Easy Butter Lettuce Salad with Pomegranates and Pistachios

This Butter Lettuce Salad is a perfect side dish for any meal. The beautifully smooth butter lettuce pairs so well with a satisfying crunch and gorgeous, bright colours - thanks to the pistachios and pomegranate seeds. Fresh cucumbers and a simple homemade dressing round out this a salad that you'll want to make and make again!

Who doesn't love a healthy salad that has interesting and different ingredients?! This butter lettuce salad hits alllll the right notes.

It's simple enough to make on weeknight when you're pressed for time but at the same time, it's "fancy" enough to make for a dinner party or get together with friends and family🥗

Jump to:

• 📝Ingredients for butter lettuce salad recipe
• 🔪Instructions
• 💃Variations
• 🔄Substitutions
• 🥬What do you eat butter lettuce with?
• ❓Why do they call butter lettuce butter lettuce?
• 🏅Is butter lettuce a Superfood?
• 🙋‍♀️The best way to get the pomegranate seeds out of the pomegranate
• Want more?
• 📖 Recipe

This boston bibb salad has enough personality to hold it's own AND goes with almost any protein for a complete meal.

Serve this butter lettuce salad alongside one of these delicious mains:

• Cast Iron Skillet Whole Roasted Chicken
• The BEST Cast Iron Skillet Burgers (EASY RECIPE)
• Maple Glazed Salmon with Green Beans {one pan recipe}
• Cast Iron Skillet Chicken Breast
• Easy Baked Salmon with Mayo

Inspired by my love for the tender butter lettuce leaves, this salad will be one you can go back to again and again and AGAIN.

Simple salads can be a fantastic way to get some vitamins, antioxidants and fibre into you.

Plus, salads are such a great way to help you stick with your gluten-free diet.

📝Ingredients for butter lettuce salad recipe

• Butter lettuce - I love this "living lettuce" and it has 2 different varieties: 1 red butter and 1 Boston green
• Cucumber
• Pomegranate seeds - fresh or frozen (thawed) work
• Pistachios - shelled
• Apple cider vinegar
• Olive oil
• Garlic clove

🔪Instructions

• Chop the pistachios, dice the cucumber and de-seed the pomegranate
• Whisk salad dressing ingredients together
• Wash and hand tear the butter lettuce into a large bowl
• Add pistachios, diced cucumber and pomegranate seeds. Toss with the salad dressing and serve

💃Variations

The thing about salad recipes is that they're super fun - and simple - to change up.

You never know what kind of delicious flavour combinations you'll discover😄

Here are some other ingredients that go well with bib lettuce:

• Apples - like a chopped green apple🍏
• Avocado
• Basil🍃
• Blue berries
• Blue Cheese
• Chives
• Fresh peaches🍑
• Feta
• Grapefruit
• Grapes
• Lemon juice
• Lime juice
• Oranges
• Parsley
• Parmesan cheese
• Radishes

Here are a few combination of butter lettuce+fruit / veg that would work well together:

• Butter lettuce with grapes and feta - this I NEED to try next. Yum😋
• Butter lettuce with avocado and chunks of fresh apple
• Butter lettuce with grapefruit sections and pepitas (pumpkin seeds)

🔄Substitutions

• If you don't have the butter lettuce on hand, you can easily sub-in other varieties of lettuce, such as:

• Leaf lettuce
• Bibb lettuce (essentially the same thing as butter lettuce)
• Ice berg lettuce - brings a lovely and fresh crunch

• Instead of the pomegranates, sub-in any other crunchy fruit like grapes or apple chunks. See above for other fruit, cheese and veggies to try - really endless possibilities with this one.

• For the dressing, instead of a vinaigrette-style, you can try a creamier one too. A creamy dressing mimics the "creamy" leaves of the butter lettuce leaves.

Try whisking together some mayonnaise or Greek yogurt with lemon juice to thin it out. Add some fine herbs (like dill and chives) and you've got yourself a creamy dressing, perfect for bibb lettuce.

Love Dijon mustard? Add a small amount into the dressing or check out this recipe for Kale Quinoa Salad with Apple and Spiced Nuts for a creamier dressing idea with Dijon.

🥬What do you eat butter lettuce with?

Butter lettuce leaves are the perfect thing to wrap up some deliciousness!

You can:

• Fill them with shredded BBQ chicken
• Use them like a "lettuce taco" and fill them with browned ground beef, cheese and salsa:
• Try them filled with shrimp and sticky rice with some gluten-free soy sauce
• Even try them stuffed with strawberries and a layer of cream cheese - yum!

Of course, in salads, butter lettuce is also wonderful - it's a non-bitter leaf that you can add to any salad you make.

And if you're making any kind of sandwich, a butter leaf or two adds some great texture and nutrition.

❓Why do they call butter lettuce butter lettuce?

Butter, bibb or Boston lettuce is a light, spring-like and has an almost creamy texture. Hence the name, butter lettuce. It doesn't have any fat, like butter does, and it doesn't pair particularly well with butter or other heavier foods.

🏅Is butter lettuce a Superfood?

Like most varieties of lettuce, butter lettuce brings nutrition to the plate! Packed with Vitamin A, folate iron, niacin, and potassium, this humble leaf delivers in the nutrition department.

And when you add more powerhouse ingredients into a salad made with this delicious lettuce like avocado, apples, lemon juice or olive oil for a dressing, you're upping the nutrition even more!

🙋‍♀️The best way to get the pomegranate seeds out of the pomegranate

Ok, I've heard some interesting ways to do this but lemme tell you my friend the best and easiest way to get the seeds outta there is this:

1. Cut the pomegranate in half.
2. Turn it upside down in your palm (so the cut-side is in the palm of your hand.)
3. Whack the back of it with a wooden spoon.

The seeds just come out! If I'm really in a pinch, I'll just do it right over the dish I'm serving (no one ever minds a little pom juice splatter really). 

Or you can do it over a large bowl to catch the pomegranate seeds and the pretty juice splatter.

I hope you love this delicious butter lettuce salad like we do❣️

For even more simple salad recipes, check out all my gluten-free salads on the blog.

~April

Here's a some more easy and and gluten-free recipes:

• Healthy Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup (no beans)
• Try this Easy Quinoa Salad with Feta if simple salads are right up your alley.
• Easy Weeknight Hamburger Soup with Sweet Potatoes
• Gluten Free Slow Cooker Chili
• Creamy Slow Cooker Chicken with Chickpeas
• Simple Haddock Quesadillas
• Easy Winter Soup with Beans
• Simple Coleslaw Recipe (no mayo)

Originally posted on January 6th, 2021 this recipe post was updated and re-published on Dec 5th, 2022.

📖 Recipe