When Melissa Ben-Ishay, the co-founder and CEO of bite-size cupcake empire Baked by Melissa, posted her vegan Green Goddess Salad on TikTok, it became a viral sensation. The recipe exploded online, gaining over 25 million views, landing Melissa on the TODAY Show, and inspiring fans like Cardi B and Lizzo to make their own version of the salad.
After the success of the Green Goddess Salad, Melissa continued to share her finely chopped, vegetable-focused recipes and created a cookbook “Come Hungry: Salads, Meals, and Sweets for People Who Live to Eat” to inspire everyone to eat more greens with her flavorful, fresh creations. The meals in her best-selling cookbook all highlight Melissa’s food philosophy: “if you get your nourishment from mealtime, you can absolutely indulge in dessert every day”, just like she does. 🙂
If you haven’t tried her delicious cupcakes, I highly recommend for your next gathering or birthday party.
Salad Hype
I finally got to make this salad and, yes, it’s worth the hype. It’s giving a super healthy pesto vibe and, being half Italian, I love a good pesto. Plus the beauty of this salad is that you can mix it up and make it your own. You can switch out the herbs or add some avocado or jalapeños for some heat. It’s truly a choose your own adventure salad, but I enjoy it as-is.
Melissa is a big fan of adding nutritional yeast to a lot of her recipes, which adds a “cheesy” creaminess with a little umami plus adds some extra vitamins, it’s a win-win.
It’s not your traditional salad so just dig in and devour with a fork, eat it with chips, use in tacos or pile it on toast.
I hope you enjoy this healthy and delicious salad!
Gina
Ingredients
Salad:
- 1 small head green cabbage
- 3-4 baby cucumbers (or 1 large cucumber)
- 1/4 cup chives
- 1 bunch scallions (green onion)
Dressing:
- 1 cup basil leaves
- 1 cup fresh spinach
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 small shallot
- 2 lemons, juiced
- 1/4 cup olive oil (high quality olive oil)
- 1/4 cup nuts of your choice (Melissa uses raw, unsalted cashews and walnuts)
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- Any extra chives you have on hand (optional)
Instructions
- Wash and chop all of the salad ingredients (with a sharp knife) as small as you would like (I recommend confetti-sized) then place in a large bowl.
- Add all of the liquid salad dressing ingredients to a blender (olive oil, lemon juice, rice vinegar). Add the rest of the dressing ingredients to the same blender.
- Blend until your dressing is a thick, pourable consistency.
- Pour the dressing over salad ingredients.
- Mix well (I use tongs) and enjoy!
Notes
* Melissa recommends dressing each serving individually if you aren’t planning to eat it all at once. The dressing will keep in the fridge for up to a week.