Salad Bars: Recipes & Layouts
On this page, you’ll find suggested foods to serve on salad bars, recommended salad bar layouts, menu development tips, and planning tools. In addition, we provide recipes for composed salads, which are a great way to include more whole grains and protein on your salad bar. By planning and preparing the salads in advance, you can cater to students' tastes and make crediting easier.
Our recipe portal on The Lunch Box features 500+ recipes tested in school kitchens and lunchrooms. Students have tasted and approved these recipes, so you can feel confident serving them in your schools. Salad bars that provide fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins can provide a fully self-serve reimbursable meal.
Salad Bars: Recipes & Layouts
On this page, you’ll find suggested foods to serve on salad bars, recommended salad bar layouts, menu development tips, and planning tools. In addition, we provide recipes for composed salads, which are a great way to include more whole grains and protein on your salad bar. By planning and preparing the salads in advance, you can cater to students' tastes and make crediting easier.
Our recipe portal on The Lunch Box features 500+ recipes tested in school kitchens and lunchrooms. Students have tasted and approved these recipes, so you can feel confident serving them in your schools. Salad bars that provide fruits, vegetables, grains, and proteins can provide a fully self-serve reimbursable meal.
Fruit
Fruits on the salad bar provide students with delicious, nutritious, fresh options. Research shows that fruit served on a salad bar increases student consumption by one-third of a cup. Serving pre-cut fruit, especially for younger students, is a proven strategy to increase consumption and reduce food waste.
Fruit is a great meal component to make shifts towards local procurement. Ripeness of fruit makes a big difference in the consumer experience, and it’s a great way to help students learn about the growing seasons in their region.
Fruit
Fruits on the salad bar provide students with delicious, nutritious, fresh options. Research shows that fruit served on a salad bar increases student consumption by one-third of a cup. Serving pre-cut fruit, especially for younger students, is a proven strategy to increase consumption and reduce food waste.
Fruit is a great meal component to make shifts towards local procurement. Ripeness of fruit makes a big difference in the consumer experience, and it’s a great way to help students learn about the growing seasons in their region.
Vegetable Subgroups
Our Salad Bar Layout Tool helps you plan your weekly salad bar grids to ensure you are meeting all required vegetable subgroups. Here are some vegetables you can offer from the five vegetable subgroups:
- Dark Green: leafy greens, broccoli, collard greens, green peppers, spinach, and swiss chard
- Red & Orange: butternut squash, carrots, red peppers, salsa, and spaghetti squash
- Beans & Peas (Legumes): black-eyed peas, edamame, garbanzo beans, lentils, and peas
- Starchy: corn, hominy, jicama, lima beans, and water chestnuts
- Other: celery, cucumber, cauliflower, radishes, and tomatillos
Vegetable Subgroups
Our Salad Bar Layout Tool helps you plan your weekly salad bar grids to ensure you are meeting all required vegetable subgroups. Here are some vegetables you can offer from the five vegetable subgroups:
- Dark Green: leafy greens, broccoli, collard greens, green peppers, spinach, and swiss chard
- Red & Orange: butternut squash, carrots, red peppers, salsa, and spaghetti squash
- Beans & Peas (Legumes): black-eyed peas, edamame, garbanzo beans, lentils, and peas
- Starchy: corn, hominy, jicama, lima beans, and water chestnuts
- Other: celery, cucumber, cauliflower, radishes, and tomatillos
Local and Seasonal Produce
There are numerous opportunities to use the salad bar to showcase local, seasonal foods and provide nutrition education. Salad bars create new opportunities to build relationships with small, local farmers and make micro-purchases. Using locally-sourced ingredients establishes connections between students and their food system. Also, local procurement is a great opportunity to educate students about the benefits of sustainable farming practices and regional supply chains. You can learn more by visiting our Values-Aligned Procurement page.
Sample Fruit and Vegetable Recipes from The Lunch Box
Local and Seasonal Produce
There are numerous opportunities to use the salad bar to showcase local, seasonal foods and provide nutrition education. Salad bars create new opportunities to build relationships with small, local farmers and make micro-purchases. Using locally-sourced ingredients establishes connections between students and their food system. Also, local procurement is a great opportunity to educate students about the benefits of sustainable farming practices and regional supply chains. You can learn more by visiting our Values-Aligned Procurement page.
Sample Fruit and Vegetable Recipes from The Lunch Box
Whole Grains
Whole grains are a key part of the five required meal components. While whole-grain products such as breads, pastas, and tortillas are a great way to meet this, there are also many grains that can be cooked whole and added to composed salads or served as a single item for students to add. Examples include barley, bulgur wheat, couscous, farro, quinoa, wheat berries, and brown or wild rice.
Sample Whole Grain Recipes from The Lunch Box
Whole Grains
Whole grains are a key part of the five required meal components. While whole-grain products such as breads, pastas, and tortillas are a great way to meet this, there are also many grains that can be cooked whole and added to composed salads or served as a single item for students to add. Examples include barley, bulgur wheat, couscous, farro, quinoa, wheat berries, and brown or wild rice.
Sample Whole Grain Recipes from The Lunch Box
Proteins
Adding protein options to your salad bar can help students create a complete meal by meeting the Meat/Meat Alternative component. There is a range of creditable protein options for students to choose from, and they are low-effort to prepare and serve. Just like whole grains, proteins in a composed salad can help you cater to students' tastes and simplify the crediting of components.
- Plant-based proteins are often the least expensive and have the lowest environmental impact to produce, including a wide selection of beans and legumes, hummus, tofu, and tempeh.
- Dairy products such as yogurt and cheese are easy for students to add to a customizable meal or salad.
- Animal proteins, including hard-boiled eggs, diced turkey and chicken, and tuna, are all great additions to salads or eaten on their own. For higher-cost Meat/Meat Alternate items, we recommend serving them in 2-inch pans to decrease waste.
- Tip: Providing a spoodle for proteins can assist with portion control, ensuring that students take a creditable amount. For meat, first weigh it to ensure you have the appropriate ounce-equivalent portion, then select your spoodle to provide the correct portion size.
Proteins
Adding protein options to your salad bar can help students create a complete meal by meeting the Meat/Meat Alternative component. There is a range of creditable protein options for students to choose from, and they are low-effort to prepare and serve. Just like whole grains, proteins in a composed salad can help you cater to students' tastes and simplify the crediting of components.
- Plant-based proteins are often the least expensive and have the lowest environmental impact to produce, including a wide selection of beans and legumes, hummus, tofu, and tempeh.
- Dairy products such as yogurt and cheese are easy for students to add to a customizable meal or salad.
- Animal proteins, including hard-boiled eggs, diced turkey and chicken, and tuna, are all great additions to salads or eaten on their own. For higher-cost Meat/Meat Alternate items, we recommend serving them in 2-inch pans to decrease waste.
- Tip: Providing a spoodle for proteins can assist with portion control, ensuring that students take a creditable amount. For meat, first weigh it to ensure you have the appropriate ounce-equivalent portion, then select your spoodle to provide the correct portion size.
Sample Whole Grain Recipes from The Lunch Box
Sample Whole Grain Recipes from The Lunch Box
Measuring Recipes
The salad bar recipe needs to have a standard unit of measure. For instance, this can be measured by the weight or number of cups of each ingredient, or by the number of pans with standard weights on each pan on the salad bar.
When measuring by the weight of each ingredient, it is easy to measure the weight at the beginning and end of each meal service. When measuring ingredients by cup, it is easier to calculate the number of vegetable servings by dividing the total number of cups consumed by the number of students served.
When prepping in bulk, measuring ingredients by weight in each pan is faster and more accurate for inventory and ordering. It will be easy to see how much of each pan you start with and how much is left at the end of each service. For centralized production models, this is an easier way to track production and send out pans to satellite sites. This is all tracked in production records.
Measuring Recipes
The salad bar recipe needs to have a standard unit of measure. For instance, this can be measured by the weight or number of cups of each ingredient, or by the number of pans with standard weights on each pan on the salad bar.
When measuring by the weight of each ingredient, it is easy to measure the weight at the beginning and end of each meal service. When measuring ingredients by cup, it is easier to calculate the number of vegetable servings by dividing the total number of cups consumed by the number of students served.
When prepping in bulk, measuring ingredients by weight in each pan is faster and more accurate for inventory and ordering. It will be easy to see how much of each pan you start with and how much is left at the end of each service. For centralized production models, this is an easier way to track production and send out pans to satellite sites. This is all tracked in production records.
