The Oliver’s Salad

21 reviews / 4.9 average

We’re bringing you the most beautiful salad inspired by the restaurant Oliver’s in Minnesota. Tender salmon, savory peppers and garlic confit, buttery chunks of avocado, fire-roasted corn, bacon bits, and a river of homemade smoky ranch dressing.

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Call it a salad, call it a bowl, call it an entire main course on lettuce but here we are and we are just very heart eyes about it.

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Omg this is just…. EVERYTHING. Thank you so much for bringing us this absolute superstar of a salad. That ranch with the sweetcorn and peppers… Incredible!!

Lizzie

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Light tender flaky salmon, silky and savory peppers and garlic confit, big buttery chunks of avocado and roasty corn, salty bacon, and rivers of homemade smoky ranch. Have we said too much? Are you already making it?

Oliver’s is a local spot here in POY’s neck of the woods and this little gem is a go-to order on their menu. And because one can’t just go to Oliver’s every single day, but one has giant salad needs that simply must be met, one must recreate it at home for maximum delicious salad consumption.

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Ingredients For This Salad

Have you ever had pepper confit? There are many delicious elements to this salad, but this pile of goodness is a real stunner. You just sort of slow simmer the sweet pepper rings and eventually the thin slices of garlic in olive oil until they are soft and buttery and caramelized. Then you store that mixture in your fridge and pile it on just about everything, namely, this salad.

But let’s make the other elements too, shall we?

For the smoked ranch:

mayo
full fat Greek yogurt or sour cream
milk or buttermilk
white vinegar or lemon juice
freeze-dried dill and chives
smoked paprika
onion powder & garlic powder
salt & pepp

For the pepper confit:

olive oil
mini sweet peppers
garlic
red wine vinegar
salt

For our favorite salad build:

spinach or salad greens
salmon (choose your adventure with how to cook salmon!)
avocado
bacon
fire-roasted corn
sunflower seeds

You can pick and choose a bit from that last list to really make it your own, but we suggest everything because we always do. Go big or go big!

Peppers confit in a pan with a wooden spoon

Let’s Make The Oliver’s Salad

Here’s how to get your giant salad game on, let’s do this:

Smoked Ranch: Shake everything in a jar and adjust to your tastes. Make it your own!
Pepper Confit: Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the peppers and sauté for awhile until brown and very soft. Near the end, add in the garlic to get it nice and golden and soft.
Bacon & Salmon: Both are headed into a 400 degree oven, bacon first and then pop the salmon in there for the last 8-10ish minutes.
Salad: Assemble everything in over-the-top piles and then drizzle with the smoked ranch.

We really cannot stress this enough so, just as a reminder, go big or go big.

What Makes This Salad So Good

This salad is such a star because it just screams “Hello! Hi! I have everything you love!” Like truly, how do you resist? So satisfying. So much flavor.

It’s also one of those great recipes where you can prepare all of the elements ahead of time and then just have them at the ready to make this salad again and again. We always prefer to cook the salmon right before serving but the rest — the ranch, the bacon, the confit — will just be calling to you from your fridge shelves!

It’s also flexible and you can really change it up and make it your own, depending on how you’re feeling. It would also be delicious with grilled chicken or maybe even shrimp (oooooh ok yes, must try). You could leave a protein out altogether and just double, triple, quadruple up on that pepper confit and those buttery avocado chunks and you probably won’t be mad!

However you decide to doll it up for the day, just please be over-the-top with it. It’s the legacy this salad deserves.

You know, go big or go big.