Cookbook Review: Every Salad Ever

I’m not a cookbook collector but every now and then I come across one that inspires a purchase. Such was the case with Every Salad Ever by Greta Podleski. I stumbled upon it on the Indigo website, where it was offered as an exclusive pre-order. 

Although I received this book upon its publication in April 2025 – a mere six months ago – it is already well stained from repeated use. I don’t think a week has gone by that I haven’t pulled out this book and made at least one of its recipes. I highly recommend it. The recipes are a far cry from what some people consider salad to be, i.e. lettuce and a few vegetables topped with a basic vinaigrette. With so much flavour, they are a welcome addition to lunch and supper.

What’s Inside

The subtitle of the book says it all: “From Grains to Greens and Pasta to Beans Plus Every Salad In Betweens.” This book does, indeed, have incredible range, with each section offering 15 or more recipes: 

• Grain salads are hearty, and often feature beans or edamame along with the quinoa, rice, couscous and other grains that make up the base of the salads. 
• The Greens section includes some standout kale salads that I love and an incredible salmon, avocado, and orange salad. 
• Pasta salads cover a wide range of flavour profiles with many including a good dose of protein from tuna or chicken. 
• Bean salads incorporate all the usual suspects – black beans, red and white kidney beans, and pinto beans – along with chickpeas, lentils, and edamame. 
• The options in the Classics section will be familiar to most people – Caesar, Greek, Caprese, Cobb, and coleslaw are among the first entries. 
• The In-Betweens chapter features a really interesting mix that ranges from heirloom tomato salad (so good) to fruit salads and a Spring Roll Salad Bowl (one of our favourites).
• Embellishments is a section I haven’t used much, but it includes toppers like croutons and marinated feta, along with recipes for dressings and meat marinades.

Clear Instructions, Beautifully Presented

Recipes are easy to follow and offer ideas for substitutions. For example, the Spring Roll Salad Bowl features shrimp, but Podleski suggests chopped rotisserie chicken to mix things up. We actually swap in smoked tofu for a vegetarian meal. 

Podleski also includes lots of guidance on how soon to dress a salad and whether it needs time for flavours to meld. In some cases, she will include handy notes about a recipe making more dressing than needed or ingredients – like rice or grains – soaking up a lot of the dressing if stored as leftovers in the fridge.

Her “Kitchen Whizdom” notes appear in recipes where further explanation might be needed, like the type of canned tuna to use or whether to peel beets before roasting them. 

Each recipe is accompanied by a full-page, full-colour photo. A “Sound Bite” QR code links to an audio file on the Every Salad Ever website to provide supplemental information, like “types of couscous” or “massaging kale.” The QR codes are not essential to the recipes but are a fun addition to the book.

What I Love About the Recipes

Flavour, flavour, flavour. I can’t say it enough. The dressings and combinations of ingredients simply burst with deep, balanced flavours. There are lots that use lime juice, a personal favourite of mine, but some that use ingredients I would not normally touch with a 10-foot pole. In that category I include Tasty Tuna Noodle Salad which uses pickles and pickle juice. I hate pickles but decided to try this salad and was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. 

Mango is another ingredient that, while common in restaurant salads, is not one I typically consider when making salads at home. It makes a few appearances in the book and works beautifully. The California Quinoa Salad, which we have served to guests and taken to potlucks, is one example and a very popular one. Everyone who has tried this salad has asked for the recipe. 

Speaking of potlucks, many of the recipes in this book travel well and make fairly large quantities so they are great for big gatherings. 

And because so many of these salads include a protein component, they make quick, easy, and complete meals. 

Things to Watch For

Salads, especially those that feature beans and grains, are a great way to increase daily fibre and vegetable consumption, which is a big selling feature of a book like this. Most people don’t get enough fibre and hearty salads are a great way to bump up those numbers, but I would caution people to read the nutritional information provided with each recipe. Some have higher levels of saturated fat and sodium than might be expected. 

Sugar content can be another issue, as some dressings include sweeteners like honey or maple syrup. In fact, I find that some of the dressings taste a bit too sweet and have cut back on the amount of sweetener, sometimes by half, without sacrificing flavour. 

And because these recipes make large quantities, as noted above, smaller households might only need half the recipe.

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Photo of Every Salad Ever cover from everysaladever.com. Photo of book spine by Crystal Smith.