Irish Pub Salad is just chock full of all of my favorite things! It’s as if you took all the best things from one of those salad bars from the ’90s, except everything is updated and fresh. Then you top it with a marvelous, creamy dressing. I mean, just look – there are hard-boiled eggs and pickled beets in this salad. And tomatoes, red onion, radishes (and other veggies if you’d like), and don’t forget the sprinkling of bleu cheese!

Irish Pub Salad

This is such a tasty salad and bridges the gap from winter to spring beautifully, but of course, it is fabulous any time. Maybe you might want to make it for St. Paddy’s Day.

About Irish Pub Salad:

I came across a similar recipe quite by accident and made a few alterations. One reviewer from Ireland denied all knowledge of such a salad. The Irish, he implied, traditionally are not known for being huge consumers of salad. Irish Pub Salad would change their minds!

Irish Pub Salad, as it’s known in the States, is really a “thing” though. It was popularized back in the day by the Atkins Diet. It’s higher protein, lower carb, and fits in perfectly with a lot of today’s eating plans. Plus, it’s a delish blend of flavors.

My guess is the name comes from the Dubliner or Cashel Bleu cheese so often found in the salad. I, of course, being on a budget, used a grocery store blue cheese and just pretended it was something better!  So Irish or not, if you’re looking for a little something to round out your St. Paddy’s day menu, or just looking for a great salad to jump-start your Spring, here it is!

Grandma’s Refrigerator Pickled Beets

Hints for Making Irish Pub Salad:

Both the bit of Bleu Cheese in the salad and the creamy, tangy dressing set everything off in Irish Pub Salad to a tee.

Hard-boiled eggs play a key part in the salad, adding heft and protein. I’m kind of a stickler for a perfect hard-boiled egg – green might be one of the colors in the Irish flag; it has no business in your hard-boiled eggs.

For decades, I made the classic hard-boiled eggs, see Best Basic Hard-Boiled Eggs, then I moved on to Easy Peel Steamed Eggs. Now, I pretty much make all my Hard-Boiled Eggs in the Instant Pot; see my post for Perfect Instant Pot Eggs.

And of course, you can buy your pickled beets (and they’re fairly inexpensive) or make your own Pickled Beets. The pickled beets in this recipe are made from my Irish Grandmother’s One Jar Pickled Beets. They are a beautiful thing. If fresh beets are super pricey, you can pickle canned or jarred beets.

Irish Pub Salad – original photo from ages ago

The Dressing:

The dressing is obviously a play on Heinz Salad Cream, which is popular throughout Great Britain.

Play with the dressing in the recipe if you want: add more or less of any ingredients to taste or a pinch of sugar if you’d like.

For a creamy dressing, this one is so bright and fresh; if you’re normally a “vinaigrette” person, you might just fall in love with it, creamy or not.

The dressing is amazing!

Saving Money on Groceries:

What you pay for groceries depends not only on WHERE you shop, but WHEN. Be strategic and stock up at rock-bottom prices.

• The best sales are before holidays; check out Win at the Grocers. Use these sales not just for your holiday, but to stock up at a low for the coming weeks to months.
• Take advantage of discount stores like Aldi or Lidl. The pricing at Buyer’s clubs is not always the lowest, but can trump in quality; be selective.

The best way to save money on this or any recipe is to have a well-stocked pantry, fridge, and freezer full of sale-priced items.

Lettuce:

• The best pricing is by the head/bunch, especially on sale. It tastes better, is fresher, lasts longer, and has less chance of contamination.
• When compared by weight, bags run 4 to 10 times the price of lettuce by the head.
• Wash all greens thoroughly before using, except (according to the FDA), packaged, labeled prewashed. Avoid cross-contamination.

Vinegar:

• Vinegar is almost always at a low for the year before Easter, during the big holiday sales. Stock up for the year on jugs of white vinegar, but check to see if the “fancier” vinegars are on sale, too.
• Vinegar sales are usually unadvertised, so if you miss Easter, watch for sales through the summer.

Mayonnaise:

• Buy your condiments, like mayo, during the summer holiday sales when they drop to a low. Stock up for the year. If you miss those sales, the sales before the Super Bowl are pretty good.
• The discount stores have good pricing all year round, and some have brand names.

Beets:

• Sale prices are rare on any beets, fresh, canned, or pickled. If you catch a good price, stock up.
• The prices do vary wildly by season. Fresh beets are in season from June to October, with peak season July through August. Cans are at a low when warehouses are full in the fall and sometimes before holidays.
• Rather than letting fresh beets go to waste, pickle them, and don’t forget to use the tops in salads or smoothies.

Eggs:

• Both Aldi & Lidl, as well as buyer’s clubs (you will need to buy larger amounts at the buyer’s club), have great everyday prices, but usually do not approach a great pre-holiday grocery store sales price.
• If you have room, stock up at a low. Eggs, according to the National Egg Board, keep well for 4 to 5 weeks after the pack date, or about 3 weeks after buying. Hard-boiled eggs, can be safely used up to a week in the shell but only a day if peeled.
• Don’t store in the door; keep in original package on a bottom shelf in the fridge.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you like this salad; I was tickled that this Irish Pub Salad was picked up and syndicated to papers throughout the country! If you’ve stopped by, welcome, and feel free to explore. 

Mollie

Irish Pub Salad

Irish Pub Salad

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A tasty salad that helps bridge the gap from winter to spring, full of all kinds of “salad bar” type veggies and topped by bleu cheese and a bright, creamy dressing.

• Author: mollie kirby, adapted from Epicurious
• Prep Time: 5 min
• Cook Time: 11
• Total Time: 16 minutes
• Yield: 4 servings 1x
• Category: Main Dish Salad
• Cuisine: Irish

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

Dressing:

• 1/2 cup regular or low-fat mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons malt vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon, more if desired
• pinch or two of mustard powder or 1/2 teaspoon Dijon
• 2 to 3 teaspoons water to thin to desired consistency
• salt & pepper to taste
• a pinch or two of sugar to taste, optional

Salad:

• 4 cups torn Boston or Bibb lettuce
• 4 cups selected salad bar type ingredients, mix or match (such as pickled beets, sliced cucumber, diced tomatoes, shredded carrots, chopped celery, shredded cabbage and sliced onions)
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled, sliced
• 2 to 4 ounces cheddar and/or blue cheese, cut into wedges, or a little-crumbled bleu cheese

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Instructions

Dressing:

Combine mayonnaise, vinegar, tarragon and mustard powder (or Dijon) in a small bowl and whisk to blend. Whisk in enough water by teaspoonfuls to make dressing thin enough to pour. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper. Add a pinch or two of sugar if desired.

Arrange lettuce on platter as the base of salad. Place salad bar ingredients over lettuce in an attractive pattern. Top with sliced or wedged hard-boiled eggs.

Drizzle dressing over salad. Place cheese wedges at ends of the platter or sprinkle with cheese and serve.

Notes

Bibb lettuce, tomatoes, pickled beets, radishes, red onion are a beautiful combination.

Nutrition

• Calories: 443
• Sugar: 6g
• Sodium: 443mg
• Fat: 37g
• Saturated Fat: 8g
• Unsaturated Fat: 19g
• Carbohydrates: 10g
• Fiber: 3g
• Protein: 8g
• Cholesterol: 136mg

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I’m posting Irish Pub Salad at Fiesta Friday, co-hosted by Jhuls @The Not So Creative Cook and Mila @milkandbun.

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