While hearty veggies and greens like potatoes, beets, and kale reign supreme in winter, come spring, it’s all about more delicate options like spinach, asparagus, and one of our faves, arugula. Though it's more delicate, that isn’t to say it’s mild—it’s peppery and a touch spicy, making it a great ingredient to use when you want to add some intrigue to your meals. Check out our 27 arugula recipes for inspiration, then buy a big bag—you’re going to want to add it to everything.
It’s true, arugula is known as a great salad base, but it can also be so much more. It’s superb on sandwiches, like our ultimate veggie sandwich, our lamb burger, or our steak sandwich; on flatbread, like our pizza Niçoise or our caramelized onion, garlic, & blue cheese flatbread; or mixed with rice or farro in a grain bowl, like our anything goes salad or our steak grain bowl. It also shines as a truly enjoyable, edible garnish (the type that looks and tastes nice on your plate, sorry parsley), like in our roasted beet pesto or our orzo pasta. Try adding it to your favorite recipes to jazz them up—you won’t be disappointed.
That said, we wouldn’t want to forget about how delightful an arugula salad can be, so we’ve included a number of our favorites here. Try our sheet-pan panzanella, our balsamic grilled steak salad with peaches, our anything goes grain salad, or our seared ahi tuna & arugula pear salad to see how versatile it can be.
Want even more spring produce ideas? Check out our favorite rhubarb recipes, our top radish recipes, and our best mushroom recipes too.