Summer Salad with Sesame Buttermilk Dressi

Summer Salad with Sesame Buttermilk Dressi

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This summer vegetable salad features the best of the season’s veggies: green beans, tomatoes, corn, and a toasted sesame ranch dressing.

Summer Vegetable Salad

The other day, a restaurant near our house hosted a special “summer vegetable” dinner menu, of the 4-course + wine pairings variety. We jumped at the chance because it’s one of the best restaurants in town, and we’re all about celebrating veggies, which aren’t often in the spotlight here in meat-loving Indiana. It was fabulous. We’re still talking about the ramen with smoked onion dashi (so flavorful). The other highlight was unexpected: a simple summer vegetables salad and this intensely flavorful sesame buttermilk dressing. Here’s our attempt at trying to recreate that summer vegetable salad.

Summer vegetable salad

What’s in this summer vegetable salad?

We love trying to recreate our favorite restaurant dishes at home (for example, these Greek and Italian dishes inspired by our recent trip). It’s never quite like the real thing, but usually does the trick. This summer vegetable salad is pretty close to what we remember of the original. The sesame ranch dressing is out of this world. The way the savory sesame plays off the juicy tomatoes and sweet corn kernels is fantastic. It’s a perfect way to use the summer produce that’s abounding at our farmer’s markets this time of year.

Here’s what’s in this summer vegetable salad:

  • Baby greens: we like to use a mix for color and texture contrasts
  • Cherry tomatoes: use multi-colored for the most vibrant look
  • Green beans: here we used both yellow wax beans and standard green beans
  • Corn: fresh sweet corn adds a bright pop
  • Sesame ranch dressing: our Healthy Ranch Dressing is given a makeover by stirring in a little toasted sesame oil: it’s divine!
Summer vegetable salad with buttermilk dressing

How to blanch green beans

To make the summer vegetable salad, you’ll blanch the green beans and wax beans. If you’ve never blanched beans before, it’s very easy! Here are the basic steps:

  • Trim the green beans (here’s a trick on How to Trim Beans, Fast.)
  • Place the beans in a large pot of boiling water for a few minutes until they are tender and bright green. It should take about 3 to 4 minutes. Make sure to taste test!
  • Move them to an ice bath, a big bowl with ice water. Placing them in the ice bath preserves the bright green color! We also use this method in a main dish summer salad, Nicoise Salad.

Making sesame ranch dressing

Outside of blanching the green beans, there’s no other cooking to this summer vegetable salad! Wash and cut the remaining vegetables, then whisk up the ranch dressing. The hint of sesame in the creamy dressing is oh so good!

One tip: Make sure to buy toasted sesame oil, not plain sesame oil. Toasted sesame oil has a strong sesame flavor and is used for bringing in a sesame flavor to dishes, whereas sesame oil has a neutral flavor and is used for cooking.

Summer vegetable salad

This summer vegetable salad recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free. For vegan, plant-based, and dairy-free, use our Vegan Ranch Dressing.

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Description

This vegetable salad features the best of summer veggies: green beans, tomatoes, corn, and a toasted sesame ranch dressing.


For the summer vegetable salad

  • 1/2 pound green beans
  • 1/2 pound wax beans
  • 2 ears corn
  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes
  • 8 cups salad greens
  • ¼ cup roasted salted pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

For the toasted sesame ranch dressing


  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Trim the ends of the beans, then add them to the pot and boil until bright green and crisp tender, about 3 to 4 minutes. Fill a bowl with ice water. Once the beans are bright green, immediately remove them from the pot and place them in the ice water bath until cooled.
  2. Cut the corn from the cobs. Slice the cherry tomatoes in half.
  3. Make the Healthy Ranch Dressing, then stir in the toasted sesame oil. 
  4. To serve, place washed and dried salad greens on a plate or in a bowl. Top with beans, tomatoes, corn, and pepitas, and drizzle with the desired quantity of sesame buttermilk dressing. (Extra dressing will be left over for future salads. Note that this dressing has a thin consistency, not creamy.)

  • Category: Salad
  • Method: Raw
  • Cuisine: American

Keywords: Vegetable Salad, Summer Salad, Summer Vegetable Salad, Sesame Ranch Dressing

Looking for salad recipes?

Outside of this summer vegetable salad, here are a few favorite salad recipes:

Last updated: January 2020

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