I love salads and for me a salad means more than just lettuce with some dressing on it. Snore-bore and life is way too short for boring food.

You don’t have to have lettuce to have a salad in my book. But you do have to include lots of crunchy vegetables with different textures and flavors coated in an irresistible homemade dressing or vinaigrette. I love the variety that can be created by adding quinoa, black beans, edamame, or cheese to salad.

Here are 30 of my favorite salads broken down into three sections: Chicken, Beef/Bacon/Fish, and Vegetarian. Most of the vegetarian salads can be made vegan by simply omitting the cheese. The majority of the 30 salads are naturally gluten-free but of course the pasta salads and salads with chips on them aren’t gluten-free.

All are easy, ready in under 30 minutes, and loaded with big time flavor and lots of crunch!