Filled with fresh green beans, juicy cherry tomatoes, tangy goat cheese and more, this Ribeye Steak Salad is one of those feel-good meals you can’t resist. The homemade balsamic vinaigrette complements every part of it perfectly!
The Best Steak Salad with Homemade Dressing
If you live in Texas, chances are you’ve been to Saltgrass Steakhouse. It’s one of the best steakhouses down here that gives you the biggest bang for your buck! The first time I had the pleasure of dining there, I ordered a hearty dinner salad with juicy steak, all sorts of veggies, nuts and gorgonzola cheese, plus a flavorful balsamic vinaigrette to tie it all together.
This recipe is my own homemade version of that salad, and in a perfect world I would eat it every single day. It combines fresh ingredients and sumptuous steak into one 30-minute masterpiece. And the balsamic vinaigrette that goes with it exceeded my highest expectations – it makes this already amazing salad utterly irresistible!
What You’ll Need
Let’s talk about the ingredients that go into this salad, dressing and all. If desired, you can make adjustments as you see fit.
For the Steak Salad
- Ribeye Steak: One steak is enough to make 4 salads.
- Salt & Pepper: To season the steak.
- Fresh Baby Spinach: This superfood loads up your salad with vitamins, antioxidants and more.
- Eggs: Hard-boiled.
- Fresh Green Beans: Cut into 1-inch pieces.
- Cherry Tomatoes: Halved.
- Raw Walnuts: Or pecans.
- Goat Cheese: Crumbled.
For the Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Dijon Mustard: Use gluten-free mustard if needed.
- Garlic: Freshly minced.
- Dried Basil: Note that fresh herbs are less flavorful than dried herbs if you only have fresh basil on hand. You’d have to use 1 tablespoon as opposed to 1 teaspoon.
- Balsamic Vinegar: Use your favorite brand.
- Olive Oil: I like using extra-virgin olive oil in my salad dressings.
- Salt & Pepper: Added to taste.
What Kind of Steak Should I Use?
I tend to lean toward ribeye and filet mignon when it comes to steak salad. I like the tenderness and flavor that those cuts provide. But if I’m feeding a crowd, I’ll opt for the more affordable flank steak. Top sirloin is another option that a lot of people like.
How to Make Balsamic Steak Salad
This steakhouse style salad is super quick and simple. You just have to grill the steak, blanch the green beans, make the dressing and put it all together. If preferred, you can pan-fry the steak instead of grilling it.
Heat Grill: Heat your grill to medium-high heat.
Season Steak: Season the ribeye with salt and pepper on both sides.
Cook: Place your steak on the grill and cook each side for 5-6 minutes.
Let Sit: Remove the ribeye from the grill and let it sit. Don’t cut it until you’re ready to assemble the salad.
Make Balsamic Vinaigrette: Add the dijon mustard, garlic, dried basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to a bowl and whisk until combined. Set the dressing aside.
Boil Water: Bring a small pot of water to a boil.
Blanch Green Beans: Add the prepared green beans to the pot. Cook them for 2-3 minutes, then immediately throw them into an ice bath to shock them and stop the cooking process. This is called “blanching.”
Assemble Salad: Pull out 4 large dishes and evenly distribute the spinach, hard-boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, green beans, nuts, goat cheese and chopped ribeye.
Enjoy! Serve each salad with a drizzle of the homemade balsamic vinaigrette.
Tips for Success
There are a few important things to remember when you’re making this salad. Here they are!
- Let the Steak Sit Before Cutting It: I always recommend letting your steak rest for at least 5 minutes before slicing it up – or in this case, until you’re ready to assemble the salad. This allows it to retain its tasty juices and continue absorbing flavor from the seasonings.
- Slice Against the Grain: Once you do cut your steak, be sure to slice it against the grain (the muscle fibers in the meat). This ensures tenderness in every bite!
- Make the Dressing in a Jar: Instead of whisking together your dressing ingredients in a bowl, you can add them to a mason jar, close the lid and shake well. I like to do this when I know I’ll have some left over.
- Swiftly Shock the Green Beans: As soon as the green beans have been cooked to your liking, use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a bowl of ice water. This prevents them from overcooking.
Variation Ideas
Feel free to use this recipe as a general guide for preparing your own ideal steak salad. There are plenty of adjustments you can make!
- Use Different Greens: Any greens of your choice can be substituted for the baby spinach. Try using a spring mix, romaine lettuce, arugula or kale.
- Add More Veggies: Go ahead and load up this salad with any vegetables you’re craving. Par-boiled potato, roasted red pepper, roasted beets, sliced onions, chickpeas, grilled corn, asparagus, avocado—the options are endless!
- Pack in the Protein: Between the steak, the nuts, the goat cheese and the eggs, it’s safe to say this salad is already packed with protein. But sometimes I like to add crumbled bacon as well! It adds an extra boost of protein while making the salad even more drool-worthy.
- Use Another Dressing: This healthy steak salad will go great with all sorts of dressings. I often pair it with the simple cilantro lime vinaigrette from this recipe.
Serving Suggestions
In my humble opinion, all the best meals have more than one dish. Even a steak salad as wholesome as this one could use some yummy sides to go with it.
- Serve with Fresh Bread: If you’re serving this salad for lunch and want to pair it with something nice and light, buttered bread is always a great choice. I suggest picking up a fresh loaf of artisan-style bread from your local bakery.
- Pair with Potato Soup: I’m a sucker for a cozy side dish like this Creamy Potato Leek Soup. Made with carrots, bacon, cheddar cheese and more, it goes incredibly well with this salad!
- Serve with Zucchini Fries: These crispy Air Fryer Zucchini Fries are an amazing alternative to classic french fries. They’re easy, they’re healthy, and they’re made in just 15 minutes!
How to Store and Reheat Leftovers
If you expect to have leftovers, don’t add all of the dressing right away – it should be stored separately from the salad. Keep leftovers refrigerated in airtight jars or containers for up to 3 days. Give the dressing a good shake or whisk before using it.
Unless your steak was left out at room temperature for 2 hours or longer, it should be safe to eat cold. If you’d like to reheat it, wrap it in foil and place it in a 250°F oven until it’s warmed through. If you want to reheat the green beans, warm them up over a medium heat burner on the stove along with a little bit of butter.
Print
Easy Steak Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: American
Description
Filled with fresh green beans, juicy cherry tomatoes, tangy goat cheese and more, this Ribeye Steak Salad is one of those feel-good meals you can’t resist. The homemade balsamic vinaigrette complements every part of it perfectly!
Ingredients
For the Steak Salad
- 1 ribeye steak
- salt & pepper to season steak
- 5 cups fresh baby spinach
- 2 eggs, hardboiled
- 1 cup of fresh green beans, cut into 1” pieces
- 1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/4 cup of raw walnuts or pecans
- 2 oz. of crumbled goat cheese
For the Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 2 tablespoons of dijon mustard {gluten-free}
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon of dry basil
- 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons of olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Heat grill to medium-high heat.
- Season ribeye with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Place steak on the grill and cook each side for 5-6 minutes. If you’d like, you can pan-fry the steak instead of grilling it.
- Remove ribeye from grill and let sit. Do not cut it until you’re ready to assemble the salad.
- Add dijon mustard, garlic, dried basil, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper to a bowl and whisk until combined. Alternatively, you can put everything in a mason jar and shake to combine. Set dressing aside.
- Bring a small pot of water to a boil.
- Add prepared green beans to the pot. Cook them for 2-3 minutes, then immediately throw them into an ice bath to shock them and stop the cooking process. This is called “blanching.”
- Pull out 4 large dishes and evenly distribute spinach, hard-boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, green beans, nuts, goat cheese and chopped ribeye.
- Serve with the homemade balsamic vinaigrette.
Notes
- To Store: If you anticipate leftovers, don’t add all dressing right away – it should be stored separately from salad. Keep leftovers refrigerated in airtight jars/containers for up to 3 days. Give dressing a good shake or whisk before using. Unless steak was left at room temperature for 2 hours or more, it should be safe to eat cold.
- To Reheat: If you’d like to reheat the steak, wrap it in foil and place it in a 250°F oven until warmed through. To reheat green beans, warm them over a medium heat burner on the stove along with a little butter.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 oz. steak + salad
- Calories: 462
- Sugar: 10 g
- Sodium: 442 mg
- Fat: 30 g
- Saturated Fat: 8 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 4 g
- Protein: 31 g
- Cholesterol: 176 mg
Filed Under:
More Hearty Steak Salads to Try
I love a good steak salad, and there are so many wonderful ways to make it! Try the following recipes next.
- California Steak Salad with Chimichurri Dressing
- Thai Steak Salad with Spicy Peanut Dressing
- Harvest Steak Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette
DON’T MISS A RECIPE ->
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61 comments on “Easy Steak Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette”
I made this salad with NY strip steak and tripled the dressing. In fact I used 1/4 cup balsamic and 1/2 cup olive oil. I had all these ingredients, but found the beans (one of my favorites) was not liked by my guests, despite my loving them. I also used toasted pine nuts, sliced avocado (big hit), red onion, and fresh crumbled blue cheese.
Put it all on a big platter and let people choose their fix-ins. Salad greens in a bowl.
Could have doubled up on the steak. It was Prime NY and I had one very large steak for 3 of us. Could have had two.
Pretty presentation and will do it again!
Can there ever be too much steak! Not in my house! I am happy this recipe will be a repeat!
Wow looks amazing!
Wow!! I can’t wait to try this! We love salads and get so tired of the same ol same ol! Thanks for sharing!
This salad has me drooling! I have pinned, yummed, and bookmarked it for next week.
A salad that I would never get bored with! All the veggies and that ribeye has me drooling!
Such a fantastic salad!! I bet it tastes amaaaazing!!
I would like this for my lunch! Looks so rich and tasty!
Looks fantastic and what I want for lunch today!!
This was a huge hit for my family, it will be on a regular rotation. I made this exactly as written and I would not change anything. Thank you for this great recipe.
Awesome! So glad to hear that Chrissie! 🙂
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I’m so confused! 3 tablespoons cup of olive oil? Romaine Lettuce but 5 cups of Baby Spinach?
OH goodnesss. I updated this recipe from it’s original version and definitely had a few typos. Just updated it to reflect correctly.
Hi, I found this page, and it contains the very same words and images from this page. I also checked other recipes from the site and found that they could also be traced from other websites. I don’t know if you guys are affiliated or not, so please correct me if I’m wrong.
Thanks for the heads up. No I am not affliated with them. Looks like they decided to break the law and my copyright and use my creative work as their own. Thank you for letting me know!
I had this salad at Saltgrass yesterday! Woke up this morning doing a search for the recipe! Glad I found it! It was a deli sour dressing! I wanted to ask for a Togo cup to ake the little bit I had left home!!! Hope this recipe hits it spot on!
haha.. right! That dressing in the bomb! Hope you enjoy this recipe.. I know whenever I’m craving that salad I make this and it totally hits the spot!
This turned out good. I did finish the steak in the oven to get to well done state for my mom, I like mine medium rare to rare if it was only just me. Good and yummy.
Hurray! So glad to hear you liked it Shelly, it’s one of our favorites!
Oh man. I am currently pregnant and have to forgo med-rare steak but am drooling over this right now. In fact I’m seriously considering it as my first post baby meal. That steak looks absolutely perfect. 🙂
Oh.. I feel for ya girl. That was one of the harder things to “omit” while pregnant. This would totally be a great celebratory meal post baby! 🙂 When are you due?
Great looking salad Krista! Thanks for sharing at MM this week – pinned and sharing!
Thanks so much Deb! 🙂
I’ve been seeing this salad everywhere! It looks absolutely gorgeous and I love your photos! You are so talented! Thanks for linking up to SNF 🙂
haha.. watch out its taking over the world {evil laugh}… no not really. But so appreciate your sweet comments. Thanks Chelsea!
Krista, this salad is just beautiful!! I could actually get my meat loving hubby to salad if I put THIS in front of him! 🙂 Thank you so much for sharing at Best of the Weekend – pinned and will be sharing this week. Have a happy Sunday and a wonderful week!
haha.. you definitely could. 🙂 Thanks for the pin Cindy. Have a great week my friend!
This is one of the prettiest salads I’ve ever seen, Krista! I shared it on FB this past week and everyone was drooling over it. I’m going to have to make it for my hubby, the ultimate steak lover. And again, your photos just keep on getting better and better. 😉 Hope you have a great weekend!
Oh… thanks for sharing it Samantha, you are too sweet! Glad it was a hit too. 🙂
Thanks on the photos props, means alot coming from you! 🙂 Hope you have a great rest of the weekend!
Holy moly, Krista. You outdid yourself with this one! The photos are amazing and making me so hungry for steak! What an awesome salad, my friend!
Thanks so much Andi, that means alot coming from you girl! 🙂
YUM! This salad looks delish, Krista! Pinned!
Thanks so much Julie!
This looks so yummy!! I would love for you to come link it up at Lovely Ladies Linky! We would love to see what other deliciousness you have to share 🙂
Thanks so much for the invite Parrish, I’ll stop by if I have a chance. 🙂
Krista, this salad looks absolutely delicious! I love all the veggies and the ribeye steak just makes this salad one of the best salads ever! I can’t wait to make it, pinned 🙂
Thanks so much Jenn, glad you liked it, can’t wait to hear whatcha think. 🙂
There are few things in this life more amazing than a good ribeye steak… this one looks great, and was cooked beautifully! And since it’s a salad I can totally have dessert too, right?!? 🙂
Agreed, ribeye always has some amazing marbling in it which is why it is sooooo good! If you have this then yes you can totally have dessert. 🙂 How about those avocado brownies? Guilt free!
This is definitely a salad my husband and I could agree on! 🙂
Yeah! 🙂 Love those kind of meals…. when everyone is happy and satisfied. 🙂
That’s it, I need to move to Texas!! Holy WOW Krista, that salad looks amazing!. 🙂 Ribeye is my favorite, and you just made it healthy…right? 😉
haha.. yes you do! They actually have a saying here that says “I wasn’t raised here, but got here as soon as I could. 🙂
Absolutely just made ribeye healthy 🙂
This is definitely my kind of salad—I’m just in love with all the different colors and flavors going on! (not to mention that amazing-looking balsamic vinaigrette!) Totally making this. 🙂 pinned!
Thanks Sarah! This is one salad I love to heap up on my salad because it is just so tasty. Thanks for the pin my dear, have a great rest of the week!
I’m quite picky when it comes to steaks, but that is one legit rib-eye steak Krista. And with all that salad goodness…yum!!!!
haha.. I am too Mike. Ribeye is one of my husbands favorite cuts, its a little to “fatty” for me but thats what you have a knife for right? Then mixed in with all the salad its just awesome. 🙂
Oh my goodness, now this is one amazing looking salad Krista! I love the sound of that balsamic vinegar and you sure know how to make steak look oh so good and juicy! I don’t usually eat red meat that much anymore but would totally want to polish off that entire plate 🙂 Pinning!
I don’t really either, but with all the veggies, goat cheese, pecans, and then that dressing it is seriously amazing. Thanks so much for the pin sweet friend. 🙂
Serious drooling here at midnight Krista!! That steak is juicy and makes me want to eat salad all year long!! Oh I also always ask for my dressing on the side, I cannot stand the drenching.
Totally agree on the drenching thing, I would much rather enjoy the crunch of the salad instead of a wet soggy mess. That steak was seriously awesome, totally making this one again soon. 🙂
Krista, this looks amazing! I know I can get my hubby to eat a salad if there’s steak involved. The presentation is just beautiful! Thanks for sharing and pinning! Hope you’re having a good Monday!
Aww.. thanks so much Cindy! Thanks for the pin sweet friend, hope you have a great monday too!
I don’t think even my husband would complain about salad for dinner if it looked like this! That vinaigrette sounds amazing! Pinned!
haha.. I know right! All I had to tell my husband was “we are having ribeye tonight” and he was game. 🙂 Thanks for the pin sweet lady! Have a great rest of your monday!
All I can say is wow!
Just talking to my hubby yesterday about how I’m getting in a rut. Not wanting to eat as many salads because I’m tired of the salads I’m making.
Now, I know how to switch things up! As soon as the screen loaded I was hungry. Pinning! 🙂
Have a great week Krista!
Awesome! So glad you can add this to your salad arsenal. You and the hubby will love it, it is definitely a tasty way to change things up! Thanks for the pin friend!
Hi! Is the ribeye still supposed to be warm or is it slightly cooled for salad?! Thanks!
I like to serve it warm Hali. 🙂