Hoda Kotb’s Upside-Down Salad Recipe

When Hoda Kotb was a kid, she and her siblings always had a job at dinnertime: One of them would set the table, another would be in charge of clearing the table, and someone else would make the salad. This is what Hoda would make when she was on salad duty. She’d build it from the bottom up: First, she’d make the vinaigrette and combine it in a salad bowl with avocado, mango, cucumber, and tomatoes, letting everything mingle. Then, when ready to serve, she’d toss it with the lettuce and croutons. And to this day, it’s still Hoda’s go-to salad. “It sounds really basic,” she says, “but those mangoes tossed in the balsamic — it’s like candy to me.”

Hoda’s Upside-Down Salad

Serves 6

Prep time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

For the balsamic dressing

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

⅓ cup balsamic vinegar

1 large clove garlic, grated on a Microplane

1 teaspoon honey

¼ teaspoon Dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the salad 

2 avocados, diced

2 Champagne mangoes, diced

1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

½ English cucumber, sliced into half-moons

1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped into 1-inch pieces

1 cup seasoned croutons

Directions 

Make the balsamic dressing: In a screw-top jar, combine the olive oil, vinegar, garlic, honey, mustard, salt, and pepper, cover, and shake vigorously to emulsify.

Make the salad: In a large bowl, combine the avocados, mangoes, tomatoes, cucumber, and the dressing and toss to combine. Add the lettuce, then top with the croutons.

When ready to serve, toss the salad until all ingredients are evenly coated with the dressing.

Excerpted from the book Today Loves Food: Recipes From America’s Favorite Kitchen by Emi Boscamp, Katie Stilo, Debbie Cohen Kosofsky, and the Today Show Family and Friends. Photographs © 2025 by Johnny Miller. Published by Abrams.