A church cookbook combines two steadfast pillars of every Southern congregation: fellowship and food. When a group of church members puts together a collection of recipes, it’s not about putting on a show. It’s about binding comfort and community into a spiral notebook of dependable, no-fuss recipes every Southerner should have at their disposal.
In every church cookbook, you’ll find more than a few cold salad recipes tucked into the pages, and the selection makes it instantly apparent that Southerners use the term “salad” quite fast and loose. Whether crisp or creamy, garden-fresh or gelatinous, Southern salads are as faithful as it gets. Many use pre-packaged ingredients, like Duke’s mayo and Miracle Whip, with wild abandon; while some are more sweet than savory. One thing’s for certain: Church salads are definitely worth praising.
Chicken salad, made the old-school way. This recipe harkens back to chicken salad of generations past, with chopped chicken, mayo, celery, and a splash of lemon juice.
Dotdash Meredith
Church cookbooks know it would be a sin to exclude this classic. Packed with onions, celery, sour cream, and bacon, this recipe is an essential.
Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Torie Cox
Whether you remember eating a grandparent’s recipe or enjoyed the now discontinued Chick-fil-A version, you can now recreate this classic recipe for your next church gathering.
Shrimp Salad
Caitlin Bensel; Food Stylist: Torie Cox
Simple and classic, this shrimp salad recipe can be served over a bed of lettuce, on a croissant, or alongside crackers.
JEN CAUSEY; FOOD STYLIST: EMILY NABORS HALL; PROP STYLIST: CALEB CLARKE
Trifles aren’t just for desserts. They can be used as the vessel for beautiful layered salads like this one.
Antonis Achilleos; Prop Stylist: Christina Daley; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall
This retro salad is easy to make, can be made ahead of time, and requires no cooking. Plus, it’s pretty to look at too.
Robby Lozano; Food Stylist: Emily Nabors Hall
This salad is about the only way you’re getting a Southerner to eat raw broccoli. Grapes add even more crunch and little sweetness to the cherished pasta salad.
Alison Miksch; Food Stylist: Karen Rankin; Prop Stylist: Josh Hoggle
You may have a different name for this nostalgic salad that’s made with pistachio instant pudding mix, which gives it the green color. No matter what you call it, this six-ingredient salad has been gracing church potlucks across the South since the 1970s.
Though it feels so wrong, it somehow tastes so right. This retro salad deserves to be kept in the loop, if only for posterity’s sake. It’s made with lettuce, canned pears, mayonnaise, Cheddar cheese, and maraschino cherries.
Use this recipe as the base for your Orzo salad, and you can add additional veggies or even the meat of you preference to transform it into a heartier dish.
In this recipe we bring together two Southern favorites, heirloom tomatoes and saltine crackers, to create a colorful salad that will wow any crowd.
This recipe serves four to six as is, but can easily be doubled or tripled to serve a larger crowd.
Creole mustard and Cajun seasoning make potato salad worthy of being served alongside classic Louisiana dishes like Gumbo.
Dressed up and dreamy, this corn salad transforms fresh corn with a light and fluffy cloud of whipped cream. Another magic touch: It calls for only four ingredients.
With only two steps, this recipe couldn’t be easier. Plus, you can easily double it if you’ll be serving a larger crowd.
Egg salad is the most nostalgic of spreads. This 15-minute, 5-ingredient recipe is an easy go-to rendition.
Elevate fresh fruit so it’s potluck-worthy by soaking it in a marinade made with orange juice and honey,
Caitlin Bensel; Food Styling: Torie Cox
The whole congregation will be singing its praises if you show up with this classic potato salad. Like many favorite traditional recipes, it includes mayonnaise, yellow mustard, and hard-boiled eggs.
Deliciously creamy, slightly crunchy, and subtly sweet, this cold salad is a church cookbook staple.
Nostalgic for many, ham salad is an old-school favorite. It has frequented many a Southern church hall, as well as their beloved cookbooks.
We’ve all seen a crystal bowl full of creamy fruit salad. With a base of canned fruit for convenience and a creamy, whipped “dressing” reminiscent of the flavors of lemon curd, this recipe is a hidden weapon in any church hosts’ arsenal.
Polarizing? Yes. Vintage? Definitely. Tomato aspic hails from a time when savory-sweet gelatin salads were quite en vogue.
Meet the tangy side every Southerner loves. Like a cross between vinegar-based coleslaw and chowchow, this slaw is dubbed “permanent” because it’s designed to be made ahead and gets more flavorful the longer it sits.
