Is there ever the possibility of too much of a good thing? I am blown away by the number and variety of salads and salad accoutrements in "The Salad Lab". The author truly is a scientific authority on the everyday salad, the celebrity salad, and the holiday salad, and from the accompanying pictures (of most salads) the recipes make my mouth water in anticipation. Notes for ease of preparation or substitutions are sprinkled throughout, and Darlene obviously wants us to feel free to make each dish our own and use what we have. I have to say that the later sections on Salad Lab Elements and her Periodic Table of Salad are my personal favorites. Enjoy!

I would like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book.

While I found some interesting tips and recipes I was a bit overwhelmed reading the ingredients list for each recipe. This salad cookbook appears to be for people who have time for complex salad recipes and the time and budget to buy produce daily as she suggests.

This is such a beautiful recipe book. I had never heard of The Salad Lab TikTok account till now but I honestly put down the book and instantly looked up her TikTok. There are just so many ways to make a salad and Darlene is so creative. Each recipe has a cute story about it along with a cool section about experimenting with said recipe.

It includes over 100 recipes and is broken down into the following sections: Basic Salads, Celebrity-Inspired Favorites, Destination-Inspired Recipes, Seasonal and Holiday Favorites, Everything is a Salad, and Salad Lab Elements (dressings, toppings, cooking times, etc). All recipes are straightforward with ingredients that are easy enough to come by. I also like how she gives tips on presentation and different utensils. This is a tool for the kitchen that also sparks creativity. This is definitely a cookbook you would use every day.

Special thanks to NetGalley and Simon Element for sharing this book with me in exchange for my honest review.

THE SALAD LAB: WHISK, TOSS, ENJOY! by Darlene Schrijver includes "Recipes for Making Fabulous Salads Every Day." And it will definitely appeal to readers who love salads and are looking for creative, new ideas. I also liked that it included an International section with some recipe ideas from around the world, plus some seasonal and holiday favorites. The recipes are flexible and often are labelled something like: "serves 4 as a light meal or 6 as a side." The recipes are rather involved, though, with tons of fresh ingredients and the thought of a daily (much less weekly) shopping expedition was daunting. Lovely photos (see examples online) helped with its appeal but THE SALAD LAB is likely of most interest to those who already eat lots of greens. 3.5 stars

I absolutely love this book! As a follower of The Salad Lab on TikTok, I was thrilled to see they had a new cookbook coming out, and I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. This is a stunning book; the photography is amazing, and the cover deserves a chef's kiss. I love displaying my cookbooks, and this one will fit perfectly with the others in my collection. I enjoy eating salads a few times a week, and having this book ready for inspiration is fantastic. I did receive this book as an ARC, but I will definitely be purchasing it for my collection.

This is the perfect book for anyone who enjoys either already eats a lot of salads/vegetables, or is looking to incorporate more into their diet.
Great repines and perfect timing with the fresh bounty from gardens and local farmers markets. I am growing kale and fresh herbs on my patio so was excited to have some new ways to use the fresh ingredients. Beautiful photos and easy to follow recipes.
Thank you NetGalley and the publisher for access to this ARC.

I wouldn’t say this book provided any revolutionary salad recipes, but its presentation, photos and organization on each page was motivational and got me writing up a healthy shopping list. Each recipe is organized on the page with “start out,” “whisk” and “toss” sections and the ingredients for each step listed vertically which I haven’t seen in another cookbook before. A great read as summer is just starting and I’ll be visiting farmers markets as frequently as I can!

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy!

I really enjoyed The Salad Lab. Many of the recipes were new to me and have inspired me to try something new. The photos throughout the book are beautiful and make the recipes come to life!

I really enjoyed flipping through the pages of this one. The pictures are beautiful!!! I really am craving a salad now. I'll start by making the chicken and avocado with honey hot sauce vinaigrette, because it looks fire. There are great tips and tricks, and suggestions for substitutions. An index at the end makes it easy to find a salad based on ingredients. I haven't actually tried a recipe yet, but trust me I will be trying them, the hard part will be choosing which one to make first, they all look so delicious.

Thank you Simon Element and NetGalley for the advanced electronic review copy of this great book. This book provides a wonderful variety of salads for different tastes. Each recipe comes with substitutions and adjustments for hard to find/commonly disliked items. Bright illustrations make this book come alive. Looking forward to trying some recipes with my family.

Thanks to NetGalley for this book in exchange for a review.

As someone who is starting on a new health journey I found this book to be so helpful and full of fun tips and ideas. It was easy to follow and the substitutions abounded to suit so many different diets or nutrition goals. I loved the pictures of the various salads and they looked good enough to eat. Don't read on an empty stomach! This would be a fun coffee table book but don't sleep on the tips and recipes within!

I love salads, and this book was full of salad inspiration! The salad dressing section is easily my favorite. I look forward to working my way through that entire portion.

I have been following Darlene on Tictok since the beginning and love watching her make such delicious salads. Having this cookbook is such a great reference when you are looking for salads that aren’t boring and pack a punch!
I have made several so far, and they are all delicious and easy to make with obtainable and easy to find ingredients!

I absolutely love a good salad and I find when made others, they seem to taste better. In my opinion, this book gives you the best of both options. You get to make them, but they are someone else’s creation, so they just taste better. I love all the options and levels of creativity that take all the guesswork out of what works. The combination of salad fillers to dressings to toppings make this a valuable kitchen tool. I love the encouragements to buy local and fresh as well as to experiment and make it fun. I found the shopping list to be very helpful as it is broken down by daily to monthly. Not to mention, the essential pantry staples to create on a whim. I really enjoyed recipes and inspirations from around the world to break out of North American salad traditions. I am thankful for this collection and will be both using and recommending this book to others.
I received a complimentary copy from the publisher via NetGalley and all opinions expressed are solely my own, freely given.

As a longtime follower and huge fan of "The Salad Lab" on Instagram I was thrilled to see that Darlene Schrijver had turned her beautiful creations into a cookbook! Her approach of using lab equipment to measure and prep salad ingredients is so clever and makes salad building fun to watch. While I will most likely not purchase test tubes and beakers for my own kitchen I am inspired to make pretty much every salad in this book. The photos are beautiful (and really, don't we all want more food photos...!!!) and combinations creative. Also I love the names she comes up with and the descriptions of each dish.

So many thanks to Netgally and S&S/Simon Element Publishing for this ARC.

I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. Lots of great salad ideas, but my favorite were all of the salad dressing recipes!!! Can't wait to try those.

This is a nicely presented book with full color photographs and a large variety of salads - from arugula to tabbouleh, Waldorf to cowboy caviar.

The book's philosophy and recipes follow this process: prepare, experiment, toss, enjoy. There is a cheerful introduction about the author's love of salads followed by shopping tips, equipment, and salad making fundamentals. The recipes are broken down into the following sections: basics, celebrity inspired favorites, travel destination inspired recipes, seasonal and holiday favorites, other more unusual salads, and then dressings.

You can definitely see the Tik Tok inspiration here. Everything is bright and cheery and even includes a section on salads you might have seen a Kardashian or super model eating and wanted to copy. By the introductions, you'd think that every salad is better than a trip to Disneyland.

There really is a huge variety of recipes: Summer wedding salad, french fry salad, Autumn fruit salad, pita croutons, hot girl salad, avocado bruschetta, pizza salad, first lady spring pea salad with asparagus and pea shoots, orzo pasta salad, fattoush, bibimap salad, viral sesame chicken and many more.

The presentation is clean and nicely geometric. There is a large title, serving size, introduction, tips/experimenting suggestions, a large photograph, and ingredients grouped by: start out, whisk, toss. Directions are also divided by the start out, whisk and toss groupings, presented in unnumbered blocky paragraphs. There are no nutrition information or storage recommendations.

In all, there are a lot of salads here to enjoy for all tastes. It is friendly and nicely laid out. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

If you know, you know I'm a sucker for a good salad. I've followed the Salad Lab on Tik Tok for a while now and have saved a lot of the recipes shared there. I was so excited to see she is putting out a cookbook! It's laid out well, her introduction is definitely worth a read and I love how she discussed her top 5 must haves for salads, and then went into a pantry section breaking it down between the basic and "luxurious" ingredients. She also gives what she considers essential tools and my favorite part is the page where she says if you don't like "ingredient a" use "ingredient b" instead, giving plenty of options for those who might not like a particular ingredient.
Even the recipe layout is great, divided into columns for what you need to start with, what to whisk together, and finally what you'll toss together or the heart of the salad. Every recipe is accompanied by a beautiful photo and a side bar labeled "Experiment" with suggestions for different ingredients, additions, and a few helpful notes.
And of course, she tells you what she's drinking with her salad, just like in her videos.
This is salad perfection!

I love a good salad, but I hate making them. That’s why I love this book. First off, the photography is a mouthwatering piece of art. It is laid out perfectly beginning with why she called it The Salad Lab to checklists of ingredients, shopping lists, must haves and alternatives to ingredients. She continues the Lesson in Chemistry with her favorite kitchen tools including test tubes and Petri dishes.
Along comes the recipes, most having pictures included. Other recipes can be found in the book elsewhere. Side notes included Experiments for other ingredients. I also like the format of Start Out, Whisk, Toss and Enjoy paired with a favorite beverage.
Recipes are divided into sections from everyday to special occasions and seasonal. The best part comes at the end with homemade crouton recipes, my favorite, to dressings which fall into the aptly named section - Salad Lab Elements
I can’t wait to dig into this gorgeous book and sample most all the recipes.

Full of interesting ideas, this book is for the aspirational beginner. I was a bit put off by the author’s suggestion that people should be shopping at the grocery store everyday - that’s just not realistic for most.
Nonetheless, the photography is beautiful and though at times overly complicated, the recipes are interesting.