When it comes to increasing your daily fiber, salads are a great way to go! There are so many ways to eat salad, and creating any salad starts with your salad base. Therefore, knowing which salad base to start with will put you at an advantage to create a salad with the most fiber and the lowest amount of calories.
To help, here is a list of the top 13 salad bases ranked by their fiber-per-calorie ratios; ranging from 18% at the top (Endive Greens) to 6% at the bottom (Arugula). The nutrition information is for a serving size of ~100 grams.
Top 13 High-Fiber, Low Calorie Salad Bases
| Fiber (g) | Calories | Fiber-per-Calorie Ratio | ||
| 1 | Endive Greens1 | 3.1 | 17 | 18.24% |
| 2 | Belgian Endive2 | 3.2 | 18 | 17.78% |
| 3 | Beet Greens1 | 3.7 | 22 | 16.82% |
| 4 | Mustard Greens1 | 3.2 | 27 | 11.85% |
| 5 | Kale1 | 4.1 | 35 | 11.71% |
| 6 | Spinach1 | 2.2 | 23 | 9.57% |
| 7 | Mixed Salad Greens1 | 1.4 | 16 | 8.75% |
| 8 | Romaine Lettuce1 | 1.3 | 15 | 8.67% |
| 9 | Iceberg Lettuce1 | 1.2 | 14 | 8.57% |
| 10 | Chard1 | 1.6 | 19 | 8.42% |
| 11 | Dandelion Greens1 | 3.5 | 45 | 7.78% |
| 12 | Boston Lettuce1 | 0.9 | 13 | 6.92% |
| 13 | Arugula1 | 1.6 | 25 | 6.40% |
Salad Equation Formula
When creating a salad, I like to use a simple Salad Equation
🥗 Salad Base + Nuts + Cheese + Fruit + Dressing = #DeliciousSalad
Below are two recipes to try following the above formula. Occasionally I stray and add something extra to the mix, as you can see in the Beet-on-Beet Salad recipe (the extra item being the beets).
Endive salad with goat cheese & pistachio
Salad Equation (Recipe)
~ 5 grams of fiber in 190 calories
Makes 2 servings
Chop as desired and mix the ingredients, sprinkle the goat cheese over the top, mix the honey with the lemon and then drizzle the honey-lemon mixture over last.
Variables (Ingredients)
- Endive (100 grams)
- Pistachio nuts (¼ cup)
- Goat cheese (1 ounce)
- Dried blueberries (¼ cup)
- Lemon (1 medium no peel)
- Honey (1 tablespoon, melted)
Beet-on-Beet salad with goat cheese & pistachio
Salad Equation (Recipe)
~ 6 grams of fiber in 180 calories
Makes 2 servings
Chop as desired and mix the ingredients, sprinkle the goat cheese over the top and then drizzle the melted honey over last.
Variables (Ingredients)
- Beet greens (100 grams)
- Beets (2 beets, chopped)
- Pistachio nuts (¼ cup)
- Goat cheese (1 ounce)
- Dried blueberries (¼ cup)
- Honey (1 tablespoon, melted)
Play around with my #SaladEquation and see if you like it or what you would change to make it work for you!
Let us know your experience by posting below!
– Dr. Nicole
References
1U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (2021). FoodData Central Search. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/index.html
2 Nutritionix; https://www.nutritionix.com/food/belgian-endive
