Hearts of Palm Salad

Hearts of palm are unique and have a particular flavor. You either love them or can't stand them. At least that's what I get around here.

For years I ate them with mayonnaise and ketchup mixed together, what we here call golf sauce, who knows why.

I don't know where I heard about this simple and fantastic salad, but I've been making it for decades, especially for outdoor gatherings and large barbecue tables.

This is a salad to make whenever there are good avocados. Hearts of palm are available all the time. The same with red onion; it's rare not to find it year-round.

It's so easy to put this salad together and differs from your usual potato, pasta, and tomato. But complements them well.

Ingredients

Use a clear shot of the ingredients for this recipe, prepped, and labeled if necessary. Insert the ingredients into the list below, omitting quantities.

• Avocados.
• Hearts of palm.
• Red onion.
• Lemon juice.
• Olive oil.
• Salt and pepper.

See the recipe card at the end of this post for quantities.

What are hearts of palm?

In case you're not familiar with this ingredient, they come canned and are thick white stalks harvested from the inside of some palm trees. Look for whole hearts of palm not sliced or chopped.

They are soft but crunchy and creamy at the same time and have a fresh, unique flavor. It's a love or hate situation for most. 

Check out a good brand, as inferior ones tend to add one or two hard stalks in the mix that you won't be able to use. 

Avocado varieties

My first choice: I always use Haas avocados, those small, blackish, pretty ugly-looking ones. They have the best flavor and are super creamy without being watery.

In my opinion, there is a larger type of avocado that has little flavor due to its higher water content.

But there are many to choose from, and here is a good list to learn about avocado varieties.

How to assemble this salad

There's no right or wrong way of layering the ingredients. I assemble it in two layers.

First layer: it's the bulk of the salad. Add the three ingredients in smaller pieces than on top. Diced avocado, coarsely chopped hearts of palm, and thin slices of red onion. And a light drizzle of dressing.

Second layer: arrange nicer-looking pieces. Slices of avocado, red onion, and hearts of palm sprinkled with salt and pepper and drizzled right before serving with dressing.

Vintage Kitchen tip: once you open the avocados, drizzle them lightly with lemon juice to prevent browning.

Dressing

• Lemon vinaigrette: mix olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and black pepper. The key is balancing the flavors and not having one invade the salad.
• Balsamic vinaigrette: same as above but using balsamic vinegar instead of lemon.

The two are simple and sound similar, but balsamic is a definite flavor different from lemon juice.

Variations

Arugula and tomatoes are two ingredients that can be added to this salad with good results if you want a heartier dish. I like cherry tomatoes cut in half. And you can make a base of arugula leaves and serve the salad on top of it.

Mustard honey dressing: it's the one we use for the pear arugula salad and complements this simple salad if you like stronger flavors. I like to keep it light, so I use the one above.