Earth Bowl Salads with Smokey Candied Walnuts and Basil Vinaigrette combines spicy, sweet, and smokey in one sensational salad!
Earth Bowl Salads with Smokey Candied Walnuts and Basil Vinaigrette is a masterpiece in a bowl, and based on SweetGreen’s salad of the same name!
Mixed greens are topped with Smokey Candied Walnuts, creamy white cheddar cheese, cherry tomatoes, and spicy roasted broccoli and sweet corn, all drizzled with an easy homemade basil vinaigrette.
This bowl meal tastes ultra decadent but is packed with good for you ingredients!
I’ve been wanting to share this summery salad recipe for months after spying it on the sweetgreen menu in DC when we visited earlier in the year. While sweetgreen’s version includes spicy broccoli and corn, white cheddar cheese, and tomatoes, I decided to add crispy, Smokey Candied Walnuts for a boost of protein and burst of flavor.
It’s a fabulous addition!
This salad is substantial enough for dinner, on account of the cheese and walnuts, but feel free to add grilled chicken or shrimp on top. Anything more will just enhance the yummy flavor. Dig in!
Start by making the Smokey Candied Walnuts.
In a mixing bowl, add 3/4 cup walnut halves and pieces, 1 Tablespoon honey, 1/2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.
The sweetness from the honey and smokiness from the smoked paprika is an absolutely killer combo!
Stir to coat the walnuts then spread them out on a silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for 4-5 minutes at 350 degrees or until they’re golden brown.
Give them a good stir then let them cool — they’ll crisp as they cool.
Next turn the oven up to 400 degrees then toss fresh sweet corn kernels and 4 cups broccoli florets with extra virgin olive oil, salt, and red chili pepper flakes. Pop into the oven to roast for 10-12 minute or until golden brown.
When I first saw the term “spicy roasted broccoli” on the sweetgreen menu I was turned off a bit, but the tiny bite of heat is actually so delicious!
While the veggies are roasting, whip up a garden-fresh basil vinaigrette.
In a food processor or blender add 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice, 1 Tablespoon honey, salt, and pepper then process while drizzling in 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil.
And like I said, totally garden fresh. Herb hill is outta control!
This vinaigrette is not only delectable when drizzled over this salad but it makes from a great chicken and shrimp marinade, too. The color is so gorgeous!
Finally, divide mixed greens between bowls then top with the Smokey Candied Walnuts, and spicy roasted vegetables. Add cubes of white cheddar cheese, fresh cherry or grape tomatoes, and you’re set!
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 cups broccoli florets
- 2 ears sweet corn, kernels removed, or 1-1/2 cups frozen-than-thawed sweet corn kernels
- extra virgin olive oil
- red chili pepper flakes
- salt
- 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- 6 oz white cheddar cheese, cubed
- 10 oz mixed greens
For the Smokey Candied Walnuts:
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- 1/2 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup walnut halves and pieces
For the Basil Vinaigrette:
- 1/2 cup lightly packed fresh basil
- 3 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 Tablespoon honey
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Directions
For the Smokey Candied Walnuts:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees then line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper and set aside. Add all ingredients except walnuts to a small bowl then stir to combine. Add walnuts then stir to coat. Spread walnuts out on prepared baking sheet then bake for 4-5 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven then stir and let cool — walnuts will crisp as they cool.
For the Vegetables:
- Turn oven up to 400 degrees then spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray and set aside. Add broccoli to one baking sheet and corn to the other then drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, red chili pepper flakes, and salt, then toss with hands to coat. Roast for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Set aside to cool slightly.
For the Basil Vinaigrette:
- Add all ingredients except extra virgin olive oil to a food processor or blender then pulse to roughly chop the basil. Turn processor on then slowly stream in olive oil.
- Divide lettuce between bowls then top with roasted broccoli and sweet corn, smokey candied walnuts, white cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and basil dressing.
Nutrition
Nutritional values are estimates only. Please read our full nutrition information disclaimer.
I have made this salad 4 or 5 times now and I keep getting requests to bring it to picnics/parties because everyone loves it so much! Great, filling salad. I could eat it everyday. :)
even though the video things is not fun, the salad turned out great. will definitely make this again.
love the recipe but please turn off the video. it kept bringing me back up to the top and was a total disruption while trying to read your blog and get to the recipe. kept bouncing me around. not fun to try and get around. It even happened while I was trying to write this comment. Won’t let you do anything but watch the ad.
I’m so sorry, Theresa. It’s an ad that we are trying to keep from sticking but it keeps happening. I know this makes for a terrible user experience and is extremely annoying. We are working hard to get it removed ASAP. Again I apologize!
thanks for the recipe! I just went to sweet green and devoured
An earth bowl. Now I’m going to make one every day during my
Pregnancy! If you want to do it exactly like SG add pine nuts,
Quinoa and chick peas!
Mmm
Just saw this on Pinterest and it jumped out and grabbed me! Everything I love in a salad. . Yum! Can’t wait to try this.
This was really tasty! We developed our own dressing and then didn’t even use it since everything else was so full of flavor!
This was a little more work than I thought it would be, but it was completely worth it! I loved the combination of the flavors, textures and colors. This was so good I would serve this to company. you could probably prep some of it ahead of time to make it go quicker for a week night.Thanks Kristin for the great recipe!
Just made this with a girlfriend for lunch! The dressing was perfect, the vegetables were delicious and the walnuts were fantastic!! Only change we made was to the cheese. We used a Monterey Jack Jalapeno and Habanero cheese and we shredded it instead of cubing so that it would disperse throughout the salad better while using less.
I made this salad for dinner last night and it was great! I thought about adding a meat element (shrimp or salmon) but decided against it, and I’m glad I did- the salad was filling enough without the extra protein. The ONLY change I would made would be to substitute a crumbly cheese (i.e. feta or queso fresco) because the blocks of cheddar (and it could have been the cheese I used which was Cabot Vermont white cheddar) were heavy and seemed to get in the way near the bottom of the bowl. This salad was great and I’ll definitely be making it again in the future!
Looks like a bowl of perfection!!!!!!!!!
This looks delicious, can’t wait to try it! I’m so glad I signed up for your weekly emails, I end up pinning almost every one that gets sent out in it. I also love all the Iowa mentions in the posts. And Happy Belated Birthday, it looks like we actually share the same bday!
Awesome!! Happy belated birthday!
Auww your family pictures are just so beautiful and Happy Birthday!
I adore huge salad bowls like this and I don’t add broccoli or walnut’s enough to my salads so thank you for the bit of inspiration there!
Who said salad was boring? :)
xo
Cute sneakers…what kind are they?!
Nike! :)