Delicious Cobb Salad with fresh ingredients and homemade vinaigrette for a simple easy-to-prep dinner solution .
Looking for any easy dinner solution in the midst of the current chaos? With the recent Corona virus scare local grocery shelves have been picked clean. It’s been difficult to muster up my typical level of culinary enthusiasm.
I mean, what ya gonna make with deviled ham, liver, cashews, and blue cheese?
But spring is in the air and the produce section beckons me with bright colors and promises of fresh juicy bites. Plus, at least in my area, the one section that seems well stocked has been the produce aisle.
What’s the best thing about a salad? The toppings of course! This classic cobb salad recipe doesn’t disappoint. It’s like a greatest hits list, transforming simple romaine into a palette pleasing medley of flavors including blue cheese crumbles, egg halves, avocado, and bacon (of course!).
Traditional Cobb Salad Ingredients
Juicy cherry tomatoes and creamy avocado bring the perfect balance of color and texture to this salad. Other ingredients in a cobb salad include bacon bits, hard-boiled eggs, chicken, and blue cheese.
To tantalize the taste buds one step further, I incorporate Roquefort blue cheese crumbles. There are other kinds of blue cheese, but this is our preferred for it’s creaminess and just the right tang. Personally, I love the sharp little bite this traditional element adds.
Some foodies insist a Cobb salad is not a Cobb salad without blue cheese. But if blue cheese is just not your thing, feel free to substitute! The recipe can easily be tweaked by substituting goat cheese, feta or cambozola.
Homemade Cobb Salad Dressing
A simple homemade balsamic vinaigrette is the only dressing necessary and the recipe is below. It allows the salad ingredients to shine. This vinaigrette recipe is light, tasty and easily concocted with common kitchen staples. Simply place in a presence cruet and go. Because let’s face it, I don’t think any of us have found grocery shopping particularly enjoyable lately! Depending on my mood, sometimes I also use a white balsamic vinegar instead of the dark, but either will work well.
If you would like some other options, you can really use any favorite salad dressing. Ranch, blue cheese, or Italian are great substitutes.
This is such a beautiful salad, I like to serve it family style with the dressing on the side. Choose a pretty platter and arrange the ingredients out in individual rows across the bed of chopped Romaine. My 11-year old son enjoys helping with this task. This is a perfect recipe for budding chefs to assist with!
Frequently asked questions:
The beauty of this salad is that it is a perfectly filling dinner salad! If you like, serve with a fresh loaf of warm crusty bread and you’ve got a satisfying meal you can feel good about feeding your family.
For this traditional recipe, we usually use pre-grilled chicken that we cook in large batches and freeze some for later. I don’t know about you, but I eagerly wait for warm weather each year to break out the grill. I am a happy girl when my boy is burning off some energy outside and the hubs gets to cook al fresco. Grilling makes meal prep simple and food taste like summer. What’s not to love? These dishwasher safe grill prep & serve trays help make clean up a breeze.
One of my favorite things about this recipe is the simplicity. Many of the components can be prepped ahead of time, making assembly a breeze. The bacon and the grilled chicken can be cooked ahead of time. Super pressed for time? Skip the grilled chicken and purchase a Rotisserie chicken from the deli. The only thing I would not suggested prepping ahead of time is the avocado, to prevent oxidation. For more shortcut solutions for fast meal prep click here.
Yes! This can be eaten as leftovers for a few days if kept in a sealed container in the refrigerator with the dressing separate. I recommend keeping the avocado separate to prevent oxidation. Also, if you plan to make it for prepped meals, make sure the chicken is cooled before adding.
This salad also works great for meal prepping. Store toppings separately from lettuce and dressing to maintain freshness. Assemble at time of consumption.
Have you broken your grill out this season yet? I hope this has inspired you to do so. Stay safe & well my friends.
Cobb Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 10 ounces chopped romaine
- 1 ½ cup grape tomatoes sliced in half
- 8 ounces cooked chicken fried or grilled, sliced
- 1 cup blue cheese crumbles
- ½ avocado chopped or sliced
- 6 oz cooked bacon slices about 6 slices
- 4 hardboiled eggs peeled and quartered
Balsamic Dressing
- ½ cup light tasting olive oil
- 4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp honey
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove minced
Instructions
- Combine all the balsamic dressing ingredients in a bottle or mason jar. Close the lid and shake vigorously. If you do not have a bottle with lid, whisk in a bowl. Store at room temperature until needed. Re-shake if the ingredients have separated.
- [Pre-prep] Sauté chopped bacon in a skillet until browned and crisp (5 min), then transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to cool. Peel and quarter hard-boiled eggs. Grill the chicken to preferred doneness. Allow to rest and cool. Chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces.
- Chop, rinse and spin romaine lettuce and arrange on a platter or in a large salad bowl. Arrange remaining salad ingredients (avocado, chicken, eggs, tomatoes, blue cheese, and bacon) in rows over lettuce.
- Drizzle dressing just before serving or serve on the side and allow guests to add their own.
Notes
- You can use a variety of dressings, from blue cheese or French to vinaigrettes. Just be sure to wait to add the dressing just before serving.
- Season with salt or pepper. Freshly cracked pepper on a salad makes the flavors pop!
- Keep all of the ingredients bite sized. You can finely chop the bacon, but everything else should be about the same size for the perfect bite.
Nutrition
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Megan says
My family loved this salad recipe.
gmail email login says
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Thank you so much for updating!!