The Avocado Toast Salad An Inspired Go DIY Salad Recipe
When you find a really good salad, it is hard to say goodbye. There was something about the Avocado Toast Salad that kept you coming back for more. It was packed with protein and an unbeatable combination of flavours. The taste of the crunchy sourdough croutons was made creamy and light by the avocado and goat cheese. It was a salad that gave us a lot of grief but a lot of happiness, all wrapped into one.
We are excited to be here today to share this recipe with all of you! Whether you are a long-term Inspired Go fan and miss this salad, or if you are new here and want to try it for yourself, this one can not go untried! For the very first time ever, we are releasing the complete recipe and how-to for this fan favourite recipe.
The Avocado Toast Recipe was one of our very first recipes. When we launched our online menu, it held a spot on it from the very beginning. In its lifespan, we have made 37,000 Avocado Toast Salads. With the launch of new recipes, we slowly saw its sales decline. It continues to be one of the most requested recipes to be brought back to our menu.
Avocado Babysitter and the Demise of the Avo Toast Salad
One unique thing about the Avocado Toast Salad on our menu was that we used to include a full avocado with each salad in your delivery bag. As a young start-up, we were facing many challenges and had team members doing some pretty hilarious and crazy things to bring salads to people's front doors. One of those things was taking the Avocados under our wings.
Avocados are not easy. They were either too hard or too soft, and we constantly struggled with shipping out the perfect avocado. It became so strenuous that we joked about needing an avocado babysitter and watched our little children so carefully to make our customers happy. The avocado had to be just perfectly hard enough that it wouldn't crush in the bag but not too hard so that it couldn't be eaten upon arrival. This all resulted in a lot of care and attention that ultimately resulted in unhappy customers more often than not.
Aside from its decline in sales (which could be the cause of a poor avocado experience), this was the main reason the salad was removed from the menu and why it will not be relaunched in its exact state again. We are personally big fans of the salad, so it has been a hard decision to make. The good news is that we are releasing the recipe to you so that you can make it on your own and relive your Avocado Toast Salad dreams once again!
Get Your Ingredients
This salad includes some pretty shelf-stable ingredients, so you can make a big batch of dressing and keep the ingredients on hand to enjoy it a few times throughout a week or two span. Here are the things to have on hand:
Dressing & Pickled Onion Ingredients: • Sugar • White Wine Vinegar • Red Wine Vinegar • Dijon Mustard • Salt • Honey • Canola Oil • Olive Oil
Preparing the Sourdough Bread Croutons
The extra effort it takes to make these croutons is time-consuming, but it is so worth it. Select a nice loaf of sourdough bread from your local grocery store or bakery and break it into bite-size pieces. Start your oven to 400° and line the bread pieces on a baking sheet. We suggest using parchment paper when you bake them. Toss the broken bread pieces in olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 3-4 minutes until the bread resembles toast. They should be toasted on the outside but should have some soft give in the middle. Set aside to cool. Feel free to make more than needed as they store well in an airtight container.
Preparing the Pickled Onions
Pickled red onions offer a kind of pop in flavour that you can't achieve with very many ingredients. They are bright and tart and really make or break a recipe. In this dish, they offer a fun pop of colour that enhances the experience of the meal. They are very easy to make and can be made in a short amount of time.
Cut half a red onion into thin julienned pieces. Combine half a cup of white wine vinegar and 1/3 cup sugar in a stovetop pot. Heat the mixture over medium heat, frequently stirring until the sugar has dissolved. When the mixture comes to a boil, remove it from the heat. Pour the vinegar and sugar mixture over the red onion pieces and cover. Let soak for at least one hour. The soaking mixture can stay in your fridge for up to a week.
Preparing the Dressing
For the dressing, it works best to mix with an immersion blender, or you can use a small food processor - whichever you have handy. The dressing will separate so make sure you shake it up before you drizzle it over your salad. Simply mix all of the ingredients together and enjoy!
• 3/4 cup canola oil • Tbsp dijon mustard • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar • 3 tbsp lemon juice • 3 tbsp honey • Tsp salt
Combining the Ingredients
Once the croutons, red onion, and dressing are prepped, the rest of the work is fairly easy. You can do the above three things ahead of time and cut the remaining ingredients right before you enjoy the salad. To cut the orange, we cut off the rind and cut between the segments. This is what gets you your clean and rind-free pieces of orange. The radishes are sliced into thin dollars, and we crumble the goat cheese on top. The goat cheese is one of the best parts, so don't skimp out! The final component is the creamy avocado. You can slice or dice your avocado based on your eating preference.
For the base of the salad, we never use anything other than Inspired Greens. You can find Inspired Greens in the produce aisle in most major retailers. It is sold in a sleeve with other head lettuce, or you can find it cut and washed with packaged greens. Inspired Greens are grown in Coaldale, AB, in our sustainable greenhouse.
Roasted lentils are a unique ingredient in this salad. We use a local brand called Three Farmers. They can be found in the health food section or the snack section. We use the Sea Salt lentils that are slowly roasted, offering a nice light crunch and texture to the salad.
Layer your greens and spinach on the bottom of your salad and toss with the dressing. Tossing your leaves with dressing before adding the other ingredients ensures that you get a touch of dressing with every bite, and it means you don't overdo it with the amount of dressing you use.
Once your leaves are tossed, top the salad with the rest of the ingredients: segmented oranges, pickled red onion, grape tomatoes, cut avocado, sliced radish, crumbled goat cheese, toasted sourdough croutons, roasted lentils, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds. We only add a sprinkle of each of the seeds, so they do not overpower the salad.
Step back and admire this beautiful combination of colour and taste and dig in!
Dressing Ingredients: • 3/4 cup canola oil • Tbsp dijon mustard • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar • 3 tbsp lemon juice • 3 tbsp honey • Tsp salt
Pickled Onion Ingredients: • 1/2 cup white wine vinegar • 1/3 cup sugar
Pickled Onions
Cut half a red onion into thin julienned pieces. Combine 1/2 cup of white wine vinegar and 1/3 cup sugar in a stovetop pot. Heat the mixture over medium heat, frequently stirring until the sugar has dissolved. When the mixture comes to a boil, remove it from the heat. Pour the vinegar and sugar mixture over the red onion pieces and cover. Let soak for at least one hour. The soaking mixture can stay in your fridge for up to a week.
Toasted Sourdough Croutons
Select a nice loaf of sourdough bread from your local grocery store or bakery and break it into bite-size pieces. Start your oven to 400° and line the bread pieces on a baking sheet. We suggest using parchment paper when you bake them. Toss the broken bread pieces in olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake for 3-4 minutes until the bread resembles toast. They should be toasted on the outside but should have some soft give in the middle. Set aside to cool. Feel free to make more than needed as they store well in an airtight container.
Red Wine Vinaigrette
It works best to mix with an immersion blender, or you can use a small food processor - whichever you have handy. The dressing will separate so make sure you shake it up before you drizzle it over your salad. Simply mix all of the ingredients together and enjoy!
Salad Assembly
Layer your greens and spinach on the bottom of your salad and toss with the dressing. Top the salad with the rest of the ingredients: segmented oranges, pickled red onion, grape tomatoes, cut avocado, sliced radish, crumbled goat cheese, toasted sourdough croutons, roasted lentils, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds. We only add a sprinkle of each of the seeds, so they do not overpower the salad. Step back and admire this beautiful combination of colour and taste and dig in!
