Most salads are simple enough to make at home. That’s probably because the ingredients are raw in most recipes and don’t need to be boiled, baked, or fried. But mixing fresh fruits and veggies to create a salad requires some amount of creativity. It’s the perfect side dish to enjoy with a heavy meal. Here are the four most popular salads and trending dressing ideas to practice and perfect at home.

Caesar salad
Who can say no to a delicious fresh crunchy bowl of Caesar salad? This classic recipe has some of the most basic ingredients you can find at the farmer’s market. And yet, it’s made in such a way that the salad packs a flavorful crunch audible with each bite. Caesar salads are the preferred choice of light entrée served at most multi-star cuisine restaurants. The hero of the dish isn’t the romaine lettuce, though. It’s the dressing. If you can’t make the Caesar dressing at home, fret not because the store-bought one is equally good.

As for the salad recipe, there are a few steps you would need to perform, like shredding the romaine lettuce and shallow frying the croutons and mixing them with parmesan cheese. There are many variations of the Caesar salad, so check out a few recipes to find the one that works best.

Watermelon feta salad
Summer can get really hot, and no amount of hydrating fluids can counter the heat that builds up. Thankfully, talented chefs discovered a cool salad recipe with just two hero ingredients: watermelon and cucumber. Add some red onions and fresh mint for the garnish, topped with a generous sprinkling of feta cheese, and voila, you’ve got yourself a winner!

The watermelon feta mix is a classic salad that takes no more than a few minutes. It’s a perfect example of acidic tartness and refreshing zing. Dice up the fruits and toss them with freshly grated feta cheese before sprinkling a bit of balsamic vinegar. Pro tip: consider using chilled watermelon as it adds a crunch to the salad when mixed with the red onions and cucumber. Garnish with some fresh mint leaves and serve by the poolside barbeque, a perfect side dish!

Classic Greek salad
Nothing beats the classic Greek salad. It’s easy to make at home with minimal ingredients and takes only 15 minutes. The hero of this salad, besides vegetables, of course, is the feta cheese. The fresh cheese cuts through the acidity of the veggies and balances out flavors without the need for extra condiments or excessive dressing.

Prepare some halved cherry tomatoes, diced cucumber, thinly sliced onions, and preserved olives for the base. Add some delicious fresh crumbled feta cheese on top and toss the mixture a few times. You can use olive oil seasoned with black pepper, dried oregano, and kosher salt for the dressing. Drizzle a few drops and serve a fresh homemade Greek salad.

Simple fruit salad
The next time you decide to have something healthier for dessert, make a fresh bowl of fruit salad. There couldn’t be a simpler recipe to try and perfect at home, with a total prep time of only 20 minutes. You can add fruits of your choice, but the obvious picks include assorted berries, grapes, kiwis, oranges, apples, and some tropical mangoes.

Only dice or slice the kiwis, apples, and mangoes for this recipe. The rest of the fruits can be added as is with the seeds. For better presentation, cut the berries in halves with the stem removed. And don’t forget the dressing: a simple mixture of honey, lemon juice, and fresh orange juice drizzled all over the fruits. The cool thing about fruit salads is that you can pick the fruit of the season and modify the recipe to create your own.

Other popular dressings for salads
Pretty much all common fruits and veggies can be used to make salads. So, it comes down to the type of dressings you mix, depending on the veggie of the day:

Tahini
Tahini is a Middle Eastern favorite used as a condiment not only for salads but many roasted vegetable dishes. Made from sesame seeds, it boasts a silky-smooth texture and goes very well with lemon juice for the dressing.

Honey mustard
If looking for a mayonnaise substitute, the honey mustard dressing offers the perfect mix of tanginess and sweetness, best used for salad greens.

Sesame soy
It’s a perfect Asian-inspired dressing for grilled chicken and shrimp salads mixed with greens and veggies of your choice. The sourness of the soy acts as an ideal moisturizer for meats and croutons used in popular salads.