14 Healthy Salad Greens Ranked From Best to Worst (2024)

FAQs

14 Healthy Salad Greens Ranked From Best to Worst? ›

Best: Salad Loaded With Veggies

Add a mix of veggies to your salad to get more nutrition and flavor. Top those leafy greens with crunchy produce like carrots, cucumbers, or broccoli. Then add a punch of color from tomatoes, bell peppers, beets, or red onion.

Best: Salad Loaded With Veggies

Add a mix of veggies to your salad to get more nutrition and flavor. Top those leafy greens with crunchy produce like carrots, cucumbers, or broccoli. Then add a punch of color from tomatoes, bell peppers, beets, or red onion.

Arugula and romaine lettuce offer some fairly distinct nutritional benefits. Romaine lettuce is higher in vitamin A and folate, which are important for vision and cell function. Arugula, on the other hand, provides more vitamin C and calcium per serving.

Some of the most nutritious greens include spinach, kale, romaine, watercress, and arugula (see "Salad greens by the numbers"). They are rich in a combination of vitamins A, C, and K; several B vitamins (including folate); and potassium. But some greens aren't nutrient powerhouses.

Spinach can be a great source of fiber and other nutrients. Similarly, kale is a nutrient-dense, low calorie food that offers many health benefits and is also high in fiber. The high fiber content in both spinach and kale could help with weight loss .

Eating salad every day is a great habit to get into. Salads made with a variety of fruits and vegetables make the perfect healthy lunch or dinner. That's because they're filled with tons of nutrients that benefit your body, like fiber, vitamin E, and vitamin C.

Crunchy Noodles, Wontons, and Tortilla Strips

“Crunchy noodles are like eating chips,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, R.D.N., creator of BetterThanDieting.com and author of Read It Before You Eat It. All they add to your salad are calories (around 120 per half cup) and fat (half of those calories, at around 60 grams).

Generally speaking, the healthiest salad dressing will be a vinaigrette like balsamic or oil and vinegar, while Caesar, ranch or anything with the word “creamy” will be the unhealthiest. The exception? We like products made with healthy swaps—think Greek yogurt in place of mayo or heavy cream.

Leafy Greens: Spinach and Kale's Gut Benefits

The royal emerald pair, spinach, and kale, are more than just standard salad fixings. Rich in essential nutrients, these leafy greens are veritable powerhouses for gut health. Spinach, delicate yet robust in magnesium and iron, fuels digestive enzymes.

What leafy greens are Superfood? ›

Salad greens, kale and spinach are rich in vitamins A, C, E and K, and broccoli, bok choy and mustard are also rich in many of the B-vitamins.

Plan for a Productive Anti-Inflammation Garden

Leafy greens are especially important, so you might start spring with cold-hardy spinach and arugula, grow kale, chard and beet greens for early summer, and have fun with bok choy and turnips in the fall.

While all lettuce is going to provide you with healthy vitamins and minerals, romaine lettuce is the most nutrient-dense, says registered dietitian Danielle Crumble Smith. “It's going to have the highest amount of vitamin A, K, C,” she says.

Supports Heart Health

Additional nutrients in spring mix, like vitamin A and vitamin C, have antioxidant effects that protect against cardiovascular damage over time. Including leafy greens in your diet alongside a range of colorful fruits and vegetables, can help keep your heart healthy.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, only 1 in 10 Americans eat the recommended 5 cups of fruits and vegetables per day. Since the base of a salad is usually at least 1 to 2 cups of leafy greens, eating a salad every day can help you meet the daily recommendations.

While spring mix, spinach, and kale are often hailed as the salad bar's nutritional powerhouses, the truth is that romaine is, as far as vitamins and minerals and all that good stuff is concerned, actually very comparable (and in some ways better) than its supposedly-so-much-more-virtuous cousins.

With twice the vitamin C of romaine and next to no calories, green leaf lettuce might not be the most nutritionally dense salad green around, but it will definitely bring benefits to your bowl. And with its grassy flavour and delicate texture, it pairs beautifully with just about any fruit or veggie.