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These tasty Crunchy Salad Toppers help you bring something extraordinary to your favorite salad. Packed full of flavor, these salad toppers are super simple to make.
After making the first batch of these crunchy salad toppers, I promptly needed to make another pan. Um, I kinda ate them all, standing over the hot pan, fresh out of the oven. It wasn’t my proudest moment, but sorry not sorry.
These crispy little salad gems were born out of my general mehness over salads. Overall, I find salad ridiculously boring and uninspiring. But, when my husband and I are on a Whole30 round, salads are the perfect medium for getting more veggies into our diet.
Salads need a crunch factor and since croutons are off the table on Whole30, these crunchy salad toppers were born. And I’m never going back to croutons!
Need help getting started off with your Whole30 round on the right foot? Download my totally free Trader Joe’s Whole30 Shopping List and Whole30 Costco Shopping List. I have done all the work for you with checking ingredients and figuring out safe foods. Happy shopping?
What Ingredients Are in These Crunchy Salad Toppers?
Once you take a bite of these, you’ll think they’re made with unicorn tears and moonbeams. They’re THAT good. But in actuality, these toppers are rocking:
- Slivered almonds
- Sunflower seeds
- Pumpkin seeds/pepitas
- Hemp hearts
- Spices – dill, salt, parsley, smoked paprika, onion, and garlic powders
- Olive oil
How to Make Crunchy Salad Toppers
*A detailed and printable recipe can be found at the bottom of this post.
Combine all the ingredients except hemp hearts in a bowl and toss to coat evenly with the olive oil.
Pour onto a rimmed baking sheet and spread everything around, making sure to not crowd the ingredients. Space is key here! Bake and stir, then add the hemp hearts and bake some more.
Pro Tips/Recipe Notes
- Every oven is different, so keep an eye on the process to make sure nothing burns.
- Feel free to double or triple the ingredients because this crunchy salad topper mix is sooooo good! You’ll find yourself using it super quickly.
- Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to four weeks.
Variations
- Adding a package of organic ramen noodles would be an amazing addition to these crunchy salad toppers! Keep in mind, noodles would not be Whole30 compliant, and depending on the ingredients may or may not be gluten-free or paleo.
- A drizzle of chili oil or some roasted pepper flakes would bring some delicious heat.
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- Greek Yogurt Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
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Crunchy Salad Toppers
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/3 cup slivered almonds
- 2 tbsp hemp hearts
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp dried dill
- 1/2 tsp dried parsley
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- pinch smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
- Combine all the ingredients except the hemp hearts in a bowl and toss to coat evenly with the olive oil.1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, 1/3 cup sunflower seeds, 1/3 cup slivered almonds, 1/4 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 tsp dried dill, 1/2 tsp dried parsley, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp onion powder, pinch smoked paprika, 1 tbsp olive oil
- Pour onto a rimmed baking sheet and spread everything around, making sure to not crowd the ingredients. Space is key here! Bake for 10 minutes.
- Toss the hemp hearts with a tiny drizzle of olive oil in the now empty bowl.2 tbsp hemp hearts
- dd the hemp hearts, and bake another 5 minutes.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This recipe is great! Will never purchase those overpriced small packets at the store again. I had all the ingredients on hand but substituted the sunflower seeds with salted version. Would use raw next time as this came out a bit too salty this way. Add in some dried cranberries or blueberries when putting the salad together gives it a little sweet/saltiness. Thank you so much for this recipe! It’s a keeper.
Susan
Susan, I always forget about this recipe (blogging for 15 years will do that!), so I appreciate your comment reminding me about it.
I love the addition of the dried fruit. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review.
This is a delicious addition to my daily green salad and worth the little extra effort. Thank you so much for posting!
So glad you enjoyed them Rochelle! I also like to use the same seasonings for almonds and cashews for snacking.
The crunchies on top are always my favorite! Thanks for sharing!
It’s pretty much the best part of the salad!
The crunch looks good. Been ages since I’ve been here, but am out blog walking through my reading list. Doing maintenance as well. Seems lots of folks have deleted their blogs, but for some reason their feeds are still on my list, so am deleting them as I walk along. Likewise, some blogs are there, but haven’t posted in a couple of years. I don’t know that many people do maintenance on their reading list, but it seemed like a good idea to me. Hope you’re doing well.
Glad to see you back Sandy!