A fresh salad can be a great main meal or side dish during the hot summer months as it's light and fresh. However, salads can sometimes be a bit boring and bland.

A home chef has shared a secret ingredient on social platform Reddit that can help elevate any summer salad. It helps give the dish a creamier flavour and often pairs well with other common ingredients.

A Reddit user posted: "Favourite salad recipes?" The question has amassed over 200 replies so far with a number of people agreeing that goat cheese can help transform a salad.

LouBrown replied: "My wide often makes a salad with goat cheese." They added: "It's nice and tangy."

Intrepid_Knowledge27 also said on Reddit: "Goat cheese! With some kind of vinaigrette, some fruit, maybe nuts if you want more texture. It also gets nice and soft and acts almost as a second dressing over roasted salads."

SevenVeils0 added: "A soft goat cheese on top is good too." Arniepix said: "Either fresh goat cheese, feta or blue cheese."

Bevelededges put: "It'll be delicious with goat cheese crumbled on top." DreadPirateCristo agreed: "This is a great way."

Goat cheese has a very distinct and tangy flavour which means it can compliment a host of other ingredients. It pairs well with vegetables, fruits and nuts.

For those with extra time, baking or grilling the goat cheese first can enhance the flavour of the salad. It turns warm and gooey which helps to elevate the dish.

Chefs from Mon Panier Latin said: "Fresh herbs are a great way to add flavor to any salad, but they're essential when pairing them with goat cheese because their earthy tones complement tangy and creamy flavors well.

They added: "So the beauty of delicious, creamy goat cheese is that it can stand on its own."

To make the perfect summer salad, they recommend tossing some greens with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and paper. Then crumble some goat cheese on top and add other preferred ingredients such as nuts and fruit.

The chefs added: "Goat cheese also can be used as the base for more complex salad dressings. For example, adding herbs, garlic, or mustard to soft goat cheese creates a creamy dressing that can be drizzled over everything from simple green salads to those topped with chopped vegetables or fruit."