Use it up · Vegetables

Lettuce and salad greens

Have extra lettuce and salad greens? Here’s how to choose, store and prep lettuce and salad greens, plus 25 family recipes to use it all up, best matches first.

🍽 See the recipes 🧺 Pick a few things you have

🛒 Choosing it

Look for crisp leaves with no slimy or brown edges. Check the bottom of salad-mix boxes for wet leaves.

Best season: Spring and fall. Timing varies by region.

🧊 Storing it

Fridge: A few days for tender greens; a week or more for romaine and iceberg heads; in the crisper

Wrap washed, dried leaves in a paper towel inside a bag.

Keep the fridge at 40°F or below and the freezer at 0°F. Freezer times are for best quality; food kept frozen at 0°F stays safe. When in doubt, throw it out. Times from University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources.

🔪 Prepping it

Rinse under running water just before eating and spin or pat dry so dressing clings.

🌱 Grow it

You can grow your own: lettuce. The Food Garden Planner shows how much to plant for your family and when it comes in.

🌱 Plan a garden with it →

📊 Nutrition per 100 g

Romaine lettuce. 100 g is about 3 1/2 ounces.

Calories	17 kcal	1%
Protein	1.2 g	2%
Total fat	0.3 g	0%
Saturated fat	0.0 g	0%
Total carbohydrate	3.3 g	1%
Dietary fiber	2.1 g	8%
Total sugars	1.2 g
Sodium	8.0 mg	0%
Calcium	33 mg	3%
Iron	1.0 mg	5%
Potassium	247 mg	5%

% Daily Value for adults (FDA). From USDA FoodData Central 169247 (SR Legacy).

🍽 Recipes that use it up

25 recipes, the ones that use the most lettuce and salad greens first.

Plan them into your week in the meal planner, or find recipes for two or three things at once with the “What can I make?” picker.

Storage times and buying tips are general guides from the sources below; follow any date or instructions on the package. Cook meat, poultry, fish and eggs to the USDA safe temperatures in each recipe.