This Tik Tok Green Goddess Salad went absolutely VIRAL in 2021…and as soon as you taste it, you’ll know why! This viral recipe combines crunchy green veggies with a to-die-for green goddess salad dressing! Get the exact recipe here, plus lots of ideas to help you customize this amazing salad!
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WHAT IS THE TIK TOK VIRAL GREEN GODDESS SALAD?
This vegan green goddess salad was made famous in late 2021 by NYC baker Melissa Ben-Ishay, founder of Baked by Melissa. Besides baking, Melissa also says she loves trying new vegan recipes. One day she posted a video on Tik Tok of her making this salad it went absolutely VIRAL!!!
You can watch her original video here:
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE
- Healthy salad that is unique and packed with flavor!
- Very flexible and forgiving— add or omit ingredients as you like!
- Vegan friendly!
- Super heart healthy and low in calories.
RECIPE INGREDIENTS
You’ll need the following ingredients to make this amazing Baked by Melissa Green Goddess Salad:
INGREDIENT NOTES
Cabbage: One small head of cabbage is more than enough!
Cucumber: Using small, baby cucumbers makes it a bit easier to cut, but english cucumbers work well, too. Make sure they are “seedless” so you aren’t wasting time having to remove the seeds.
Nutritional Yeast: This is a flakey, yellow powder that is used for a “cheesy” taste in some vegan recipes. It’s packed with flavor and rich with vitamins and minerals such as B-12 and folic acid. These days, you can buy nutritional yeast in most chain grocery stores (Bob’s Red Mill is a popular brand). If you can’t find it, you can use grated cheese.
HOW TO MAKE THE TIK TOK GREEN GODDESS SALAD RECIPE: STEP BY STEP
Here are some quick visual instructions. Remember that full instructions with exact ingredients will be in the recipe card below!
Step 1: Combine salad ingredients.
Step 2: Combine all dressing ingredients in a food processor or large blender.
Step 3: Blend 30-45 seconds until everything is well blended and creamy.
Step 4: Pour dressing over the green veggies!
Step 5: Toss to combine and serve!
RECIPE TIPS & TRICKS
- Use a SHARP knife to cut your veggies! It’s much easier to get a fine dice on the veggies with sharp knife.
- To cut the cabbage: Cut cabbage head in half. Then, cut the halves into thin slices. Last, turn the slices the opposite way and finely chop. I always discard the very center part of the cabbage.
- If you are making the green goddess dressing in a blender, add liquids first to ensure everything gets properly blended.
- One jalapeno or a pinch of red pepper flakes in the dressing adds a little heat!
STORING THE SALAD
- Store leftover salad in an air tight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Any longer than that and it gets a bit soggy due to the high water content in the veggies.
ADDITIONS AND SUBSTITUTIONS
Melissa herself says that this salad is super flexible and forgiving. You can add and omit things as you like! As Melissa says “It’s totally fine! Don’t stress!” Here are some substitutions she mentions:
- Nutritional Yeast: Swap Parmesan cheese for the nutritional yeast if you aren’t vegan or leave it out!
- Nuts: Melissa suggests cashews or walnuts, but you can use your fave. Leave the nuts out if you have a nut allergy OR substitute pumpkin seeds (pepitas).
- Greens: More or less of the spinach or basil in the dressing is totally fine! You can also use iceberg lettuce in place of the cabbage!
- Onions: Substitute green onions for other onions such as red onions or sweet yellow onions (Melissa likes green because it’s her favorite color!).
- Vinegar: Any mild vinegar (such as white wine vinegar) can be substituted for the rice vinegar.
- Lemon Juice: Lime juice works well, too.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
It seems like slaw, but Melissa says she always eats hers with chips or crackers as a “dip!” It’s delicious both ways, I assure you!
If you choose to eat it as a slaw or side salad, it goes so well with grilled or air fried chicken, fish, or a grilled steak, or this Slow Cooker BBQ Chicken!
Another great way to enjoy this salad is a topping on my pork tacos or buffalo chicken tacos!
Thick cut tortilla chips or pita chips are my favorite. Multi grain crackers are also good! Melissa suggests Zack’s Mighty Tortilla Chips, but so far, I haven’t been able to find them out here in California.
Original green goddess dressing typically consists of mayo, sour cream, a blend of fresh green herbs and lemon juice.
The dressing from the Tik Tok recipe though, is totally vegan and contains no mayo or sour cream. It’s more like a vegan pesto, as Melissa has described it!
Since nutritional yeast has a “cheesy” flavor, Parmesan cheese is a perfect substitute (if you’re not vegan). Or you can just leave it out all together.
Oh my goodness, yes! This green salad is packed with vitamins and minerals not only from the green veggies, but also from the nutritional yeast!
The recipe only calls for 1/4 cup of olive oil too, making it super heart-healthy and low fat.
Based on The Very Well Nutrition Calculator, this salad has approximately 130 calories per serving, making it not only super flavorful and delish, but also super healthy! See full nutrition details in the recipe card below.
OTHER VIRAL FOOD TRENDS YOU’LL LOVE
- TIK TOK SALMON AND RICE BOWL
- GIGI HADID’S SPICY VODKA PASTA
- TORTILLA TREND PIZZA WRAP
- HAILEY BIEBER’S PIZZA TOAST
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Tik Tok Green Goddess Salad (Baked by Melissa)
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- 1 small head of cabbage, finely chopped about 6-8 cups chopped
- 3-4 baby cucumbers or 1 large English cucumber, finely chopped
- 1/4 cup chives, finely chopped
- 1 bundle green onions/scallions, finely chopped about 6-8
Green Goddess Salad Dressing
- juice of two lemons about 1/3 of a cup
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar any white vinegar works
- 1 cup basil leaves
- 1 cup baby spinach leaves
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 small shallot
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast See Note 1
- 1 tsp sea salt or Himalayan pink salt
- 1/4 cup nuts of choice (optional)
Instructions
- Make the dressing: In a food processor or large blender combine all dressing ingredients. If using a blender, add liquid ingredients first to make sure everything gets properly blended. Blend for 30-45 seconds until dressing is creamy and well blended. Set aside.
- Combine salad ingredients in a large bowl.
- Pour dressing over salad and toss to combine.
- Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate OR serve immediately!
Bim says
Hi! I love this salad, have been making it religiously for over a year now. Your blog is gorgeous!
Maybe a silly question, but you list the kCal per serving as 128 per serving – what do you count a serving to be? The recipe says it makes 8 servings… the cabbage alone is 6-8 cups, before you even add the cucumber/anything else. Do you think in this instance one serving is one cup worth of salad? (Obviously this is not a salad where I think anyone has to worry about eating too much of it, but I am trying to track my cals/macros this season) Thanks for your time!
Casey Rooney says
No, I get it! Great question! I salad makes ROUGHLY 8-10 cups–It really depends how you chop the cabbage, etc but that’s a good estimate. So a serving size would be roughly 1 cup or a bit over. As you know, it’s not an exact science but I think that is a pretty good estimate! Thanks for asking! xo
Epcur says
Oh wow! I didn’t expect something as simple as a green salad to be so flavorful! I was pleasantly surprised!
gunjan says
I loved your recreation of green goddess salad. I remember this recipe going viral on Tiktok and so glad you posted in your blog. It was easy to follow and so flavorful.
Amanda Wren-Grimwood says
Can’t wait to get into salads again and this dressing is so good and I really love the addition of nuts too.
Beth says
Such a tasty side salad. I served it with jacket potatoes. Great recipe.
Biana says
This salad looks delicious, perfect for spring!
Katherine says
There are so many incredible, healthy flavors in this awesome salad!
Liz says
This is tasty– but it was missing some “zing” for us. I had to add more nutritional yeast, vinegar, and a little Dijon mustard to it to get it there. I also found it to be complex and messy to make– there are a lot of ingredients that could probably be simplified– like the 3 different versions of onion flavor via the shallots/green onion/chives. I thought I would be blown away based on the hype this got. Definitely tasty, but I’m not sure if it is worth the effort. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Seema says
Hi Casey,
This comment is more for your blogging resources than this recipe.
Thank you for all the information you have put out to help new bloggers like me who are still learning about the blogging world.
Your content is insightful with lots of tips to get going from the start.
Thanks for all that you do!
Casey Rooney says
Of course, Seema! Glad to be of help 🙂 Reach out if you need anything! XO Casey
Chantry says
This is so delicious! Such a fun way to get some greens in. It went well with our sweet potato tacos!
Suja MD says
Every bite does indeed look amazing! All of the flavors are incredible. And I love these vibrant colors.
Toni says
The name really fits this recipe! It is so perfect and amazing!
Andrea says
This green goddess salad is calling my name. I love all the flavors and that there is no mayonnaise in it. Can’t wait to try it.
mike says
why dont u like mayonise? *
GUNJAN says
This is the best. This green salad won everyone’s heart in my house and its on rotation from on.
Shadi Hasanzadenemati says
Thank you so much! The flavors are perfect and I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Kate says
So yummy! I eat this a couple times a week.
Casey Rooney says
Isn’t it soooo delish?! Perfect for spring! 🙂 XO ~ Casey
Thatssoweird says
I’m sure this is tasty, but it’s not green goddess dressing. This is pesto plus vinegar. GG uses not only the mayo and sour cream you list but also chives, tarragon, anchovies, pretty much everything in GG is not in this recipe. Again I’m sure it’s delicious, but none of this is a green goddess salad. Thanks tik tok.
Casey Rooney says
LOL! Yes, it’s definitely not “traditional” but that is what makes food fun–everyone’s different takes on classic recipes! Makes eating fun, too! HA! XO ~ Casey
Colleen says
Thanks for sharing this amazing salad recipe. It’s so fresh and full of crunch and the green goddess dressing is amazing. I will make it again!
Tavo says
Great salad! We enjoyed it over Sunday brunch!
Claudia Lamascolo says
Easy to make flavorful and the family loved this and its the second time I made it great recipe!
Tara says
I can definitely see why this salad went viral! I absolutely love that vibrant green color. So easy too!
Sara says
Loved this recipe and dressing!! So fresh and tasty!
Anjali says
I love this healthy salad!! I made it for lunch today and it was light, refreshing and so easy to make!
Tavo says
Such a delicious salad! Definitely making it again!
Carrie Robinson says
Loving all of that green goodness! Definitely my kind of salad. 🙂