Martha Stewart's Essential Tip For Avoiding A Soggy Salad

Whether you're throwing a garden party, decorating for the holidays, or having a neighborhood barbecue, you can't go wrong by following classic Martha Stewart tips. Recently, her super-simple hack for keeping salads crisp has been making the rounds on social media. 

Stewart recommends prepping all of your ingredients, but not combining them until the very last second. "There are some very serious golden rules to follow when making a salad," Stewart says in a vintage clip shared on TikTok. She then mixes a salad dressing in her serving bowl before stating, "Never mix your salad until right before you're going to serve it. Right before serving, give it a great big toss, gently, and it is a delicious salad."

In the video, Stewart offers a few other tips to help you create a salad that can easily become the focal point of a meal. She recommends soaking lettuce in an ice bath to make sure it's free of contaminants before giving it a good whirl in a salad spinner. Stewart also said it's a good idea to add veggies — except lettuce — directly to the dressing just before serving. Give tomatoes, chopped peppers, cucumbers, and whatever other veggies you're adding a stir in the dressing to ensure they're fully coated, then top with lettuce as the last step.

Martha Stewart has been offering delicious salad recipes for decades. Her tuna salad recipe contains upgrades that are particularly crave-worthy. In addition to adding the expected chopped celery to her tuna salad, she expands the flavor profile by also adding sliced apple, allowing the sweet flavor to play opposite the savory elements of the dish. She further surprises tastebuds by adding fresh basil to the mayonnaise mixture, creating a surprising punch of super-fresh flavor.

Caprese salad — the classic summertime combo of fresh mozzarella, ripe tomatoes, and basil (with a drizzle of balsamic vinaigrette if you're feeling fancy) — has also been given a breath of fresh air by Stewart. She recently made an Instagram post detailing how she incorporates fresh citrus fruits into Caprese salad to give it a wintertime twist.

Stewart also has tips to elevate potato salad that will disappear at your next summertime get together. She recommends drizzling vinegar onto your potatoes while they're still hot, allowing them to absorb the flavor more easily than they would after they've cooled.