Nitric Oxide Salad! Whether you’re gearing up for a workout or simply looking to nourish your body, this salad is the perfect blend of health and flavor that you won’t want to miss!

This vibrant Nitric Oxide Salad is a medley of chopped leafy greens that’s crafted to supercharge your body’s natural production of nitric oxide. Why is this important, you ask? Nitric oxide plays a pivotal role in enhancing athletic performance and supporting cardiovascular health, making this salad a game-changer for fitness enthusiasts and cardiac patients alike. With a delightful selection of two dressings, you can easily tailor this nutritious dish to suit your taste buds, ensuring that every bite is as satisfying as it is beneficial.

Whole Food Plant Based, Vegan, plant based, oil free, refined sugar free, no highly processed ingredients and gluten free.

Hi there, Ameera here!

Introducing our Nitric Oxide Salad, a delicious and nutritious recipe designed specifically to naturally boost your body’s production of nitric oxide! After receiving numerous requests from our wonderful cardiac patient readers looking for heart-healthy recipes that eliminate salt while maximizing nutrition, we knew we had to create something special.

Packed with a variety of leafy greens, this salad is a leafy green lover’s dream come true! Not only does it enhance athletic performance, but it also supports cardiovascular health, making it a versatile dish for anyone seeking a healthier lifestyle.

Dive into this vibrant salad and experience the benefits of nitric oxide in every crunchy bite! Your taste buds and your heart will thank you!

Tips for Success:

Flavor Profile: This Nitric Oxide Salad is a mix of chopped leafy greens that specifically boost nitric oxide. You can choose between either of two heart healthy dressings. This salad has a tabouleh type of taste and mouthfeel to it.
Meal Prep: If not planning to eat the salad all at once, then we suggest adding the dressing only to individual servings.
Dressing Individual Servings: Place a small amount of dressing into individual servings and mixing thoroughly before determining if more dressing is needed.
Cardiac Patients: This is an excellent salad (undressed) to meal prep in quantity to keep in the fridge for nitric oxide boosts.
Performance Athletes: This salad features nitric oxide greens and veggies to boost exercise performance.
Nitric Oxide Vegetables: Nitric Oxide is excellent for helping to lower blood pressure and boosting exercise performance. To increase nitric oxide, you can eat food, such as beets, leafy greens, and pomegranates. For cardiac patients, a diet rich in leafy greens is a must as the nitric oxide causes the blood vessels to dilate maintaining a healthy blood flow. The endothelium cells make nitric oxide. When there is an abundance of nitric oxide in the blood steam, it keeps the blood moving, thereby eliminating the stickiness which form plaques. For more detailed information, please see Page 38 of Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr. MD’s NY Times Bestseller book Prevent and Reverse Heart Disease. (Note: This is not a sponsored post for Dr. Esselstyn’s book, we love Dr. Esselstyn and his generous contributions to the Whole Food Plant Based community.)
Baby Lettuce Greens: We bought a cellophane box of organic mixed baby lettuce greens from our local grocery store. Baby Lettuce Greens are often found in the salad greens section of the grocery store. The mix contained the following baby lettuces: arugula, kale, spinach, beet greens, romaine, butter lettuce, and radicchio. Feel free to make your own mix.
Baby Lettuce Green Substitutions: You can use your favorite lettuce greens in this salad.
Chopping the Salad Ingredients: To create a great mouth feel, we chopped all the parsley, mint, kale, and lettuce greens into fine pieces. It can easily be eaten with a spoon if you wish.
Not a Fan of Curly Kale: You can substitute with your favorite greens.
How to Massage the Curly Kale: Massaging kale is a way often that can soften and improve the texture of kale leaves. First chop the kale into small pieces. The pieces should be about ½ inch in size.
- First, strip the kale from the stems. Discard the stems/stalks. The stems are thick and tough, which can ruin the mouthfeel of the dish.
- Next thoroughly rinse and spin dry (or pat dry) the stripped leaves.
- Then, lay the strips of kale onto a cutting board and chop into bitesize pieces.
- Next grab handfuls of the chopped kale and squeeze them in your fists and release, do this several times to break the kale down. Then add in Step 5 per recipe instructions.
Why Massaging the Kale Works:
- Massaging Breaks Down the Plant Cellulose: Massaging causes the cellulose fibers in kale to break down, making the leaves more tender and easier to chew.
- Massaging Helps Release the Kale’s Flavor: The massage process releases flavor compounds from the kale leaves, enhancing its taste.
- It Helps Reduce Some of the Kale’s Bitterness: Kale can be slightly bitter, but massaging helps to reduce this bitterness.
- It Helps Improve the Digestibility: By breaking down the cellulose fibers, massaging can make kale easier to digest.
- Enhances Appearance: Massaging kale makes the leaves appear more vibrant and greener.

Mini Cucumbers Preparation: This recipe uses 4 mini cucumbers The mini cucumbers are not peeled. Cut the cucumbers lengthwise into 8ths (or forths) if the mini cucumber is on the smaller side), then finely dice.
Amount of Pure Maple Syrup: Our family was divided over the amount of maple syrup that was needed to create the perfect amount of sweetness. Feel free to use less or add more. It is easy to add more, so start on the lower side if unsure how much you like.
Maple Syrup Substitutions: You can substitute with date syrup, or you can mince and mash a softened Medjool date and mix it in the dressing. If the Medjool date is not soft and easily pliable, simply place the date into a small bowl and cover with boiling water for several minutes, then drain and mince.
Fresh Mint or Dried Mint: You can use either fresh mint or dried mint in this recipe. If using fresh mint, you can use as little or as much as you wish. We used a prepackaged .5 oz. cellophane package of fresh mint typically found in most grocery stores.
Why Offer Two Dressings: We offered two dressings simply because we have family members totally divided over which one was their favorite dressing, so we decided to offer both.
Dressing A – Balsamic Dressing – Two Vinegars: The base for the dressing is balsamic vinegar with its deep vinegar flavor with mild accents and sweetness. The red wine vinegar adds just a delicious boost of tanginess.
Dressing B – Italian Walnut Dressing: Various studies have shown that walnuts are excellent for the brain and heart when eaten in moderation. If concerned about consuming walnuts due to being a cardiac patient due to strictly managing fat intake, then elect to make Dressing A – Balsamic Dressing.
Miso: Miso is high in sodium; however, based upon the research presented in Dr. Greger’s Is Miso Healthy? video, it would appear that while soy miso is high in sodium, the risk is cancelled out by the soy and even further reduced when coupled with high allium vegetables like green onions which are also in this salad. If you have any concerns at all, then feel free to not add the miso to the salad dressing.
Low-Fat Dish Expectations: This salad was designed to be low in fat and high in Nitric Oxide. Because it is low in fat, you are not going to experience that endorphin rush associated with eating salads dressing high-fat dressings. This salad is very tasty for what it is, and that is a high nitic oxide salad. We just want to make sure that our Readers recognize this when contemplating making this salad. If you wish to make it more indulgent, add the your favorite nuts or seeds on individual servings, if your diet permits.
Sea Salt: We designed this recipe to specifically leave out sea salt for cardiac patients. If your diet permits sea salt, then feel free to add it to taste.

Leftovers and Freezing:

Leftovers will generally keep 5 days (undressed) in the refrigerator. Store in a covered container.

This salad cannot be frozen.

Pantry Products:

Miso: We used Miso Master Organic Mellow White Premium Lite Miso, Certified Gluten Free. Miso really lends itself to balancing flavors when you don’t use oil. You can also use chickpea miso for a soy free version.

Kitchen Equipment:

Whisk (or fork)
High-speed blender (if making the Italian Walnut Dressing)

If you try this bold and wholesome salad, we would love to know if you enjoy it as much as we do! Please leave us a review! Post a picture on Facebook or Instagram and tag us! We would love to hear from you.

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Nitric Oxide Salad

Hi there, Ameera here!

Tips for Success:

Leftovers and Freezing:

Pantry Products:

Kitchen Equipment:

Nitric Oxide Salad

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Ingredients

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