Use Roasted Almonds To Give Your Salads A Bold Crunch

Salads come in all shapes and sizes, from a refreshing Tuscan kale and cranberry salad to a warming roasted eggplant and lentil salad. These vegetable-dense bowls are a delicious and nutritious way to start a meal and can often be a meal all on their own — if you add the right ingredients. Adding crunchy, tasty roasted almonds offers one way to elevate your salad from plain greens to a more texturally satisfying dish.

Almonds bring a lot of desirable traits to a dish. They have a nutty, subtly sweet flavor that becomes even better when roasted, and they are full of hearty fats that will keep you full and energized. Perhaps the biggest benefit they bring to the table is their irresistible crunch. When meals contain a crunchy element, it scratches an evolutionary itch in our brains that tells us we are eating fresh, high-quality food and makes the experience more enjoyable. As such, tossing almonds into your salad doesn't just compensate for any soggy leaves or soft cheese; it will also meet a biological urge that helps you feel like you have had a good meal.

The best part about adding roasted almonds to your salad is the sheer variety of options available at most stores. According to market data, almonds are a $9.5 billion business in the United States. As a result, there are many brands of almonds to choose from at the grocery store, each with unique roasting styles and seasoning blends. You can use this to your advantage by selecting almonds with flavors that amplify the other ingredients in your salad. 

Roasted almonds come in both sweet and savory varieties. Try tossing some chili-lime almonds into your next carrot and cucumber-heavy salad to create a bowl full of Thai-inspired flavors, or sprinkle some smoky barbecue almonds into a salad with chicken to cultivate some Southwestern flair. On the other end of the spectrum, honey-roasted almonds make an excellent substitute for walnuts in a classic Waldorf salad, and cocoa-dusted almonds can make themselves right at home in any Mexican-inspired salad that benefits from flavors similar to mole. Alternatively, try our recipe for roasted almonds with crispy herbs, or customize homemade roasted almonds with whatever flavors you prefer.