This Little Gem Salad with Basil Yogurt Dressing is a simple way to enjoy summer’s best produce! With a few simple ingredients and a blender, you’ll have a fresh salad ready in no time.
Disclaimer: This post is sponsored by Nancy’s Yogurt. I was compensated for my time, and all opinions are my own.
Hey friends! What a blur these past few weeks have been.
I haven’t been as present here, because I’ve been focused on being present with summer. I know all of you are doing the same – hopefully spending your evenings on your front stoop with a bowl of berries, meeting up with friends after work for happy hour, or making epic weekend plans before fall swoops in.
That doesn’t mean I don’t have a backlog of new favorite recipes to share with you all though – because whoa, lately I am inspired by everything around me: peaches, tomatoes, icy cool drinks and bouquets of basil.
I’m popping in today to share a salad bowl overfilling with fresh, lip smacking summer favorites. My favorite lettuce, little gem, seems to be on every menu in the Bay Area these days, and for good reason. It’s like a baby romaine leaf – crisp, tender and sweet. Substitute it with romaine or your favorite baby greens if you don’t find it at your local store, and pick up some sweet cherry tomatoes, an avocado and a cucumber while you’re at it.
After we have everything chopped, all we do is combine our basil yogurt dressing ingredients in the blender for a quick whizz: plain whole milk yogurt, tons of fresh basil, olive oil, garlic, and a bit of lemon juice, salt and red pepper flakes for zing.
This salad is the perfect way to enjoy lots of summer’s loot, with a fresh and tangy twist. The yogurt and avocado in the salad help keep you full, but feel free and toss in some nuts or grilled chicken if you want to make it a bigger meal.
- 8-10 heads of little gem lettuce (or 1 package romaine hearts)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- ½ cucumber, cut into chunks
- 1 large avocado, sliced
- 1 cup plain whole milk yogurt
- 1 and ½ cups fresh basil, packed (stems discarded)
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, peeled and smashed
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ⅛ of a teaspoon red pepper flakes, more to taste
- Pinch of salt
- In a large salad bowl, tear apart lettuce into bitesize pieces.
- Toss in cherry tomatoes, cucumber chunks, and sliced avocado.
- In a blender or food processor, blend together yogurt, basil, olive oil, garlic, lemon juice, red pepper flakes and salt.
- Toss salad with ½ of the dressing and serve immediately with extra dressing to drizzle overtop.
In this recipe, I’m using Nancy’s whole milk yogurt – I buy the larger container for the week and have been enjoying switching up my breakfasts and making yogurt parfaits with a swipe of homemade strawberry jam (best strawberries I’ve ever had!) and a handful of granola.
Tell me – do you have little gem lettuce near you? Have you made a yogurt-based salad dressing before? My other go-to salad dressing is this basic vinaigrette.
Marisa
dixya | food, pleasure, and health says
seems like Summer is a slow time for everyone for rejoice..on that note, im meeting my friend for lunch-happy hour.
Marisa says
Definitely! Hope you enjoyed your time with your friend.
Jess @hellotofit says
YUMMM! I’m growing basil in a pot on our front porch and it’s doing BEAUTIFULLY (to everyone’s surprise b/c I have two black thumbs). Can’t wait to try this!!
Marisa says
That sounds amazing! Glad to hear it’s thriving!!