This green bean salad recipe is one of my favorites. It combines fresh green beans, a simple shallot dressing, and crispy fried shallots!

When fresh green beans are in season, I jump to make this simple salad! I serve it cold, which means the beans are nice and crisp. You’ll love the shallot vinaigrette, and those crispy shallots are so delicious.

This salad is a nod to green bean casserole. You can use store-bought fried shallots, fried onions, or make your own like me. Here’s my 15-minute fried shallots recipe.

Key Ingredients

• Green Beans: Fresh green beans are in season from summer through early fall. I look for crispy, firm beans without any bruised spots. To prepare my green beans for this salad, I trim the ends. I leave them whole, but if you prefer them cut into smaller pieces, feel free!
• Shallot Vinaigrette: Everyone needs a good shallot dressing recipe in their back pocket, and this is mine. I whisk finely minced shallots with mustard, red wine vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper. It’s easy and so delicious!
• Fried Shallots: I love salads with different textures, and this cold green bean salad totally hits that mark. You can find fried onions or shallots in the store, but they are simple to make yourself. They last a while, and you can use them in other dishes throughout the week. Here’s my tutorial for how to make fried shallots.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make the Best Green Bean Salad

Tip 1: Blanch your green beans. For the best salad, blanch your green beans. To do this, add them to a large pot with boiling salted water and cook for a few minutes. You want them to turn bright green. I always try one before draining and look for it to be tender, with a little crunch left.

Tip 2: Use ice to stop cooking. When ready, plunge them into icy water to stop the cooking. Then toss them with the simple shallot dressing and top with crispy fried shallots. The combo of green beans and crispy fried shallots is a classic one.

Tip 3: Making fried shallots. It’s easy! To fry shallots, add them to oil in a skillet and cook slowly, stirring occasionally, until light brown and crispy, about 10 minutes. Let them drain on paper towels, then toss them onto your salad. If you have some leftover, add them to other dishes like mashed potatoes, sautéed green beans, and soups.

Tip 4: Make it your own. This recipe is incredibly versatile. Here are a few of my favorite variations:

• Add cheese like crumbled feta, shaved parmesan, or creamy goat cheese.
• Toss in some cooked and sliced potatoes, like this potato and green bean salad.
• Toss in a few handfuls of greens like arugula, spinach, or baby kale.
• Serve the salad alongside seared tuna or your favorite tuna salad, hard-boiled egg, and some olives for a French Nicoise-inspired salad.
• Add extra protein with juicy chicken breast, poached salmon, crumbled cooked bacon, or poached shrimp.

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This fresh pineapple avocado salsa recipe is perfect with tortilla chips and works really well as a topping for tacos, fish, and grilled meats. It’s simple, quick, and absolutely delicious!

This pineapple avocado salsa makes me so happy! I mean, look at it, it’s beautiful. More importantly, it’s really delicious. The pineapple is sweet, the avocado creamy, and there’s just enough heat from jalapeños and lime.

Many people think of pineapple for sweet recipes like pineapple upside-down cake or carrot cake, but I’m here to tell you that this pineapple salsa is incredible! I love it on top of almost all our favorite taco recipes. It’s wonderful spooned over grilled steak or fish (like this grilled swordfish) and works really well beside a bowl of homemade tortilla chips.

Key Ingredients

• Pineapple: I love fresh pineapple for this salsa. Look for a large pineapple with golden or yellow hues on its skin/peel (that means it will be sweet). Another trick is to smell it. You’re on the right track if you smell a hint of sweet pineapple. And lastly, it should be firm, but give just a little when you feel it. Put anything back that’s bruised or soft. If fresh pineapples are out of season for you, pick up canned pineapple in light syrup instead, but drain it before chopping and adding it to the salsa.
• Avocado: I love the cool, creamy texture of avocado with the pineapple. Here are our tips for choosing avocados if you aren’t sure.
• Red Onion: I love the look of red onion and think it makes our salsa really pretty. That said, feel free to use sweet or white onion instead. I use the same trick of minimizing the raw bite of the onion in this salsa as I do when making guacamole. I chop them, then cover the onion with cold water for 5 minutes. After a quick drain and rinse, this process cuts the raw bite of the onion a bit.
• Jalapeños: Since the pineapple is sweet, I like adding some heat with fresh chile. We call for two peppers in the recipe, but you can always adjust to your tastes. Use both peppers for a medium spicy salsa, but remove the seeds and white membrane inside them (that’s where most of the heat comes from). If you love spicy food, leave the seeds in.
• Lime and Cilantro: I love using the zest and juice of my lime for this salsa, and I am pretty generous with the cilantro, too. The sweetness of the pineapple can take it. If you don’t like cilantro as much as I do, cut back or substitute with something else (mint, basil, and parsley are good options).

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Pineapple Avocado Salsa

Tip 1: Prepare the pineapple. Remove each end (the bottom and leafy top). Then, use your knife to cut away it’s peel, following the pineapple’s curve from top to bottom. Then, remove the core. Cut the pineapple into quarters and use a knife to cut away the inner fibrous core. From there, you can cut into small pieces.

Tip 2: Tame the onions. I love onions, but do not enjoy them when their raw, pungent flavor overpowers everything else, leaving you with onion breath. My answer is to let the onions sit in cold water for 5 to 10 minutes before draining. This super simple trick cuts down on that strong onion flavor, while retaining their crunch.

Tip 3: Make the salsa. The salsa is as simple as tossing everything together and serving. Make sure you taste it before serving to see if it needs a bit of extra salt. Then, enjoy!

More Salsa Recipes

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When I’m in a pinch for time and crave the flavors of sauerkraut, this is the recipe I use. Our quick sauerkraut takes just over an hour, and it’s ready to eat!

This easy sauerkraut, inspired by traditional German sauerkraut (which can take weeks), has a slightly sour taste and crunchy texture. I love fermented sauerkraut, but our quicker recipe is the solution for when you want to enjoy homemade sauerkraut today.

We genuinely love it, and we hope you do, too. I love it with pork, especially my skillet pork chops, these apple-stuffed pork chops, or this pork tenderloin with apples.

Key Ingredients

• Green Cabbage: When choosing green cabbage, look for a head that feels heavy for its size and has a firm texture. Avoid any heads that look dried out or discolored. I love green cabbage for this recipe, but purple cabbage will work.
• Onion: I love the onion since it almost melts into the cabbage. I use a yellow or sweet onion.
• Salt and Spices: This is a German-inspired recipe, so we use salt, caraway seeds, a juniper berry, an allspice berry, and a bit of sugar (less than a teaspoon).
• Apple Cider Vinegar and Apple Cider: These create the perfect balance of sweet and tangy. It’s the combination of apple cider and vinegar that makes this sauerkraut so delicious with pork recipes!

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make Quick Sauerkraut

Tip 1: Massage with salt and spices. To make this taste like traditional sauerkraut, massage shredded cabbage with salt and spices and set aside for 30 minutes. We use classic spices like caraway seeds, juniper berries, and allspice. I love the caraway seeds in this recipe!

After sitting with the salt and spices for 30 minutes, the cabbage releases some of its juices, wilts a bit, and looks floppy (see the second photo below).

Tip 2: Simmer the cabbage. Instead of fermenting, you will simmer the cabbage, all the juices from the bottom of the bowl, and spices with onions, apple cider vinegar, and apple cider for 30 minutes. This is why this recipe is so much quicker than fermenting (30 minutes vs. weeks).

Simmer the cabbage, covered with a lid for 30 minutes. If you have it, a piece of parchment paper set directly on top keeps the cooking environment nice and moist. It’s optional, but a great trick for the best texture.

Tip 3: Serve warm or chill. This is lovely served warm with sausages or pork dishes, like this pork tenderloin with apples. You can also let the sauerkraut cool and sit in the fridge for a few hours (or overnight) so that the flavors bloom. It lasts in the fridge for 2 weeks!

Ways to Use It

Use our quick and easy sauerkraut as you would use fermented sauerkraut. It keeps in the fridge for up to two weeks and gets better over time. I love adding it to sandwiches, salads, and on the side to pretty much anything. It’s great with baked pork chops, beer brats, and I use it to make this sauerkraut soup!

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