Most people treat salad as a starter, but these best salads in Seattle show greens can be the star. They’re a great stand-in for those times we want to eat out without feeling bloated. Plus salads are the perfect vessel for highlighting the season’s bounty.
If you’re craving salad and want to prioritize ones with as much flavor and texture complexity as other dishes, here’s a list of Seattle’s best salads. You’ll find everything from classic chopped salads to fancy fish sauce vinaigrettes, so get ready to love Seattle’s salads as much as I do!
8 Best Salads in Seattle
Save this list to Pinterest for later, as I’ll update it when I find more yummy Seattle salads!
RockCreek’s cauliflower salad
website | get directions | neighborhood: Fremont | cuisine: Pacific Northwest
RockCreek has snuck its way onto many of my “best of” lists, including my list of best restaurants in North Seattle and my self-guided Fremont food tour. Their menu emphasizes fresh Pacific Northwest seafood alongside seasonal produce. The vibe is cabin-esque but elevated, so it’s the perfect spot for a date night meal in Seattle.
Now onto the salad. They have several on their starter menu, many of which have a seafood element to them. However, I always suggest the heirloom cauliflower salad when I invite visitors for dinner. The cauliflower is sliced super thin and perfectly balanced with pecorino, pine nuts, and Calabrian chili. It’s earthy, yet feels light thanks to a great balance of acid.
You can’t go wrong with literally anything else on their menu. If you want a full breakdown of my favorite dishes to order, you can find it on my list of go-to restaurants in Seattle.
Stoneburner’s Caesar salad
website | get directions | neighborhood: Ballard | cuisine: Italian
Stoneburner is another one of my Seattle staples since their carbonara is one of the best pasta dishes in Seattle. But honestly, I could fit their whole menu into one of my “best of” articles. The salads are no exception. They’re some of my favorites for their diversity and creativity.
Stoneburner has a wide selection of seasonal salads to choose from. Since they’re one of Seattle’s farm-to-table restaurants, the ingredients change slightly with the season. However, you can almost always find some variation of a Caesar salad on the menu.
For example, at the time of writing this the dinner menu has an asparagus and little gem lettuce salad with bonito Caesar dressing. I’ve seen it with Brussel sprouts in the winter and peas in spring. Regardless of what’s in it, the salad is always piled high with that familiar umami-bomb dressing expected from a quintessential Caesar salad.
Between their curated menu, the vintage classic Italian vibe, and their retractable windows that hang open in the summertime, I can’t seem to get enough of this place. And if you’re craving more produce-forward dishes, then you’re in luck because they also have some of the best vegetarian and vegan options in Seattle.
Pancita serrano Ceasar salad
website | get directions | neighborhood: Ravenna | cuisine: Mexican
Pancita is a Mexican restaurant that took over the Pair space as a temporary pop-up in 2022. It became so popular that they permanently replaced pair, which is a blessing because their food is so good.
They make excellent elevated Mexican food drawing from different regions. You can expect fancy tacos, moles, and other familiar dishes, but the sleeper hit on the menu is the Caesar salad.
It has all the familiar flavor profiles of a traditional Caesar, but Pancita makes it their own with unapologetic chili spice. This is one of the best salads in Seattle not only because of taste, but also texture. Tortilla chips on top add an irresistible crunch!
Pagliacci’s chopped salad
website | get directions | neighborhood: various locations | cuisine: pizza
Coming from the east coast, I was first drawn to Pagliacci for their classic New York-style slices that are some of the best pizza in Seattle.
However, in addition to their tasty pies, Pagliacci low key has one of Seattle’s best salads. Their Pagliacci Salad is a chopped Italian-style salad that comes with generous portions of salami, peppers, onions, and garbanzo beans all cut to equal sizes. Maybe it’s just me, but I hate taking a bite and having a giant slice of onion flings dressing all over me. This doesn’t happen with Pagliacci’s salad thanks to the uniform knife work.
The flavors are perfectly balanced so you taste the creamy dressing, salami, pepper, onion, and chickpeas in every bite. No order from them is complete without their chopped salad, so make sure to add it the next time you grab a pie.
The Cavatelli Project’s Lowcountry Chopped Salad
website | neighborhood: roams, but usually pops up at Holy Mountain Brewing in Phinney Ridge or Interbay | cuisine: Italian
As their name implies, The Cavatelli Project focuses on cavatelli pasta. If you’re not familiar, cavatelli is an oblong, shell-like-shaped pasta that’s often more pillow-y than other styles.
Their cavatelli with rotating sauces is some of the best pasta in Seattle: pillow-y with a bit of chew. However, their salad is low key the best item on the menu. The balance of texture and flavor is unreal. It included chicory and baby gem lettuce, crispy prosciutto, pecans, red peas, gouda, basil, and oregano. I absolutely loved the earthy kick of the oregano because you never really get that in a salad! Their knife work is also really impressive, as the greens are so uniformly chopped that you can get every ingredient in one bite.
Corson Building’s rotating salads
website | get directions | neighborhood: Georgetown | cuisine: Pacific Northwest
If I had to pick a winner for the best salads from the cutest restaurant in Seattle, it would be those that come from the Corson Building. The outdoor area alone is enough to convince you that you just stepped into an English cottage a la the movie The Secret Garden.
The menu itself is constantly changing, so I don’t have one single salad to recommend. The last time I was there I had a salad with roasted fennel, squash, and fresh radicchio that was perfectly balanced with crunchy, acidic, and umami deliciousness. Another time during the pandemic I got a salad to go with buttermilk dressing, radishes, and cucumber that was absolutely divine.
The rest of the menu is also incredibly seasonal and produce-driven, so fear not. If you don’t see a specific salad that calls your name, it’s all going to be delicious!
Pro tip: They’re open for dinner Thursday through Sunday, along with brunch on Sundays. Saturday is a pre-fixed menu only, so go another night to make sure you can order the salads.
Delancey’s Jersey salad
website | get directions | neighborhood: Ballard | cuisine: Neapolitan-style pizza
I’ve had a crush on Delancey for a while now, mostly because of their classic NY-style pizzas, which I’ll argue to the death are some of the must eat dishes in Seattle. But today I’m here to share another one of my all-time favorite things on their menu, the Jersey salad.
Considering I was born and raised in New Jersey, I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for a Jersey salad. This one is nicely balanced with crisp lettuce, red cabbage, grana cheese, and a house Italian dressing that’s quite obviously not from a bottle. It’s also piled high like a true east coast red sauce joint, so only get the large size if you’re rolling with 6 or more people.
Pro tip: They also sell a Jersey-style salad at their Capitol Hill sister restaurant, Dino’s Tomato Pie.
Baker’s seasonal salads
website | get directions | neighborhood: Sunset Hill | cuisine: Pacific Northwest & craft cocktails
Baker’s is a neighborhood cocktail bar first and a small plate-focused restaurant second. That said, I definitely recommend you try at least one or two plates off their menu, even if you’re just stopping by for a drink.
The last time I was there they had a buttermilk tomato salad that was out-of-this-world delicious. Since they rotate so frequently, I suggest you just pop in with an open mind and go with whatever their current salad is. I’m sure it’d fit on this list of the best salads in Seattle given how flawlessly Baker executes its food.
More to eat in Seattle
If you’re looking for more healthy options, check out these other must-stop spots after you make your way through the best salads in Seattle.
