Giada De Laurentiis' Red, White & Blue Salad Is Perfect for July 4th

What are your Fourth of July plans this year? Grilling and drinking hard seltzer while you lounge by the pool? Us, too. And with the holiday weekend here in a matter of days, you may have your menu all planned out, but we bet you’re missing one very important dish: salad. Yes, really, a salad! Between the chips and dip, hot dogs and burgers, heavy side dishes, and red, white and blue desserts, a light, flavorful salad is just what your holiday weekend needs. And like clockwork, Food Network star and chef Giada De Laurentiis shared just that on her Instagram.

“I love a salad that’s loaded up with goodies, and this one definitely fits the bill!” De Laurentiis wrote on her blog, Giadzy.

De Laurentiis’ red, white, and blue salad is as good as it looks. Loaded with bright, seasonal flavors like pickled cucumbers, grapes, and blueberries, as well as more savory bites like gorgonzola cheese, this salad — as De Laurentiis puts it — has a “ton of amazing flavor going on.” Plus, let’s not forget the obvious: It has those red, white and blue hues the Fourth of July holiday weekend calls for.

To start, you’ll want to make your homemade pickles (and yes, this is worth the time and effort — because what else are you doing?). For this, you’ll need sugar, champagne vinegar, salt, and, of course, cucumbers.

The salad itself calls for a total of 10 ingredients, including the aforementioned items, as well as raddichio, curly endive, pistachios, and more. Chop, halve, measure, and mix all ingredients together, and you have yourself a beautiful salad that serves six.

De Laurentiis also shared a couple other favorite Fourth of July recipes on the Today show yesterday, including pasta with homemade pesto and her flavorful, Thai-inspired chicken salad.

“I love this salad because it has wonderful, fresh flavor and a big, satisfying crunch,” De Laurentiis said of her walnut pesto pasta salad. “The toasted nuts, crisp vegetables and crushed potato chips really amp up the taste and texture.”

“Pesto is really the perfect answer to ‘what sauce should I use for my pasta salad?’ It’s always a winner, and what I love is how versatile it can be,” De Laurentiis said of her walnut pesto pasta salad. She added that if she doesn’t have enough basil, she’ll simply substitute it for other herbs she may have on-hand, like parsley. “No pine nuts? That’s fine; walnuts are a great substitute! This is a really simple recipe, but it’s a great side dish for any type of weekend cookout or picnic.”

Get the full red, white, and blue recipe at Giadzy, and enjoy!

Before you go, check out some of Giada’s best pasta recipes below:

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