Pizza salad recipe: This colorful, filling dish has a real kick!

Pizza salad can be made in just a few steps.

The pizza salad thrives on its uncomplicated preparation: nothing is cooked or fried, just chopped and mixed. This very simplicity makes it a practical companion for days when time is short. The combination of fresh vegetables, hearty mackerel, and a tangy mustard-vinegar dressing truly evokes the familiar flavors of a pizza, all wrapped up in a colorful bowl. The recipe for the pizza salad comes from what is probably the most famous East German cookbook. However, there's one thing we haven't been able to explain: why canned mackerel is absolutely essential in the salad. Do you know? For everyone else: if you don't like fish, you can easily substitute it with pan-fried chicken or, for example, tuna.

You can serve this pizza salad as a satisfying main course for lunch or dinner, perhaps with a slice of fresh bread. It's also perfect for a buffet or a relaxed summer evening in the garden. Leftovers will keep, covered, in the refrigerator for one to two days, and the flavors will even intensify after a while. Now grab your chopping board and bowl, here's the recipe!

Ingredients for pizza salad

You will need: 1 head of green lettuce, 1 red and 1 green bell pepper, 4 tomatoes, 4 hard-boiled eggs, ½ cucumber, 1 large onion, 1 can of mackerel in oil, 1 tbsp vinegar, 1 tbsp mustard, salt, pepper, oil, 4 chili peppers.

Preparation: How to make pizza salad

Wash the green salad thoroughly and spin or shake it dry. Tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces and place them in a large bowl. Wash the red and green bell peppers, remove the stems and seeds, and cut the flesh into thin strips or cubes. Wash the tomatoes and cut them into wedges or cubes, depending on how you prefer to eat the salad. Peel the hard-boiled eggs and slice or quarter them. Peel half a cucumber, halve it lengthwise, and cut it into thin half-moons. Peel the large onion and dice it finely so it mixes well with the salad. Add the bell peppers, tomatoes, eggs, cucumber, and onion to the green salad in the bowl and gently toss everything together. Drain the canned mackerel, break it into bite-sized pieces, and scatter it over the salad.

For the dressing, whisk together vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper, and a little oil in a small bowl until smooth and creamy. Pour the dressing over the salad and toss well to coat all the ingredients. Finally, garnish the pizza salad with the pepperoni on top. Serve it freshly dressed so the salad stays crisp, ideally with a slice of baguette or other bread. Enjoy!