I recently saw a lettuce meme that was funny because it was sadly true. It poked fun at our grocery shopping inclination to grab a bag or head of greens, only to have them sit in our refrigerator and wilt. You can only eat so much salad right?
If you are a salad lover, then maybe you don’t have any #leftoverlettuceproblems. Still, I think you’ll find these recipes offer a fun new twist for your table. This is seven ways to use lettuce, but there are no salads or even wraps!
Most of these can even be made with limp lettuce. Get ready for that poor, neglected vegetable to have new meaning in your life.
1. Stir Fried Lettuce
This is so simple, yet so tasty! Make it a meal over some rice, and if you want, throw in some thinly sliced carrots for good measure. This will work well with not only lettuce, but any semi-sturdy green (such as swiss chard or bok choy).
2. Lettuce Soup
This sounds underwhelming doesn’t it? I don’t understand the magic of how something as mild as lettuce turns into something so delicious and full of flavor, but this soup taste like broccoli cheese soup (a.k.a cream of broccoli soup). So. good. Don’t let the long list of herbs discourage you. They are totally optional. I’ve thrown in whatever herbs I have on hand, or sometimes just substituted with dried herbs. The key here is the onion, the chicken stock and the heavy cream―don’t skip those. Any mild lettuce will work here.
3. Lettuce Chips
Of course! Why didn’t I think of this? I am definitely going to try these. Mmm… just imagine these with some Everything Bagel seasoning.
4. Green Lettuce Smoothie
Such a great combination of flavors here. This is a green smoothie, so don’t expect sweet (though a little sweetness comes through). Get your mind in the mode of “lunch” and you will be ready to enjoy it. Make sure you use plain yogurt, as the recipe states. Vanilla yogurt throws the whole thing off (lesson learned).
5. Lettuce Frittata
What I love most about frittatas is that you have breakfast made for several days! It is great reheated, and so easy to slice a wedge and eat it over a napkin, on-the-go. I advise you go with only half an onion here. This eggy skillet has a whole cup of Parmesan, which is never a bad thing.
6. Crudité with Whipped Ricotta Dip
Life tip: If you call your veggie tray “crudité” (pronounced crew-dih-tay) everyone will think you’re a foodie queen . This one has a stunning presence with pale green bibb lettuce and fennel, delicate yellow endive and pristine ivory cauliflower and turnips. The lemon ricotta dip sounds delightful, but you may want to skip the black onion powder for simplicity’s sake.
7. Lettuce Salad with Hot Beef Dressing
Admittedly this recipe has salad in the title, but it’s a warm salad, with a ton of protein! If you’ve ever known the pleasure of a spinach salad with hot bacon dressing (T.G.I. Friday’s circa 1998), then you can imagine the savory richness of this one. No need to trek to an asian grocery for Jinjiang, just substitute with 1/2 apple cider vinegar and 1/2 worcestershire sauce.
(Bonus) Grilled Romaine Hearts with Caesar Vinaigrette
This one definitely counts as salad, so I made it a bonus. It’s a grilled, half-head of romaine, with caesar vinaigrette! Yum! I love caesar dressing, but doesn’t a lightened up vinaigrette sound great? I think some smoky char marks will compliment that romaine nicely.
Rescue the contents of your vegetable bin from the land of wasted produce.
