The Underrated Fried Ingredients You Should Be Adding To Salad

There are tons of ways to upgrade your standard salad, from seasoning your greens to adding pickle brine to elevate your dressing. We wanted to dive even deeper and find new and exciting ingredients to incorporate to bring more flavor and texture to the party. To help, Food Republic chatted with chef Matt Ayala, Executive Chef at François Frankie, to give us some ideas on how to get the job done.

According to chef Ayala, there are various ingredients that you can fry or roast to bring out deeper flavors while also giving your salad a crunch. "Crispy chickpeas are always a favorite," Ayala noted. "I toss them in smoked paprika [or] za'atar before roasting. I also love using fried shallots or garlic chips; they lend so much flavor and texture and pair with virtually anything." Similar to shallots and garlic, you can also consider frying up some other ingredients for your salad. For example, crispy onions (onions and shallots are similar but different) can also work.

When frying these, though, keep in mind that you want to be careful not to burn them — they're delicate ingredients, after all. For fried shallots or onions, you can use high heat and constant motion to ensure they crisp up without scorching. Once they've reached a golden color, drain them and set them aside. Frying garlic, on the other hand, needs a lower heat. Simply cook them in oil over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until they've reached the same golden hue. In a pinch, you can even fry up garlic in your microwave in a matter of minutes.

While Matt Ayala admittedly gushed over shallots and garlic, his ideas didn't stop with roasted and fried ingredients. "Crispy rice or quinoa adds a fun, light crunch, and even broken-up potato chips (my Caesar salad's secret weapon) can do the trick," Ayala informed us. Speaking of potato chips, you can even consider breaking up some Fritos and tossing them in — similar to how they're a salty and crunchy powerhouse when it comes to upgrading a burrito.

You can also consider using nuts or seeds in your salad — and you can even roast them in the oven or toast them in a skillet if you want to deepen their flavors. Some of our favorites include pumpkin seeds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, or slivered almonds. You can also go with pecans or peanuts if those are more your style. For extra texture, blanch and deep fry your nuts until glassy. Add some spices to the mix, like in these curry and rosemary fried almonds for more dimension.