Sarra Ina Garten’s salad with warm goat cheese is pan-fried Montrachet rounds coated in fresh breadcrumbs, browned in butter and olive oil until crispy on the outside and creamy inside, then set on top of dressed salad greens with a two-vinegar vinaigrette made in the food processor. It serves 6 and takes about 35 minutes including chill time.
This recipe comes from Ina’s Barefoot Contessa Parties! cookbook (2001) and appears on both barefootcontessa.com and Food Network. It is one of her most revisited dishes: she loved warm goat cheese salads so much that she published three different versions across four books, each with a different technique. Pan-fried rounds in Parties!, baked crottins on toast in Barefoot in Paris (2004), and phyllo-wrapped packages in both Back to Basics (2008) and Make It Ahead (2014). This original pan-fried version is the one that started it all.
The technique that makes or breaks this recipe is getting the frying pan hot enough before the cheese goes in. Ina heats the oil and butter to just under smoking, then cooks the rounds quickly on both sides. That blast of high heat sets the breadcrumb crust before the cheese inside has time to melt and collapse. Use medium heat instead and the coating soaks up grease while the cheese oozes out the sides, leaving you with a flat greasy disc instead of a crispy round with a molten center.
Ina Garten Salad With Warm Goat Cheese Recipe
Course: Salads4
servings30
minutes40
minutes300
kcalIna’s original warm goat cheese salad from her Parties! cookbook, the dish she loved so much she published three different versions across four books. Breadcrumb-crusted Montrachet rounds get a quick sear in butter and oil, then land on dressed greens still hot from the pan.
Ingredients
- For the goat cheese:
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11 ounces (310g) Montrachet goat cheese
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2 large egg whites, lightly beaten
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Fresh white bread crumbs
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1 tablespoon good olive oil
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1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- For the vinaigrette:
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2 tablespoons good champagne vinegar
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2 tablespoons good cider vinegar
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Pinch of sugar
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1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
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1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
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1 large egg yolk
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1 cup (240ml) good olive oil
- For the salad:
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Mixed salad greens for 6
Directions
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Slice and bread the cheese: Cut the Montrachet into 12 half-inch-thick slices. Use a length of dental floss pulled through the log for clean cuts. Dip each slice into the beaten egg whites, then press into the bread crumbs until thoroughly coated on all sides. Place on a rack and chill for at least 15 minutes.
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Make the vinaigrette: Place the champagne vinegar, cider vinegar, sugar, salt, pepper, and egg yolk in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Blend for 1 minute. With the motor running, slowly pour the olive oil through the feed tube until the vinaigrette is thickened. Season to taste.
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Dress the greens: Toss the salad greens in a large bowl with just enough vinaigrette to moisten. Divide among 6 plates.
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Pan-fry the cheese: Melt the olive oil and butter in a sauté pan over medium-high heat until just under smoking. Add the goat cheese rounds and cook quickly on both sides until browned on the outside but not melted inside, about 1 minute per side.
- Serve: Top each plate of dressed greens with 2 warm goat cheese rounds and serve immediately.
Notes
- Chill the breaded rounds for the full 15 minutes. Cold cheese holds its shape in the hot pan, while room-temperature cheese softens too fast and the coating cracks open.
The vinaigrette contains a raw egg yolk. If this concerns you, use a pasteurized egg yolk or substitute 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard as the emulsifier instead.
Work fast once the cheese hits the pan. One minute per side is all they need. The rounds should be browned and crispy outside with cheese that is warm and creamy, not liquid.
FAQs
How do you slice goat cheese without it crumbling?
Ina’s trick is to use a length of dental floss instead of a knife. Loop the floss around the log, cross the ends, and pull through. The thin floss cuts cleanly through the soft cheese without compressing it the way a knife blade does.
Chilling the cheese in the fridge for 30 minutes before slicing also helps it hold together. Cut each log into 1/2-inch-thick rounds for the best ratio of crispy crust to creamy center. Thinner slices melt too fast in the pan and thicker ones stay cold inside.
How do you pan-fry goat cheese without it melting?
Two things keep the cheese from collapsing. First, the breadcrumb coating acts as insulation, giving the outside time to brown before the heat reaches the center. Dipping in egg white first helps the crumbs stick tight with no bare spots where cheese can escape.
Second, the pan needs to be very hot. Ina heats the oil and butter to just under smoking and cooks the rounds quickly, turning once. If the pan is not hot enough, the cheese sits in warm fat and slowly melts instead of searing. Chilling the breaded rounds for at least 15 minutes before frying firms them up so they hold their shape on contact.
Can you bread the goat cheese rounds ahead of time?
You can slice, bread, and chill the rounds up to a day ahead. Keep them on a rack in the fridge, uncovered, so the coating dries slightly and sticks better during frying. The vinaigrette can also be made a day ahead and stored in a jar in the fridge.
Pan-fry the cheese and toss the greens right before serving. The warm rounds cool fast once they leave the pan, and cold goat cheese on cold salad defeats the whole point. This is a last-minute dish by design: everything gets prepped early, but the 2 minutes of frying happen with guests at the table.
What other warm goat cheese salads does Ina make?
Ina loved this concept so much she published three more versions. Her Warm Goat Cheese in Phyllo from Back to Basics (2008) wraps the cheese in buttered phyllo and bakes it into a golden crispy package over greens with a champagne vinaigrette. Her French Green Bean Salad with Warm Goat Cheese from Make It Ahead (2014) uses Bûcheron cheese in phyllo over blanched French green beans with a dill vinaigrette.
If you enjoy goat cheese but want it crumbled rather than pan-fried, Ina’s Roasted Beet Salad Recipe scatters Montrachet over warm balsamic beets and arugula with Marcona almonds for a completely different approach.
What greens work best for this salad?
Ina simply calls for “mixed salad greens” without specifying a type, which gives you flexibility. A mix of baby arugula, frisée, and mache is the classic French bistro combination and works well because the peppery, bitter, and tender leaves create contrast with the rich warm cheese.
Avoid anything too sturdy like romaine or kale because they overpower the delicate pan-fried rounds. The greens should wilt just slightly from the heat of the cheese when you plate them. For a different composed salad with the same French first-course feel, Ina’s Avocado Grapefruit Salad is a lighter, no-cook option for warmer months.
