the greens and refrigerate the salad for up to 5 days, the flavors mellow considerably. If you’re going to premix, I recommend giving it a good stir, tasting the greens, and adding a few pinches of salt and maybe a crack or two of black pepper before serving. I do not recommend freezing this salad, as the textures of the greens will change considerably as they thaw.
What To Serve With Green Goddess Salad
This is a perfect salad to bring to a get-together because it travels really well. Its herbaceous tangy notes make it a perfect pairing for lighter dishes like Easy Fish Tacos with Cumin Lime Slaw, Salmorejo, Tuna Patties, or Chicken Lettuce Wraps. But it is also hearty enough to pair with bolder flavors like BBQ Ribs, Sausage Kebabs, Roasted Chicken, and Classic Homemade Meatloaf.
Green Goddess Salad
Servings 8 2-cup servingsIngredients
- 1 fennel bulb ($3.49)
- 4 green onions ($0.45)
- 1 green cabbage (about 3 lbs) ($2.23)
- 1 cup Italian parsley leaves ($0.79)
- 2 cups Green Goddess Dressing ($6.73)
Instructions
- Rinse the fennel bulb under cool water. Slice the fennel bulb in half from root to stem. Trim off the stem, reserving the fennel fronds to use in the Green Goddess Dressing. If you've purchased pre-made dressing, use the fennel fronds as garnish.
- Slice around the triangle-shaped core of each fennel bulb half. Place each half in a bowl of water to prevent the fennel from browning. Then chop each fennel half into 1/4-inch thick slices. Finally, cut the fennel slices into 1/4-inch dice. Keep the diced fennel in the water until ready to use.
- Remove the roots from the green onions and then slice in 1/8 inch slices on the diagonal. Rough chop the Italian Parsley leaves.
- Slice the green cabbage in half, and cut around the core. Next, cut each cabbage half into 1/4-inch thick slices. Then cut each slice into 1/4-inch strips. Finally, cut each strip into 1/4-inch dice. You should have about 10 to 12 cups of chopped cabbage.
- Place the cabbage, onions, Italian parsley, fennel fronds, and fennel in a large bowl. Top with the Green Goddess Dressing. Toss the greens in the dressing.
- Taste the greens about ten minutes after adding the dressing; if necessary, add salt and pepper. If you are preparing the salad ahead of time, give it a big stir before serving, and add salt and pepper if necessary.
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Nutrition
How to Make Green Goddess Salad – Step by Step Photos
Rinse 1 fennel bulb under cool water. Slice the fennel bulb in half from root to stem. Trim off the stem, reserving the fennel fronds to use in the Green Goddess Dressing. If you’ve purchased pre-made dressing, use the fennel fronds as garnish.
Slice around the triangle-shaped core of each fennel bulb half. Place each half in a bowl of water to prevent the fennel from browning. Then chop each fennel half into 1/4-inch thick slices. Finally, cut the fennel slices into 1/4-inch dice. (Squares of fennel slices that are 1/4 inch by 1/4 inch.) Keep the diced fennel in the water until ready to use.
Remove the roots from 4 green onions and then slice in 1/8-inch slices on the diagonal. Rough chop 1 cup of Italian Parsley leaves.
Slice 1 green cabbage in half, and cut around the core. Next, cut each cabbage half into 1/4-inch thick slices. Then cut each slice into 1/4-inch strips. Finally, cut each strip into 1/4-inch dice. You should have about 10 to 12 cups of chopped cabbage.
Place the cabbage, onions, Italian parsley, fennel fronds, and fennel in a large bowl. Top with 2 cups of Green Goddess Dressing. Toss the greens in the dressing.
The dressing will add loads of flavor to the greens, but it will also extract some of their water. So taste them about ten minutes after adding the dressing, and if necessary, add salt and pepper to taste. If you are preparing the salad ahead of time, give it a big stir before serving, and add more salt and pepper if necessary. I hope you enjoy this one as much as we did! Beth and I both couldn’t stop eating it!
I’ve never used fennel but want to (it’s rare around here to find it anyway). I have a question – actually 2: do you use the core of the fennel bulb or discard it? and, when you say remove the root from the green onions, do you mean the white part of the onion or just the roots? I can’t imagine using the roots ever, so to mention it at all confused me.
The core of the fennel is a bit too tough for the salad, so you’ll want to discard it. :) You can use the white part of the green onion, just remove the roots. If you’d like a milder onion flavor, you can use just the green parts of the green onion.
This sounds refreshing. We have temps in the 90s this week so this will definitely be served – think I’ll add grilled shrimp to it. Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks for sharing this recipe, I have herbs in the garden to use and have been looking for something to use up cabbage that I buy and use with the bbq chicken sandwich recipe that is also on this site! I probably will not make the dressing but appreciate the option as it seems like a versatile recipe
I too, like Barbara, very much appreciate your website, I found it recently (past few months) and it has been a game-changer. It has given me confidence in the kitchen and helped to feed my family on a budget- we live in an area where food prices have soared. I have also learned many tips and tricks that I bring into my everyday cooking. We’ve had take out ONCE since I started regularly using your recipes- that alone has helped to save money. Many thanks :)
I’m so glad our website has been so helpful to you, Patti! :)
Just wanted to say I really like your website. It helps me come up with fresh ideas when I feel like I’m in a rut. ;-) In fact, its my favorite place for recipes that I know I can trust. I appreciate that you post reviews and suggestions from ones who have tried them. They can be very helpful. AND you are very open hearted for posting reviews from some who seem to be feeling quite contrary or having a bad day.
Thank you, Barbara. :)
Wow, right after the drama with the mayo ketchup recipe, we already have another pair of recipes (this one and the green goddess dressing) that were posted separately despite the fact that they could’ve easily been posted together. This is especially true given that BudgetBytes has an established standard of posting salads and their dressings together as one recipe. For example:
– The “tomato mozzarella pasta salad” recipe includes the parmesan balsamic vinaigrette.
– The “cold peanut noodle salad” recipe includes the peanut lime dressing.
– The “falafel salad” includes the tahini dressing.
– The “crunchy kale and chicken salad” includes the honey Dijon dressing.
– The “Italian orzo salad” includes the Italian vinaigrette.
The difference, of course, is that all five of those recipes were written by Beth.
I’m done with this website. It’s nothing but Monti spam now.
https://www.budgetbytes.com/easy-homemade-balsamic-vinaigrette/
https://www.budgetbytes.com/peanut-lime-dressing/
https://www.budgetbytes.com/lemon-tahini-dressing/
I generally agree Brad, although your first three examples are pretty bad because they do have standalone recipes. I still agree because they have more than one ingredient not in the name of the recipe, unlike mayo ketchup.
Hi Brad! I’ve been using this format a lot recently. You don’t HAVE to make your own green goddess dressing to make green goddess salad, and green goddess dressing can be used for so many other things than green goddess salad. Over the years I’ve learned that the recipe is more approachable if I offer the simple version (listing the dressing as a single ingredient if it’s complicated or expensive to make at home) and then I post the dressing separately for those who may want to try making their own instead of using pre-made. Because green goddess dressing requires a lot of ingredients and can be quite expensive, a lot of people would have written off the entire salad recipe if the dressing would have been listed as part of the recipe, when really making the dressing is optional. And, as I mentioned on the mayo ketchup recipe, there are plenty of people who just want a green goddess dressing recipe and if it’s buried within the green goddess salad blog post, it will not come up when they Google “green goddess dressing.” I do things very intentionally and have a lot of data and insight into what our website visitors are looking for so even though this format may not be perfect for you, please remember that there are about three million other people that use this website every month and while there is no format that will satisfy everyone, we’re trying to do our best.
Thank you Beth and Monti. I am baffled by this complaint. This is my favorite website for easy quick recipes. I have made several of Monti’s recipes and have really enjoyed them. Hopefully Brad can move along to another website and go away.
I think the separate recipes are an improvement actually. Personally I like green goddess dressing best as a dip.
Very well said Beth. I think the format is great!
What a truly bizarre complaint. There are a ton of reasons for breaking it down like this (SEO, people who want to buy their own dressing, easier to categorize on the webpage, etc). This is a great blog and even on recipes that aren’t to my taste I appreciate how user friendly and cost effective they are. If making a salad means I need to click 2 pages to see the salad and the dressing, that doesn’t even rate in my life as a minor inconvenience lol.
Monti is part of the team now so I wouldn’t call is “spam” :( I think having the recipes listed separately is beneficial, as the dressing can have other uses and sometimes a person might want to reference that specific recipe. Plus, it’s nicely linked within the salad recipe making it very easy to access. Beth provides such a wonderful site with an abundance of recipes that it feels pointed and nitpickey to hone in on not having the dressing recipe spelled out within the salad recipe. If you want to make the dressing, simply click the link and there it is.
Anyhow, thank you Beth for all you do to make cooking accessible! I for one appreciate how you chose to make them individual recipes within your site because it allows me to save them both to my recipe app, which then makes it easier to locate down the line. Can’t please ‘em all :)