Salad on a Stick with Bamboo Skewers

I’ve discovered a way to make salads more fun and interesting: on a stick with bamboo skewers. I even made three types of salad on skewers.

Not only does this make the salad more visually appealing, but they are also an easy food to serve at parties. So, grab some bamboo skewers and get ready to create some delicious salads!

Salads on a Stick

Yes, you read that correctly, salads on a stick with bamboo skewers!

So give me a minute to explain myself on this subject. I was having some girlfriends over for happy hour recently and I was just beyond bored with cheese and crackers or vegetables with dip. Happy Hour was at 5 o’clock, so I wanted to serve something that was light, healthy, and kind of dinner but not really dinner.

I put on my creative thinking cap to come up with something new and interesting to serve. I thought about making a big yummy salad, but then I couldn’t decide on one salad I thought everyone would like. So then I decided to make two different medium-sized salads.

But there was nothing new or interesting about that.

Then, the idea popped into my head to make three salads, but make them as salads on a stick on bamboo skewers and serve them with the dressings on the side. Three salads would give my girlfriends a couple of salad choices they were sure to like and the skewers were new and interesting!

I have one friend in particular who is really, really picky. She “surgerizes” salad to get rid of stems and ribs, doesn’t eat meat and has a number of “texture issues” with food. I love her dearly, but trying to find something she likes to eat is a definite challenge.

Putting the salads onto bamboo skewers makes them really easy to eat. Just slide the salad off of the skewer and onto your plate and eat what you like. For my picky friend, this skewered salad made it so easy for her to eat what she liked and leave what she didn’t on her plate.

Because Happy Hour was on a Friday after work, I made it easy on myself and used store-bought items and salad dressings.

First Up, Taco Salad with Cotija Cilantro Dressing

The first salad I skewered was a Taco Salad. I served the Taco Salad Skewers with a store-bought (but one of my favorites) salad dressing by Litehouse called Cotija Cilantro. The dressing is perfect for anything Mexican. I put it on tacos, nachos, taquitos, and taco salad, I serve it with chips and salsa and guacamole. You will love it! Here is what I put onto each skewer:

• Cherry/Roma Tomatoes
• Spring Greens
• Mexican Spiced Chicken Breast
• Avocado

Now for the fun part, skewering!

I started with the tomato on the skewer. It seemed like a great anchor to hold everything on the skewer. Important note, I repeated the pattern of items on the skewer, so make sure that you push the items far enough down the skewer to hold eight total items.

Next, I folded four lettuce leaves and skewered them down to meet the tomato. I didn’t spend a lot of time worrying about perfect, I just folded and skewered. All it took was one bag of spring greens and was able to make enough of all three types of salad skewers.

I cut the Mexican spiced chicken breast into bite-sized pieces which made them so easy to pop onto the skewer.

California is amazing because avocados are plentiful. I found some gorgeous fat avocados and chopped them into bite-sized pieces also and then slid them onto the skewer.

And then I repeated the items so that each skewer had a total of eight Taco Salad items on it. I put the dressing in a dish on the side so that my friends could add however much or however little dressing they wanted for their skewers.

Pear, Brie, Avocado, Turkey Salad Skewers with Balsamic Dressing

A salad with pears and brie dressed in balsamic is one of my favorite, go-to salads. There is literally nothing on this skewer that could offend, except for maybe someone who is lactose intolerant, so this is a good one to keep in your pocket. I used my favorite Balsamic Dressing (Paul Newman’s Lite Balsamic), again, keeping it easy! Here is what is on each skewer:

• Sliced turkey
• Spring Greens
• Jarred Pears
• Brie Cheese

Because the pears were a bit soft, I started with the sliced turkey. I used enough to have a good sized bite of turkey. I repeated the order of items so that each skewer had eight items, so make sure to give yourself enough room.

Next, I added four lettuce leaves to the skewer.

I actually love jarred pears. The ones I use are from Trader Joe’s. They are not mushy at all and since it’s not quite pear season, they are a great alternative. I chopped the pears into bite-sized pieces and moved them down the skewer.

Lastly, I cut the brie into bite-sized pieces. I leave the rind on, otherwise, you get a gooey mess of cheese.

Repeat the pattern so that each skewer has eight items! I served the Balsamic Dressing in a dish on the side.

Cobb Salad Skewers with Blue Cheese Dressing

This salad was a bit of a challenge to skewer, but I’ve got some tips to help you with that! This skewer has all of the elements of the Cobb Salad you love, but it is just a few bites, so in my book, it is a less guilty option to still have a couple of bites of the salad you love! Once again, I used store-bought Litehouse Blue Cheese Dressing and served it on the side.

Here are the ingredients for the Cobb Salad Skewer:

• Cherry/Roma Tomatoes
• Spring Greens
• Sliced Turkey
• Hard-Boiled Egg
• Cooked Bacon (not crispy, but also not wiggly)
• Avocado

The tomato was a great anchor and like the other skewers, I repeated the ingredients twice, so give yourself enough room to fill the skewer with twelve items.

I folded four lettuce leaves and added those to the skewer.

Next, I added the sliced turkey, again, enough for a good-sized bite of turkey,

Now for the trickiest part, the hard-boiled egg. I would quarter the egg. This gives you enough of the egg that it stays together. Skewer this gently.

Next, I added the bacon, about a half of a slice. The bacon nicely protected the fragile egg.

Last, but certainly not least, was a bite-sized piece of avocado.

Repeat the ingredient pattern.

Plating the Salads on Bamboo Skewers

Plating is one of those things that makes a huge difference when serving food. I wanted the skewers to be not only yummy to eat but beautiful to look at. I plated the skewers by fanning them around a large oval serving platter. For the dressings, I placed a spoon in each and popped them into the middle of the platter. I put out salad plates and forks so that my friends could all fill their plates. Small bowls would also work well so that guests could slide all of the salad goodies into the bowl and drizzle the dressing. So many options!

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