The Easy Addition That Completely Wakes Up A Boring Store-Bought Salad

Salad making is always a little more time-consuming than expected. Super fresh produce has to be washed and, just as importantly, dried completely to get a salad anywhere near restaurant quality. (This is why a salad spinner is one of the few single-purpose kitchen tools we'll make room for.) There can be quite a bit of peeling, chopping, and dicing. And something like the iconic Cobb salad involves actual darn cooking. It all adds up to just enough work to justify shortcuts. And store-bought salad, the kind that comes in a bag, blessedly "triple washed," mostly dry, and ready to eat, can be just the trick.

Even store-bought salads that more or less claim to come complete can still use some jazzing up, however. And raw sliced or diced jalapeños bring a lot of that razzle-dazzle with minimal effort. Their grassy, persistent heat adds a powerful flavor component, and their texture introduces even more snappy crunch. And the same principle applies to the fresh pepper of your choice, however mild or hot you like it. You can even pair your jalapeños with other peppers to elevate your salad even further, using them to perk up everything from tender sweet bell pepper slices to crisp rounds of banana peppers.

Most additional produce is fair game, but you might want to avoid bringing in anything with even more heat. It's a salad, not a five-alarm chili. Creamy, sweet, or cooling items, on the other hand, pair wonderfully with jalapeños. Diced avocados, shredded jack cheese, and charred corn kernels can all help your salad turn in a Southwestern direction, and they only take a few more minutes to prepare. (A bag of frozen corn is always handy for just this sort of occasion.)

You can also approximate bánh mì with your bagged salad base, the jalapeños, shredded carrots and daikon, cucumber, and the protein of your choice. This is also a great opportunity to use up any leftovers lingering in your refrigerator. Pork or chicken would be great in this case, but you can easily edit based on what you have on hand. The pre-washed, dried, and chopped salad is still doing enough of the heavy lifting to justify its existence, and your finishing touches make it more of a meal.