Arugula Salad is a fresh, flavorful, peppery side dish that elevates any meal. Save this easy salad recipe and make it tonight.
This healthy salad makes a wonderful Side Dish to serve along with practically any main course. For more light and fresh salads, try my Burrata Salad or Beet Salad recipes.
Sabrina’s Arugula Salad Recipe
This simple salad comes together in minutes and makes a fresh, crisp, refreshing dish without needing lots of add-ins, since the arugula already brings amazing flavor and texture. I just top it with grated parmesan and a quick lemon-dijon dressing to finish it off. You can serve it alongside your favorite lunch or dinner, or make it more filling by adding protein like tofu, chickpeas, nuts, or chicken. To make the freshest salad be sure to checkout my tips below!
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Salad:
- 12 ounces arugula
- 1/2 cup shaved parmesan , into long strips from a wedge
Lemon Dressing:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoons honey
- 1 clove garlic , crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a serving bowl layer arugula and top with freshly shaved parmesan.
- Whisk together olive oil, lemon juice, dijon mustard, honey, garlic, salt, and pepper until well blended and set immediately dress the salad.
Nutrition
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Sabrina’s Tip
When I’m looking for fresh arugula, I always skip any bunches with yellowing leaves, dark spots, or anything that looks wilted or slimy. I also look for leaves that are vibrant green, tender, and have that fresh, peppery scent that tells me they’re at their best. With these tips you’ll get the best salad texture and flavor!
Table of contents
Can this be made ahead of time?
If you want to prep Arugula Salad in advance, you should keep the simple salad ingredients and homemade dressing separate. You can toss together the peppery arugula leaves and parmesan cheese and store them in an airtight container in the fridge. Then whisk together the dressing and keep it stored in a separate container.
To make it into a packed lunch, you can add the dressing to a plastic condiment container and place it in the salad container. Then shake the dressing container to recombine ingredients, and drizzle the dressing over the salad before eating.
How to Store
- Serve: Don’t leave the freshly tossed salad out at room temperature for more than two hours, or the arugula leaves will start to wilt.
- Store: Prior to adding the dressing, the leafy salad can stay good in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week. After adding the dressing, it’s best to eat the salad recipe within 1-2 days.
- Freeze: fresh salad recipes, like this one, don’t freeze well because it ruins the texture of the salad greens to freeze and defrost them. If you don’t finish this salad within a few days, it’s better to throw it away and make a fresh salad.
Frequent Questions
Arugula has a naturally peppery flavor, even though it’s not meant to taste hot or spicy. Arugula develops a more peppery and slightly bitter taste as it matures, whereas young arugula has a more mild flavor. This spiced green is great for adding to salads and sandwiches to compliment the taste and enhance the other flavors around it.
Absolutely! Arugula is a great ingredient to add to your recipes because of its numerous health benefits. They’re packed with antioxidants and glucosinolates. Antioxidants repair and protect cells from damage, and glucosinolates have been found to help prevent cancers like breast, lung, prostate, and colon cancer. Arugula also contains vitamin K, folate, and b vitamins.
No. Although it’s often used as a base for salads in the same way that lettuce is, this leafy green is not technically a type of lettuce. It’s part of the brassica family, a genus of plants containing other nutrient-dense veggies such as broccoli, kale, turnips, collard greens, cabbage, and Brussels sprouts.
Yes. In this and other fresh salad recipes, you can enjoy arugula leaves fresh and raw. Fresh arugula can also be used in sandwiches, pizzas, and wraps. Arugula is best eaten raw if you enjoy its spicy flavor profile, as cooking can cause it to lose some of that flavor. Cooking the vegetable can also decrease its vitamin C, antioxidant, and mineral content. So, raw arugula is the healthiest option.
Both leafy greens make wonderful healthy additions to your diet. However, spinach is more nutrient dense than arugula. It contains more manganese, Folate, Vitamin K, and Vitamin C.
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