Ploughman's salad

This easy Ploughman's Salad is a healthy spin on a traditional British Ploughman's Lunch! Packed with crunchy apples and celery, and topped with sharp cheddar and creamy stilton, this lunch salad is full of vibrant flavors!

The first time I heard about Ploughman's lunch I was really intrigued. I'm not sure about you, but 'ploughman' sounds odd to my French ears. And to be honest, I had no idea what this word meant.

Even after two years in Australia, online dictionaries are still very useful to me sometimes! If you're American and don't understand either, don't freak out, it's normal. It's a British English word meaning plowman. Ok, translation issue solved!

Moving on to...what the heck is a ploughman's lunch? My best friend Google taught me that it's a traditional British cold meal, very popular in pubs, consisting of crusty bread, cheese and pickled onions.

These are the key ingredients but you'll find lots of variations including apple, celery, chutney, ham and so on. I guess every chef has its own definition of a ploughman's lunch.

I came across this recipe for Ploughman's Salad in Gordon Ramsay's cookbook Ultimate Home Cooking and loved the sound of it.

He tweaked the traditional meal and turned it into a ploughman's salad with loads of lettuce, crunchy apples, radishes and celery.  In his recipe, he uses two types of cheese, Cheddar and Stilton, an English blue cheese.

If you can't find any Stilton where you live, you can use your favorite blue cheese instead. The result is an original, multi-faceted salad: every bite you take is a mix of savory, sweet, sour and sharp flavors. If you're bored of your usual go-to lunch salad, give this Ploughman's Salad a try, you won't regret it!

If you tried this Ploughman's Salad, don’t forget to rate the recipe below and let me know how it went in the comments – I love hearing from you! You can also follow me on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook for more deliciousness and behind-the-scenes!

5 from 1 vote

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Ploughman’s salad

This easy Ploughman's Salad is a healthy spin on a traditional British Ploughman's Lunch! Packed with crunchy apples and celery, and topped with sharp cheddar and creamy stilton, this lunch salad is full of vibrant flavors!

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine British

Keyword British, cheese, easy, healthy, light, meal prep, pub, salad, simple

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 4 people as a main dish

Calories 379 kcal

Ingredients

• 1 green lettuce torn into pieces
• 1 apple peeled, quartered, cored and cut into small chunks
• 3 celery sticks finely sliced
• 10 radishes trimmed and finely sliced
• 3.5 oz Stilton cheese 100 g, or your favorite blue cheese, cut into chunks
• 3.5 oz sharp Cheddar 100 g , cut into chunks
• 1 cup pickled onions cut in half or quarters if large - make sure you buy a jar without added sugar

Dressing

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp honey
• 3 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• salt and freshly ground black pepper - to taste

Instructions

For the dressing:

1. Add mustard, honey, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper in a medium bowl, and whisk to combine.

For the salad:

1. Add lettuce, apple, celery and radish slices in a large bowl and mix together. Pour dressing on top and toss to coat the salad. Serve between four plates and top with cheese and pickled onions. Toss lightly and serve with crusty bread.

Recipe Notes

Another traditional ingredient of the Ploughman's salad is thick cuts of ham. Feel free to add some!

Adapted from Gordon Ramsay's cookbook Ultimate Home Cooking

Nutrition Facts

Ploughman’s salad

Amount Per Serving (1 /4th)

Calories 379 Calories from Fat 261

% Daily Value*

Fat 29g45%

Saturated Fat 11g69%

Cholesterol 44mg15%

Sodium 570mg25%

Potassium 470mg13%

Carbohydrates 16g5%

Fiber 3g13%

Sugar 9g10%

Protein 13g26%

Vitamin A 7260IU145%

Vitamin C 15.8mg19%

Calcium 366mg37%

Iron 1.4mg8%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.