The Best Wooden Salad Bowls for a Beautiful Table, According to Experts
When it’s tossed and served in a gorgeous wooden bowl, a salad becomes the highlight of any meal, whether it’s a company dinner or a family lunch.
By now, I think we’ve all gotten the message that we should include lots of fresh fruits and vegetables in our diet on a daily basis. Don’t think of this advice as hard to follow but rather as something to enjoy. When you use a beautiful wooden salad bowl to serve salads composed of sprightly greens along with a variety of colorful additions, you’ll find eating well virtually irresistible. In fact, our roundup of best fruit bowls, includes pieces that are so beautiful, you’ll be dreaming up new things to serve in them.
For advice on what to look for in a wooden salad bowl and how to care for one, we turned to two kitchen experts, Tara Bench, cookbook author and owner of Tara Teaspoon Inc, a blog and website that features recipes for entertaining and weeknight meals, including lots of salads, and Danielle Brown, author of Life-Changing Salads and founder of HealthyGirl Kitchen.
Things to Consider When Buying a Wooden Salad Bowl
Type of Wood
Both Tara Bench and Danielle Brown emphasize that the best salad bowls are made of solid hard woods like maple, cherry, walnut and acacia that have a close grain that won’t crack, chip or shrink. Another good thing about hard woods is that they aren’t porous, so they don’t absorb excess moisture or salad oils which can make them harder to clean and even lead to a rancid or moldy odor.
The best bowls are hand crafted from a single piece of wood. They don’t require glue to piece them together and they’re unlikely to crack or break apart. However, we’re aware that these bowls often come with a hefty price tag. Ultimately, this makes them a good buy as you may never have to replace them, but you have to determine if your budget can allow you to spring for a hand-turned bowl. Brown advises, “Don’t cheap out … invest in one, high-quality, wood salad bowl that you can use and enjoy for years.”
Shape
Bench has a strong preference for wide shallow bowls, pointing out that foods don’t compact in them. This is particularly advantageous when you’re tossing tender greens that you want to stay fluffy and not become drenched with dressing. However, if you make your salad dressing right in the bowl, you might prefer a deeper bowl, which makes it easier to mix the oil and vinegar together before you add any vegetables, ensuring mustard is well incorporated and salt is dissolved.
How to Care for a Wooden Salad Bowl
The pros’ number one piece of advice: Don’t put wooden bowls in the dishwasher. Hand wash them with mild dishwasher detergent and a sponge or a nonabrasive cleaning pad. Be sure to dry them off immediately. Definitely don’t soak them before cleaning.
Bench recommends that “occasionally, which could be every few weeks or a couple of months, you should treat wooden bowls with mineral oil or an oil that’s specifically designed for wooden utensils. The humidity where you live will dictate how often the bowl needs to be oiled. You don’t want the bowl to completely dry out.”
If a bowl develops a rancid odor or a mold spot, perhaps from a piece of fruit that was left sitting too long, Bench says it can easily be corrected by scrubbing with soapy water or a mild bleach solution; just be sure to rinse it out afterwards. To prevent mold from developing, she suggests putting a small piece of cork beneath fruit at the bottom of the bowl to absorb moisture.
The JK Adams serving bowl epitomizes everything we like about wooden salad bowls — it’s warm, rich and inviting. Formed from one piece of cherry wood, its beauty is enhanced by the rings and other natural patterns in the wood. Over time, the characteristic reddish color deepens and becomes even more attractive.
This 12-inch Vermont-made bowl is fairly shallow, which makes tossing a salad easy and helps prevent greens from becoming weighed down. However, you’ll notice the bowl dips down in the middle so there’s a nice depression for stirring up olive oil, lemon juice and other ingredients. JK Adams also sells 9-, 15- and 17-inch sizes and similar bowls in maple and walnut.
For the natural beauty of wood without a hefty price tag, consider this acacia wood bowl with a classic round shape. It’s generously sized with a diameter of 12 inches and depth of 4 inches. When it’s not being used for salad, fill it will fresh fruit for a beautiful centerpiece.
It’s rare to see a large-sized bowl at such a low price point. With its curved sidewall and deep brown color, this warm, inviting bowl cradles even the largest salads beautifully. If you like the shape but don’t need a humongous bowl, smaller sizes are available, including ones for individual servings.
While we favor shallow bowls, there are good reasons for preferring a deeper one. If you’re in the camp that makes the salad dressing right in the bowl, it’s easier to mix in the bottom of a deep bowl. Plus, a deeper bowl takes up less room on the table which is a big advantage at the holidays when you’re serving a zillion dishes and tabletop space is at a premium. This Williams-Sonoma exclusive is made from rubberwood; it’s a sustainable wood as it’s a byproduct of rubber production that would otherwise be discarded. The 14-inch bowl is available with either its natural light golden finish or a darker one. With the bowl, you get a pair of wooden servers. Eleven- and 17-inch versions are also available in either color and you can opt to buy a bowl minus the serving pieces.
Tara Bench’s choice is this “gloriously simple and chic shallow, handmade bowl”. In addition to maple, it comes in cherry or walnut and for no additional fee, you can have the bottom engraved with a personal message. It’s made by a family-owned company in Michigan that feels so strongly about its products that it provides a lifetime guarantee that if a bowl ever cracks or warps from regular use, it’ll replace it with a new one.
Even if your dinner is a take-out chicken Caesar that you eat in front of the TV all by your little old lonesome, it’ll seem like something special if you transfer it to this beautiful 7-inch bowl. East Fork creates it from a single piece of wood and designs it to have the same organic shape as its pottery bowls. It comes in cherry, maple or walnut. Over time, each variety of wood will become richer in color. Love this piece? You can also have it in large sizes or a set of four.
Yes, we know it’s not really wood but we couldn’t resist including this lovely melamine bowl. The color of ash wood, it has a beautiful interior surface with a wood grain pattern. It’s a great choice for summer salads served on the patio. With a capacity of over a gallon, it can hold a main-course Cobb or chef salad for the whole family or coleslaw or succotash when you’re entertaining. Bonus: This is one “wooden” salad bowl that can be cleaned in the dishwasher.
Bobby Hicks, chef, food historian and author of Retro Recipes is wowed by the craftsmanship and attention to detail in this hand-turned bowl. He says, “The design is timeless, fluid and really allows food to take on a powerful aesthetic, especially when building a salad with lots of bright colors!” It comes in both cherry and walnut, which Hicks prefers for its “darker, moodier look”.
It certainly is something extraordinary and Hicks recommends pulling it out for “special occasions when you’re using fine China and genuine silverware” and warns it “will turn heads when you do”. We realize it’s a big splurge; if you can afford it, don’t save it for company but enjoy it every day, either for serving salads or displaying fresh fruit. And it certainly would make a wonderful wedding gift.
The Best Fruit Bowls for Keeping Produce Within Reach
Entice your family to grab a good-for-them snack by keeping one of these beautiful bowls of fresh fruit on your kitchen countertop.
