7 Savory Salads from 7 Restaurants in Gatlinburg: A Diabetic's Judgment
Being a diabetic in Gatlinburg isn’t easy. Anyone who has ever been here can tell you all the sugar and fried foods that exist here and most of the South. While it is delicious, I have to realize that I can’t always indulge in the grub most people save for vacation—at least, very rarely. That means I am on the hunt for the best salads a rabbit would go rabid for. And that is exactly what I am trying to do to help some of you stay relatively healthy, while still enjoying some of the variety this tourist town has to offer. As the resident diabetic, I hope this list of salads gives me some credibility as to what is some of the best you can find in Gatlinburg. Let’s eat!
***Before I get started, this list is in no particular order. These are all excellent choices if you’re trying to eat a little healthier when you’re on vacation in Gatlinburg. Ranking them would be an almost impossible task for me, personally. Instead, I’d prefer you just use this list as a guide for what I highly recommend***
1. The Brewpub Salad from Gatlinburg Brewing Company
It’s one of the best basic salads in all of Gatlinburg. Hey, I thought you said you weren’t ranking them. This isn’t a ranking; it’s just a great salad that also provides the best value, based on what it has in it. Usually your “basic salad” doesn’t contain a hard-boiled egg, and sometimes, not even croutons. This one does, as well as tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, and mozzarella cheese. What makes it elevated in the “health factor” is spring mix—widely regarded as an upgrade over regular romaine or shredded lettuce. For an extra $2 each, you can add a meat—my option being the excellent fire-roasted chicken. No pizza, no problem here. Even though I do think their pizza is undeniably incredible as well.
2. Grilled Oriental Chicken Salad from Smoky Mountain Brewery
This isn’t the only salad on my list that has an Asian flair. The Grilled Oriental Chicken Salad is a new addition to my list that packs a punch. It is served with a generous portion of marinated grilled chicken that can be ordered with the soy ginger sauce on the side (or not at all). Also on this salad are banana peppers, garlic-roasted tomatoes (amazing), pineapple, red onions and cheddar cheese. It’s a little outside the box for me, but once I tried it, I was hooked. I even prefer it over the Brewmaster Salad now. But there are no bad options on their 2-sided menu here, including their daily specials.
3. Smokehouse Salad from Calhoun’s
This is the mightiest, meatiest behemoth of the salads on this list. You may need a to-go box for the meats in this massive bowl. Its contents include “healthy” portions of their grilled chicken fresh from the smoker, plus heaping helpings of bacon, country ham, tomatoes, onions, egg, and cheese. Yes, as if you didn’t have enough protein, they throw in an egg. I don’t care how much you weigh, your protein goals will be met for the day in this salad alone. Calhoun’s, overall, is a great place for a meal, so even if you’re the only one opting for the salad, others in your party are almost guaranteed to enjoy their meal here.
4. Grilled Asian Steak Salad from Cherokee Grill
I recently ordered this salad for just the second time ever at my wife’s birthday dinner. Cherokee Grill looks a little more upscale than what it is, but the food almost always gives you the impression of some fine dining, if you know what I mean. The Grilled Asian Steak Salad is the second recommended one with Asian-inspired ingredients: Kung-Pao Sauce and wonton strips. It also contains mixed greens, the familiar garlic-roasted tomatoes from SMB, bell peppers, and filet mignon strips. You don’t even miss the cheese on it; it’s that flavorful. Plus, it’s a cheaper way to have filet mignon, at fewer than $20, only with a much smaller serving.
5. Antipasto Salad from Best Italian (Elks Plaza)
This is the salad I just tried for the first time this week, and served as my inspiration for writing this list. As some of you know, I have consistently ranked this Italian restaurant tops in Gatlinburg when it comes to pizza. (You’ll have to keep tuning in to see if it remains there.) So it should come as no surprise that it took this long to order some of their rabbit food. Well, I think it tasted and looked the part of an Italian delicacy. It contains pepperoni, salami, provolone cheese wrapped in ham, cucumbers, mushrooms, pepperoncini peppers, and tomato wedges on a bed of mixed greens. I omitted the Kalamata and green olives. I ordered the small, which is enough, because I’m sure the large is, well… large.
6. House Salad from Split Rail Eats
Here’s another “basic” salad I have only had once, but it left a favorable impression. The only thing I didn’t like was it came on a plate, not a bowl. But anyway, it has spring mix, grape tomatoes, cucumber, red onions, bacon, cheddar cheese, and a hard boiled egg. I added blackened chicken to make an already showy-looking house salad, quite substantial. It’s a shame I don’t come out here more often, because the hype is real with this eatery, which is in the Covered Bridge in the Glades “graveyard”. It’s not really a graveyard, but this used to be home to a good number of businesses, and they seem to be the only one still here.
7. House Chopped Salad from Puckers Sports Grill
Another one-timer (for now) from a restaurant that’s had a nice showing from the start is the Puckers House Chopped Salad. This is a pretty decent bowl of greens with a nice mix of ingredients without adding an extra protein: frizzled onion, applewood smoked bacon, avocado (yes!), cheddar cheese, tomatoes, and cucumbers. And yes, they get a special mention for the avocado addition. Very few places in Gatlinburg have this superfood in their salads—even the specialty ones. It’s a darn good salad, but I will warn you, they will glob the dressing on it unless you tell them to put it on the side. Regardless, I will always consider this particular salad when I patronize the newly re-opened local establishment.
I haven’t eaten every salad this tourist town has to offer, but these are the best ones, and I wanted to list just one per restaurant. The Copper Cellar Restaurants—Cherokee Grill, Calhoun’s, and Smoky Mountain Brewery—all have amazing salads where I find myself maddeningly debating which one to order. So if they made this list, they hit the highest marks in taste, value, and substance, in my humble opinion.
I hope this helps if you’re looking for healthier alternatives in Gatlinburg. There are many more of the bad stuff than what I just listed, so you’ll have to travel past your temptations. And yes, I know some of the salads on this list could qualify as rather unhealthy, especially if you go heavy on the dressing. But all things considered, you could do much worse in an area full of fudge, ice cream, and taffy shops, along with enough fried foods to give me perpetual heartburn. Good luck!
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