This chopped rainbow salad is packed with crisp vegetables, tossed in a simple balsamic vinaigrette, and easy to customize for lunch or dinner. It’s the kind of salad you’d pay too much for at a salad bar, but it’s quick to make at home with fresh ingredients.
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My neighborhood market has a great salad bar, and I used to visit all the time, but it’s gotten ridiculously pricey. Then it hit me, I’ve got a cutting board and a chef’s knife, so why am I not making my own salad with the ingredients I actually want? That’s how this colorful Rainbow Veggie Salad came to be.
I’m also tossing everything with a simple homemade balsamic vinaigrette that takes just a few basic ingredients.
This rainbow in a bowl is super versatile. Keep it as a side, or add chicken, shrimp, tofu, and call it lunch or dinner.
While we are talking salad, you might also like my Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad or my favorite knife-and-fork Wedge Salad.
Table of contents
Recipe Highlights
Get the essential details of this vibrant salad at a glance:
- Type of recipe: Lunch or dinner salad
- Cooking method: No cooking required
- Skill level: Easy to medium with lots of chopping
- Flavors & textures: Complex flavors with lots of crunch
What Makes A Good Chopped Salad
- Customize this salad: You can add anything that suits your taste, so experiment with different greens, vegetables, nuts, cheeses, and salad dressings.
- Add some protein: Turn this salad into a meal by adding chicken, shrimp, tofu, steak, or a few boiled eggs.
- Chop and dice: This salad is best when everything is cut into similar sizes.
Rainbow Salad Ingredients (and smart swaps)
- The greens: Arugula adds a spicy and peppery flavor, and radicchio has a mellow, bitter flavor. Feel free to use your favorites.
- The vegetables: red and yellow peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and corn.
- The fruit & nuts: Add salty olives and earthy walnuts. Toasted pecans would be tasty too. Or, for a nut-free version, omit the nuts or replace them with toasted seeds like pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
- The cheese: Mozzarella balls have a delicate milky taste, and I like the texture, but I also use feta.
- The salad dressing consists of Balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. It’s super simple. If you want to change it up, skip the balsamic and make this strawberry vinaigrette for a fruity dressing.
Why This Recipe Works
- Balanced bitter + sweet
- Crunch in every bite
- Dressing coats evenly because of chopping
- Holds up better than leafy salads
How To Make A Chopped Rainbow Salad
Before you start, here are a few Salad Tips:
- Arugula usually has small, tender leaves, so it doesn’t need to be chopped, but chop the radicchio.
- Cut cherry tomatoes in half or seed and chop a whole tomato.
- Use pre-shredded carrots or cut a carrot into medium dice.
- Cut the mozzarella balls smaller if they are too big.
- Use thawed frozen corn, leftover fresh corn, or my favorite grilled corn kernels.
- You can prepare this salad ahead of time, but don’t add the salad dressing until you’re ready to serve it.
You don’t need a restaurant kitchen for this one. Just a cutting board, a knife, and a bowl.
What To Pair This Veggie Salad With
This salad also pairs well with chicken, salmon, shrimp, or a simple soup when you want a quick meal
- Try Lemon Pepper Chicken when you want something light and fresh.
- Make Pan-Fried Skillet Burgers for an easy dinner, then use the salad to balance the plate.
- Serve Ham and Cheese Scones for brunch, lunch, or a soup-and-salad kind of meal.
Rainbow Salad FAQ’s
Yes. You can prepare your veggies ahead of time. Store them separately in the crisper drawer. Keeping the vegetables and dressing separate until ready to serve is best.
You can store a salad with lots of veggies in the fridge for up to 2-3 days. After that, it will likely become soggy. Undressed, it keeps well for 2 to 3 days. Once it’s dressed, plan to eat it within 24 hours, as the greens soften quickly.
You can use other leafy greens, such as spinach, mixed greens, or romaine lettuce, as a base for the salad. Experiment with different combinations to find your favorite mix.
Grilled chicken, shrimp, salmon, steak, tofu, chickpeas, or hard-boiled eggs all work. If you want something fast, use rotisserie chicken or a drained can of chickpeas.
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Recipe
Rainbow Salad With Balsamic Dressing
Ingredients
- 1 cup arugula
- 1 cup radicchio thinly sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup bocconcini (mini mozzarella balls)
- ½ cup shredded carrots
- ½ cup red pepper diced
- ½ cup yellow pepper diced
- corn kernels fresh or thawed if frozen
- ¼ cup black olives pitted
- ¼ cup nuts such as almonds, walnuts, or pecans, toasted
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Prepare the salad dressing
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the olive oil and balsamic vinegar to create the dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Prepare the salad
- Wash and dry all the salad greens
- Cut the tomatoes in half and dice the red and yellow peppers. Toasting the nuts is optional, but it does add great flavor.
- In a large salad bowl, combine the arugula, radicchio, cherry tomatoes, bocconcini, shredded carrots, diced red pepper, diced yellow pepper, corn kernels, black olives, and toasted nuts into the bowl.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad ingredients and gently toss until all the ingredients are evenly coated with the dressing.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning if needed with additional salt and pepper.Serve immediately and enjoy!
Notes
- You can adjust the quantities of the ingredients based on your preference or the number of servings you need.
2. For extra flavor and texture, feel free to add other ingredients like sliced cucumbers, red onions, or avocado.
3. If you don’t have bocconcini, you can use regular-sized mozzarella cheese and cut it into smaller pieces.
4. You can omit the nuts or replace them with toasted seeds like pumpkin or sunflower seeds for a nut-free version.
5. Customize the dressing by adding herbs like basil or oregano, honey or maple syrup for sweetness, or Dijon mustard for extra tang.
6. you can use baby spinach or mixed greens instead of arugula.
7. You can substitute radicchio with red cabbage or endive if it is unavailable.
Instead of bocconcini, you can use feta cheese or goat cheese for a tangy flavor.
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Nutrition
First published: July 13, 2024. Last updated: January 15, 2026 for better readability.
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Hello there, I’m Jere’
From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place, and I am glad to be here at One Hot Oven sharing sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.
I thought this would take a lot of time to make, but it came together fast and I love how colorful it turned out. Make me want to have salad more often.
Glad you enjoyed the salaad. My family loves it.