- Jennifer Garner recently told Women’s Health that she eats the same “big, fat salad” every day.
- I made the recipe, which includes arugula, roasted sweet potato, and broccoli, for a work lunch.
- It helped me avoid snacking before dinner, but next time I’d cook some ingredients ahead of time.
I love trying out recipes celebrities share, especially ones that I can incorporate into my goal of eating healthier during the week.
I’ve made everything from King Charles’ festive roast-potato recipe to Jennifer Aniston’s go-to salad recipe. While I love indulging in delicious, but not necessarily healthy, meals from time to time, I’m particularly a fan of trying recipes that I can really see myself incorporating into my efforts to eat healthfully, especially during the work week.
So when I saw that Jennifer Garner told Women’s Health that she eats the exact same salad every day in a video about how she stays fit as a mom of three, I knew I had to give it a go.
The “13 Going on 30” star’s every-day salad recipe looks like an ideal option for a healthy but filling weekday lunch.
In the video, which was shared by Women’s Health in May, Garner, 51, describes her go-to lunch as a “big, fat salad,” similar to the one Elaine famously eats on “Seinfeld.”
“It’s got everything,” Garner says.
Garner said she is pretty flexible about what goes in her salad, but its mainstays are arugula, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and green beans.
Garner’s “hearty” salad recipe calls for:
- Arugula
- Green beans
- Broccoli
- A hearty vegetable of your choice
- Half a sweet potato
- Chopped nuts
- Cheese
- Salt
- Pepper
- Olive oil
The actor didn’t go into detail with the measurements of the ingredients so I just eyeballed the entire recipe and tried to make a portion that I would consider to be plenty for my appetite.
The recipe features half a sweet potato, but I quickly realized that cooking mine in halves would take too long for a workday lunch.
Roasting half a sweet potato in an oven at 200 degrees Celsius, or around 392 Fahrenheit, can take upwards of 40 minutes.
Being as hungry as I was, and as busy as I was, I didn’t want to spend too much time waiting for the sweet potatoes to roast.
To save time, I decided to chop up half a sweet potato so it would cook faster.
In the video, Garner says she keeps a stack of pre-roasted sweet potatoes in her fridge and takes one out when she needs it for the salad.
I quickly realized how convenient that trick would be — having the sweet potato ready to go would’ve saved me a lot of time.
Per Garner’s instructions, I coated the sweet potato in olive oil, salt, and pepper.
I coated the sweet potatoes and seasoned them to my liking on one side before flipping them over to make sure they were coated evenly.
However, I forgot to preheat my oven, so I switched it on and waited for it to heat up.
While I waited for the oven to heat up, I prepped the rest of the salad ingredients.
I washed the ingredients prior to starting my prep work. For the green beans, I cut off the ends and chopped them into bite-size pieces.
I did the same with the broccoli, which I suspected I would’ve preferred roasted or blanched for the salad.
Garner didn’t mention whether the broccoli or green beans were cooked so I left them raw. Although I knew that would add a great level of crunch, I personally would’ve preferred both vegetables to be cooked.
I chose walnuts for my version of Garner’s salad, but you can go with whichever type of nut you prefer.
Garner didn’t specify the type of nut she tends to use in the salad so I just opted to use what I had available in the pantry.
Finally, the oven was hot enough for me to start roasting the potatoes.
By the time it was hot enough for the sweet potatoes, I had already finished preparing most of the other ingredients for the salad. Avoid wasting time like I did by preheating your oven!
Once I put the sweet potatoes in the oven, I left them roasting for 15 minutes before flipping them over to cook for an additional 15 minutes.
Garner didn’t detail the dressing she uses on the salad so I made my go-to, which uses several pantry staples.
To make my easy salad recipe, you’ll need:
- Olive oil
- Balsamic vinegar
- Soy sauce
- Honey
- Lemon juice
- Salt
- Pepper
Like Garner, I don’t use exact measurements for my dressing. I eyeball everything and then depending on how it tastes, make adjustments to achieve a perfect balance of salt, sweet, and citrus flavors.
After squeezing lemon juice into the dressing, I always make sure to take out any seeds that fall in.
Lemon seeds have a really bitter taste and can ruin an otherwise delicious bite if they end up in a salad.
I like my salad dressing cold so I added a few ice cubes to keep it cool while I waited for the sweet potatoes.
In my experience, the ice cubes also help reduce any sharpness of the vinegar in the dressing.
While waiting, I also chopped some beetroot — my hearty vegetable of choice for the salad — and Parmesan cheese.
After 30 minutes, the sweet potatoes were ready to go.
They’d gotten some great color in the oven and the skin looked like it had a decent level of crispiness to it.
Then I added my homemade dressing. I loved how vibrant the salad looked with the bright colors of the vegetables.
I also realized once it was done just how big I’d made it – I’d used a whole packet of arugula, which I’d usually use to make a salad for at least two people.
But I was determined to stay true to Garner’s description of a “big, fat” salad.
Garner’s salad is as hearty as she says it is, especially after I added a piece of leftover salmon for more protein.
Although Garner said her salad recipe can “go without protein more and more,” dietitians advise that a well-balanced salad should include protein. While this salad did include some sources of protein, such as the walnuts, I felt it needed more.
Seeing as I had salmon ready to go from dinner the night before, I decided to add it for an even more satiating salad.
And overall, it was a deliciously hearty salad that I truly enjoyed. I didn’t even mind the crunch of the raw broccoli and green beans as much as I thought I would because they contrasted the softness of the sweet potato and salmon. I also felt like Garner’s ingredients suited the flavors of my own salad dressing.
The only change I’d make to the process is pre-roasting sweet potatoes like Garner does so I can save some time preparing the meal during my lunch break.
But the main reason I would definitely make the salad again was because it helped me avoid snacking — a longtime habit of mine — all the way until dinner.
Garner said her salad has “a lot of good stuff,” and I definitely agree. It left me full, and happily so.
