Marinated Veggie Salad
2013 – Gluten Free Living
This is a salad I think you’re going to love! Marinated Veggie Salad was one of my Mom’s favorite recipes throughout the years. She used to make this all the time for us when we came home to visit and bring her grandkids to see her. The lovely thing about the marinade is that there is NO oil!
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That’s right. It uses vinegar, sugar, water and whatever salad type spices you like to use, but no oil. Mom typically used tomatoes, celery, onions, green peppers, and cucumbers in her salads. I prefer to expand mine out to other hard crunchy veggies like carrots, sugar snap peas, broccoli, zucchini, and red, orange or yellow bell peppers for color. Even chickpeas work well.
This delightful salad is gluten free, vegan, and full of hearty and nutritious veggies. If you want to make it healthier, substitute honey or Stevia drops for the sugar. I was making this for a friend the other day. She has recently undergone gall bladder surgery so she has difficulty digesting oils. This salad dressing without oil is perfect for her.
This is a recipe you can tinker around with too. Mom used to buy a spice at Winn-Dixie that was called “salad seasonings.” I’ve never been able to find it wherever I’ve lived, so I’ve used Mrs. Dash Nature’s Seasonings for the salad seasonings in the recipe.
If you’re looking for a tasty way to get your kids to eat their veggies, then this salad may do it. I’ve used both apple cider vinegar and white vinegar in this recipe and both work equally well. The nice thing about this salad is you can make it up in the morning and refrigerate it and not have to worry about it again until you’re ready to serve it for dinner.
It’s a great salad to serve up for lunch with some homemade bread, too. You can use up your garden produce or extra large amounts of produce from your Community Supported Agriculture supplier by making a batch of Marinated Veggie Salad.
I initially posted this recipe in July 2013. My pictures were taken under a pergola so the lighting was awful. I recently remade this salad (May 2022) for an Empty Nester’s Potluck at our church. It was so well received. This Marinated Veggie Salad is so easy to make and you can use just about any kind of crunchy veggie with it.
Want to know another thing to love about this amazing salad? It’s about 60 calories per serving! Not using oil in the recipe really decreases those calories! We love this favorite vintage recipe and think you will too.
Marinated Veggie Salad is a delicious way to get your kids to eat all their veggies!
This festive salad is so colorful and pleasing to look at. It’s a great salad to make for company too. You can prepare it first thing in the morning and not have to fiddle with it again until you need to serve it.
Marinated Veggie Salad is gluten free, vegan, and has NO oil! You can add whatever kind of seasonings to the marinade your family likes. I used Nature‘s Seasonings and original Mrs. Dash. But almost any variety of herbs will work.
Here’s what I did.
I used these ingredients for the salad, plus chickpeas.
Place tomatoes in a large salad bowl. I was trying to use up a really large container of grape tomatoes, so I sliced them in half. Add sugar snap peas, broccoli, green bell pepper, carrot chips and cucumber.
Add red, orange and yellow bell pepper strips. Add red onion sliced very thinly and separated into rings. Add celery sliced on the diagonal and rinsed and drained chickpeas.
I used these ingredients to make the marinade, plus water.
To make the marinade: Place sugar, salt, pepper, Mrs. Dash and Nature’s Seasonings in a mixing bowl.
Add vinegar and water.
Whisk ingredients to combine.
Pour marinade over salad ingredients. Stir to combine. Refrigerate for a few hours until cold. This will serve 8-10.
Marinated Veggie Salad has so many different textures: crunch from the carrots and sugar snap peas, a softer chew from the tomatoes and cucumbers, and different crunches from the bell peppers, chickpeas and broccoli. It’s really a delightful salad to eat.
To serve: Spoon salad fixings into bowls making sure you get a little of the marinade in each serving!
If you grow your own garden vegetables you will enjoy making and eating this salad. Each serving is filled with healthy antioxidants from the veggies used. You can use any kind of tomato you have on hand. Even hot banana peppers–from your garden or otherwise–would provide some additional zest.
This is a great salad for holidays and company too, especially for those on gluten free or vegan diets. I brought leftovers home and served it with some Swiss Steak!
Here’s the recipe.
MARINATED VEGGIE SALAD
(Recipe adapted from my mom, Helen Mattis, Titusville, FL)
Marinated Veggie Salad
Equipment
- 1 large salad bowl
- salad tongs
- 1 small mixing bowl
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- 1 vegetable peeler
Ingredients
SALAD:
- 1 cucumber peeled and sliced
- 1 small red onion peeled, sliced and separated into rings (I use about 1/3 of the onion sliced very thinly)
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and cut in strips
- 1 yellow bell pepper seeded and cut in strips
- 1 orange bell pepper seeded and cut in strips
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and cut in strips
- 10 oz. container grape tomatoes halved
- 1 rib celery sliced on the diagonal
- 1 cup sugar snap peas
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 cup carrot chips
- 1/2 cup chickpeas rinsed and drained (or more, if desired)
MARINADE:
- 2/3 cup vinegar any kind will work but I prefer white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. original Mrs. Dash seasoning
- 1/2 tsp. Nature's Seasoning
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups water
Instructions
SALAD:
- Layer salad ingredients in bowl.
- Toss with marinade.
- Refrigerate a few hours before serving.
MARINADE:
- Stir together marinade ingredients and set aside.
Notes
© Can’t Stay Out of the Kitchen
Nutrition
- [b]SALAD:[/b][br]
- 1 cucumber, peeled and sliced
- 1 small onion, peeled, sliced and separated into rings (I use red onion)
- 1 green pepper, seeded and cut in strips
- 3-4 roma tomatoes, sliced
- 1 rib celery, sliced
- ¾ cup sugar snap peas
- ¾ cup broccoli florets
- 1 red, orange, or yellow pepper, seeded and cut in strips
- 1 cup carrot chips[br]
- [b]MARINADE:[/b][br]
- 2/3 cup vinegar
- 2/3 cup sugar
- Salt & pepper to taste
- Other salad spices and seasonings like Nature’s seasonings, Mrs. Dash or your preference
- 1 ½ cups water
- Stir together marinade ingredients and set aside.[br]
- Layer salad ingredients in bowl.
- Toss with marinade.
- Refrigerate a few hours before serving.
This is one of those salads you can make up and serve all summer long to take advantage of the seasonal fresh produce available. Taste a spoonful of this delicious salad! Doesn’t Marinated Veggie Salad look spectacular? It sure is a tasty salad.
We love my Mom’s Marinated Veggie Salad recipe and think you will too. It’s excellent with just about any kind of entree including Swiss Steak.
All the fresh vegetables taste so wonderful and the marinade is light without being overpowering. The nice thing about Marinated Veggie Salad is you can add or subtract the veggies your family likes.
You may also enjoy these delicious recipes!
Marinated Squash and Tomato Salad
Marinated Veggie Salad
Equipment
- 1 large salad bowl
- salad tongs
- 1 small mixing bowl
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- 1 vegetable peeler
Ingredients
SALAD:
- 1 cucumber peeled and sliced
- 1 small red onion peeled, sliced and separated into rings (I use about 1/3 of the onion sliced very thinly)
- 1 green bell pepper seeded and cut in strips
- 1 yellow bell pepper seeded and cut in strips
- 1 orange bell pepper seeded and cut in strips
- 1 red bell pepper seeded and cut in strips
- 10 oz. container grape tomatoes halved
- 1 rib celery sliced on the diagonal
- 1 cup sugar snap peas
- 1 cup broccoli florets
- 1 cup carrot chips
- 1/2 cup chickpeas rinsed and drained (or more, if desired)
MARINADE:
- 2/3 cup vinegar any kind will work but I prefer white vinegar or apple cider vinegar
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. original Mrs. Dash seasoning
- 1/2 tsp. Nature’s Seasoning
- 1/2 tsp. sea salt
- 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups water
Instructions
SALAD:
- Layer salad ingredients in bowl.
- Toss with marinade.
- Refrigerate a few hours before serving.
MARINADE:
- Stir together marinade ingredients and set aside.