Is Salad Bowl Lettuce a Leaf Lettuce? A Comprehensive Guide

December 20, 2025 •

4 min read

First introduced in 1952 and awarded an All-America Selections prize, the 'Salad Bowl' variety is a highly regarded lettuce. Its enduring popularity often leads to a common question: is salad bowl lettuce a leaf lettuce, or does it belong to a different category? The straightforward answer is yes; Salad Bowl is a classic, loose-leaf lettuce variety, praised for its tender texture and exceptional heat tolerance.

Quick Summary

Salad Bowl is unequivocally a type of loose-leaf lettuce, recognized for its frilly, tender leaves and a cut-and-come-again harvest method, not forming a tight head.

Key Points

Salad Bowl is a Loose-Leaf Lettuce: It does not form a compact head like iceberg or romaine, instead growing as a loose rosette of frilly leaves.
Known for Heat Tolerance: Unlike many other varieties, Salad Bowl is slow to bolt and resists turning bitter in warmer weather.
Ideal for 'Cut-and-Come-Again' Harvesting: You can harvest the outer leaves as needed, and the plant will continue to produce more, extending its cropping season.
Features a Tender, Sweet Flavor: The delicate, mild taste and crisp texture make it a versatile and popular choice for fresh salads, wraps, and garnishes.
Easy for Home Gardeners: The variety is vigorous and simple to grow, with both green and red versions available.

Understanding the Main Lettuce Types

To properly answer the question, it's helpful to understand the main classifications of lettuce. The broad category of Lactuca sativa is split into several types, each with distinct growth habits, textures, and flavors.

Loose-leaf: This type, which includes Salad Bowl, does not form a compact head. Instead, its leaves grow in a loose rosette from a central stalk, making it ideal for the "cut-and-come-again" harvesting method.
Crisphead (Iceberg): Known for its densely packed, spherical head and crunchy, watery texture.
Romaine (Cos): Characterized by its upright, elongated heads and strong, crisp ribs.
Butterhead (Bibb/Boston): Forms a loose, round head with a soft, buttery texture and mild flavor.

What is Salad Bowl Lettuce?

Salad Bowl is a specific cultivar of loose-leaf lettuce (Lactuca sativa). It is not just a leaf lettuce, but one of the best-known and most reliable varieties within that group. It is particularly celebrated for several key characteristics:

Fast-Growing: It matures relatively quickly, offering a harvest in as little as 50 days.
Heat Tolerant: Unlike many other lettuces that turn bitter and 'bolt' (go to seed) in warm weather, Salad Bowl is slow to bolt and maintains its sweet flavor.
Distinct Appearance: It grows in a voluminous rosette of tender, frilly, and deeply lobed leaves, often compared to oak leaves. It comes in both green and red varieties, with the red version having a reddish-bronze tinge.
Excellent Flavor and Texture: The leaves are tender and delicate with a mild, slightly sweet taste and a pleasant crispness.

Growing and Harvesting Salad Bowl Lettuce

Salad Bowl is an excellent choice for both novice and experienced gardeners, as it is vigorous and easy to grow.

How to Grow Salad Bowl Lettuce

Sow seeds directly outdoors from early spring through mid-summer.
Choose a site with full sun or semi-shade.
Ensure the soil is fertile and consistently moist.
Sow seeds thinly, covering lightly with soil.
Thin seedlings to allow about 8 inches of space between plants.
Keep the area well-watered, especially during dry spells, to prevent bitterness.

How to Harvest Salad Bowl Lettuce

Cut-and-Come-Again: This is the most popular method. Harvest the outer, mature leaves as needed, leaving the central crown intact to continue producing new leaves. This extends the harvest period significantly.
Full Head Harvest: For a single harvest, you can cut the entire plant at its base when it reaches a desirable size.
Baby Leaf Harvest: For a sweeter, more tender salad green, harvest the leaves while they are still young and small.

Salad Bowl vs. Other Leaf Lettuce Varieties

While Salad Bowl is a classic example, other types of loose-leaf lettuces are also available, each with unique characteristics. Here is a comparison of some popular varieties:


Characteristic	Salad Bowl (Loose-leaf)	Black-Seeded Simpson (Loose-leaf)	Lolla Rossa (Loose-leaf)	Butterhead (Bibb)
Leaf Shape	Deeply lobed, frilly, oak-leaf shape	Large, loose, frilly, and crumpled	Curly, frilly, and often dark purple	Soft, velvety, cupped leaves
Growth Habit	Loose rosette, non-heading	Large, loose heads, but non-heading	Curly, compact but loose heads	Loose, round head
Flavor	Mild, sweet, not bitter in heat	Mild, delicate, very versatile	Bold and fresh, pairs well with vinaigrettes	Sweet and mild
Texture	Tender and delicate, with a pleasant crispness	Crisp texture	Crinkled and unique	Soft, almost buttery
Special Features	Excellent heat tolerance, slow to bolt	Very fast maturity, ideal for beginners	Stunning visual appeal for salads	Delicate leaves, perfect for wraps

How to Use Salad Bowl Lettuce

Salad Bowl lettuce is a versatile ingredient in the kitchen. Its tender leaves and sweet flavor make it an excellent base for a variety of dishes, both raw and cooked.

Classic Salads: The frilly, textured leaves add volume and visual appeal to a simple garden salad.
Lettuce Wraps: The large leaves are perfect for wrapping fillings like spicy shrimp, chicken, or vegetables.
Sandwiches and Burgers: The mild flavor and crisp texture provide a fresh element to sandwiches and burgers.
Garnishes: The decorative leaves can be used to garnish plates and platters.
Cooked Applications: Although best known for raw use, its leaves can be briefly sautéed or wilted into soups and stir-fries.

Outbound Link

For more in-depth information on growing various types of lettuce, consider consulting resources from reputable sources like the Cooperative Extension Service. For example, the University of Arkansas's resource on Leaf Lettuce provides excellent, research-based advice.

Conclusion

In summary, yes, Salad Bowl is a classic and reliable type of leaf lettuce. It is a loose-leaf variety, meaning it does not form a tight head, and is valued for its frilly, tender leaves, sweet flavor, and resistance to heat and bolting. Its cut-and-come-again harvesting method and attractive appearance make it a favorite for both home gardeners and culinary enthusiasts. So the next time you're looking for a dependable and delicious loose-leaf option, Salad Bowl is an excellent choice for a fresh and flavorful addition to your meals.

Frequently Asked Questions

Salad Bowl is a leaf lettuce, specifically a loose-leaf variety. Unlike crisphead types like Iceberg, it forms a loose rosette of frilly leaves rather than a tight, dense head.

Yes, Salad Bowl lettuce has a sweet and mild flavor profile. Its taste remains pleasant and doesn't turn bitter, even when temperatures rise, which is a major advantage over other lettuce types.

Yes, Salad Bowl is a 'cut-and-come-again' variety. You can harvest the outer leaves as they mature while leaving the inner leaves to continue growing. This allows for a prolonged harvest from a single plant.

Yes, there is a red form known as 'Red Salad Bowl'. Both the green and red varieties can be grown together to add color and visual appeal to your garden and salads.

Its tender, frilly leaves are ideal for fresh salads, offering excellent texture and volume. It also works well as a sandwich or wrap filling and as a decorative garnish.

Salad Bowl can be planted in the early spring for a summer crop and again in mid-summer for a fall harvest. It can be sown directly outdoors in prepared soil.

Yes, 'Green Salad Bowl' is an open-pollinated heirloom variety. Its superior garden performance was recognized with an All-America Selections award in 1952, and it has been maintained for over 70 years.