If you’re the type to pair your sandwich with a salad because you want more vegetables in your diet, hear this out: how about transforming the sandwich into a salad instead? You can up your veggie consumption without sacrificing any of the flavors that go into your favorite sandwiches. It’s all a matter of tweaking every single ingredient into a more salad-ready form, and then taking one simple extra step to level up your salad game (hint: it involves chilling the salad dish first).
Take the Reuben, for example. Traditionally, it’s made with rye bread, corned beef slices, Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, and Thousand Island or Russian dressing. You can chop the rye into croutons, slice the corned beef into strips, and shred the Swiss cheese to make your toppings. The vegetable base is where it gets tricky, but if you remember that sauerkraut is essentially pickled cabbage, you’ll realize that plain shredded cabbage would actually work well when turning Reuben sandwich in a salad. Just blend in some caraway vinaigrette with the Russian dressing to preserve the tang; if you don’t have vinaigrette handy, you can also create the easiest salad dressing with pickle juice instead.
When turning other sandwiches into salads, it helps to keep a few principles in mind. First, the vegetables in the sandwich are your salad’s base; if the sandwich doesn’t have any, go with veggies you might have added to it. Next, use the other fillings as toppings and prep them to be more bite-sized. Lastly, the carbs are optional; you don’t have to use bread if you don’t want to.
Other sandwiches you can try making into salads
For a completely breadless option, try going with a BLT salad. Chopped lettuce, cherry tomatoes, and sliced bacon bites make for a simple yet satisfying combination. For the dressing, anything mayo-based will do — the old-school Mayfair salad dressing of mysterious origin is a great option. In general, you’ll want the dressing to be a slightly wetter version of whatever sauces or cheeses the sandwich uses so that it coats the salad better.
Strongly flavored sandwiches will benefit from using seasoned breadcrumbs, such as a shrimp po’ boy wedge salad. You can also do it with a Philly cheesesteak; just toss the breadcrumbs in the same seasoning you use for the steak. The savory mix will go great with a base of sweet roasted bell peppers and raw red onions, topped with steak slices and a Swiss cheese-based dressing.
Sandwiches that are already veggie-heavy are great sources of inspiration. A classic báhn mì, for example, is made with sliced cucumber, matchstick carrots and daikon radish, cilantro, mint, and hot peppers. If you drop the bread, increase the vegetable ratio, keep the grilled pork slices, and mix the pâté, mayo, and sriracha into a tossable dressing, you’ve got an extremely refreshing sandwich-turned-salad on your hands! As long as you keep experimenting in the kitchen, you’ll find that any sandwich can be transformed into a salad. You can make it even better using Bobby Flay’s game-changing tip for dressing a salad, which involves pouring the dressing into an empty bowl rather than directly onto the greens.
