Spicy Italian Salad

With a flavorful vinaigrette, artichokes, Parmesan, olives and summer sausage, this Spicy Italian Salad is full of flavor. Just say “no” to boring salads!  With a flavorful vinaigrette, artichokes, parmesan, olives and summer sausage, this Spicy Italian salad is full of flavor. Just say “no” to boring salads!

My siblings and I discovered this Spicy Italian Salad years ago, while planning a special Christmas Brunch. With a homemade vinaigrette and tasty summer sausage, it delivered a tart and spicy bite that set it above your ordinary salad. It soon became a family favorite. 

The source was a Better Homes and Gardens cookbook, from which we got a number of special recipes. This was back in the day when everyone used cookbooks!

Alas, after enjoying this for years, I switched over to eating all organic grass-fed beef. And since grass-fed organic summer sausage was nearly impossible to find, I feared I’d never eat my Spicy Italian Salad again. Spicy Italian Salad Ingredients

But that’s the nice thing about change. A decade ago I found a businessman turned rancher who converted a former Catholic retreat into an organic farm (Waseda Farms). And besides the typical cuts I got in my beef quarter, he had lots of “fun” items like German Bratwurst and (drum roll) summer sausage!

And Spicy Italian Salad was back on the menu! With a flavorful vinaigrette, artichokes, parmesan, olives and summer sausage, this Spicy Italian salad is full of flavor. Just say “no” to boring salads!

What Makes This a Winner

Flavorful.  With a homemade vinaigrette and tasty toppings, this salad is loaded with flavor!
Easy.  Just whisk together a dessing, toss with lettuce and add a few toppings. 
Healthy.  Of course salad is healthy!  And isn’t it nice when you want to eat your veggies! 

With a flavorful vinaigrette, artichokes, parmesan, olives and summer sausage, this Spicy Italian salad is full of flavor.

What You’ll Need

Dressing Ingredients

Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar. You may substitute white wine or apple cider vinegar and/or use part balsamic.
• Dressing flavorings: fresh garlic (can sub garlic powder), dry mustard, dried thyme, salt, pepper

Spicy Italian Salad Ingredients

Lettuce. I used Romaine because the organic Romaine has looked good lately, but go with any nice lettuce.
Marinated artichoke hearts.
Summer sausage. Go with grass-fed organic if you can find it.
Black or kalamata olives. The original recipe called for black olives, I used kalamata for the additional flavor they provide.
Parmesan cheese. If you can shred your own, you are more likely to avoid additives.

Special Tools

No special tools are needed!

Step by Step Directions

You start by cutting up the salad ingredients as needed.cut up ingredients

Whisk together the dressing ingredients. 

Whisk dressing ingredients

Toss the lettuce with dressing.

Toss lettuce with dressing

Top with the toppings and serve

Top with toppings

How to Serve

This is a very versatile salad. It is perfect to lead off an informal or a formal dinner and equally at home for lunch or brunch.

Because it has a level of heartiness, this is a great salad to pair with a soup or half sandwich for a light meal. Or even simply with a nice loaf of bread and some cheese! With a flavorful vinaigrette, artichokes, parmesan, olives and summer sausage, this Spicy Italian Salad is full of flavor. Just say “no” to boring salads! 

Variations

For a vegan version, use pepperoncini instead of the summer sausage and use vegan cheese.

Preparation and Leftovers

You won’t want to dress the salad until shortly before serving because it wilts quickly after that. But to make preparation quick, make the dressing the day before, cut up all of your ingredients and refrigerate. Then right before dinner assemble the salad.

Likewise, leftovers don’t keep well. So if I won’t finish it, I prep everything for  the full salad, but dress half with half the dressing and toppings. I then refrigerate the rest and the next day, quickly make the rest of the salad.  Fresh and perfect! With a flavorful vinaigrette, artichokes, parmesan, olives and summer sausage, this Spicy Italian Salad is full of flavor. Just say “no” to boring salads! 

And for more treasured cookbook recipes, check out the list below!

Cookbook Recipes

We share Recipes From Our Dinner Table! Join our group and share your recipes, too! While you’re at it, join our Pinterest board, too!

With a flavorful vinaigrette, artichokes, parmesan, olives and summer sausage, this Spicy Italian Salad is full of flavor.

Spicy Italian Salad

With a flavorful vinaigrette, artichokes, parmesan, olives and summer sausage, this Spicy Italian Salad is full of flavor. Just say “no” to boring salads! 
Author: Inger
5 from 2 votes
Prep Time 20 mins
Total Time 20 mins
Course Salads
Cuisine Italian
Servings 4
Calories 277 kcal

Ingredients
  

Dressing:

  • 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon pepper

Salad:

  • 6-8 cups lettuce torn in bite sized pieces
  • 8 ounce artichoke hearts drained and quartered
  • 1/2 cup summer sausage sliced & quartered
  • 1/4 cup black or kalamata olives sliced
  • 2 Tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese

Instructions
 

  • Combine dressing ingredients in a medium bowl.  Whisk until well blended. 
  • In a large bowl, toss lettuce with dressing.  Arrange remaining ingredients on top.
  • Serve and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 277kcalCarbohydrates: 8gProtein: 6gFat: 25gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 3gMonounsaturated Fat: 17gCholesterol: 13mgSodium: 1153mgPotassium: 228mgFiber: 3gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 621IUVitamin C: 4mgCalcium: 53mgIron: 1mg
I am not a health professional and nutrition data is calculated programatically. Accuracy may vary with product selection, calculator accuracy, etc. Consult a professional for the best information.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

21 thoughts on “Spicy Italian Salad

  1. JohnRascal

    5 stars
    Since bread and cheese add-ons were suggested, I made garlic croutons and added diced cheese to the salad. Perfect. The dressing is spot on and will use this recipe for future salads.

    1. Inger Post author

      Sounds perfect John! And that’s more incentive for me to resurrect the garlic croutons of my youth!

  2. John / Kitchen Riffs

    What a terrific starter! We’d probably serve larger servings as our entire dinner. Really nice — thanks. (BTW, this may be a duplicate comment — I got timed out when I submitted my first one.)

    1. Inger Post author

      I took care of the duplicate John–and yes, we’ll eat this as a tasty dinner salad too!

    1. Inger Post author

      We got so many good recipes from that before the internet and I still go back to some of them!

    1. Inger Post author

      That’s a great idea–I have some sausage left frozen and I need some lighter lunches since I’m still recovering from the holidays!

  3. Louise

    It may not be a healthy salad, Inger but it sure sounds good! What an interesting way to spend a day. My Amish friend Katie has slowly been adding “beef stock” on her farm. The learning factor involved with the caring and feeding of grass fed beef is more complicated than it sounds.

    Thanks for sharing…

    1. Inger Wilkerson

      You know with the sausage being grass-fed and organic (and not huge quantities of it), I actually consider this salad healthy again! Interestingly, regarding your friend, one of the comments that Tom made was that he considers himself a grass farmer, because the health of his herd is so dependent on the quality of his fields.

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