It’s always a good idea to have a chopped salad recipe in your culinary repertoire. It’s packed with gorgeous flavors and exciting textures while requiring nothing more than a few salad staples—an ideal side dish for almost any meal.
This classic salad is a colorful mixture of fresh and sweet veggies, tied together by a bright and zesty dressing with a subtle earthy hint. With sprinkles of crispy bacon and crumbled feta cheese, each bite offers a heavenly taste that makes eating veggies a much more pleasant experience.
What Is Chopped Salad?
As the name suggests, chopped salad refers to salads whose ingredients are chopped into even-sized pieces and tossed in a bright and zesty dressing. They often consist of common veggies like tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots, onions, etc., and an optional protein like grilled chicken or bacon.
With a wide range of customizable ingredients, this salad carries a great versatility of flavors and textures. This, and the fact that it’s so easy to eat, makes it an incredibly popular choice at most restaurants and salad bars. It’s also quite easy to assemble at home, so you should have no trouble putting together a few dishes to accompany your mains on almost any occasion.
Main Ingredients
We wanted to keep things simple with our chopped salad recipe, so we went with some common veggies and fundamental condiments for the dressings. Feel free to get experimental and make any addition you like.
1. For the Salad
- Avocados: The bright green slices of avocados give this salad a mildly nutty taste and buttery smooth texture that makes it an absolute delight to eat. Go for fully ripe ones to achieve the most vivid taste.
- Vegetables: There’s a wide variety of veggies that you can use, so we recommend diversifying your choices to make the dish more exciting. We went with Romaine lettuce and cucumber for a fresh crispiness while the cherry tomatoes and bell peppers bring a vibrant sweetness that immediately livens up the taste buds.
- Bacon: The crispy bits of bacon wonderfully contrast with the fresh veggies, bringing an extra smoky and savory taste to each bite that makes this salad a lot more fun to eat than regular salads.
- Eggs: We also included two hard-boiled eggs to make the salad more filling as well as diversify the dish with their distinct buttery texture.
- Cheese: We sprinkled some crumbled feta cheese over the ingredients to subtly lace the dish with tangy and salty notes that marvelously tie everything together.
2. For the Dressing
This salad is typically served with drizzles of an Italian vinaigrette, which often carries a zesty and brightly tangy taste with an aromatic undertone. Our version consists of lime juice, olive oil, Dijon mustard, honey, garlic powder, salt, black pepper, and oregano, giving it an extra hint of sweetness.
Is This Salad Healthy?
Yes, it is.
The ingredients are carefully moderated so that the critical dietary components don’t exceed the limits set by our nutrition guidelines. As such, each serving contains approximately:
- 243 calories
- 3.8 g saturated fat
- 305 mg sodium
This salad includes a few hard-boiled eggs, giving it around 8.5 g protein. Furthermore, with a colorful selection of avocados and various veggies like cucumber, cherry tomatoes, bell peppers, and lettuce, this dish is loaded with essential nutrients like vitamins A, K, E, and C, fiber, folate, potassium, selenium, magnesium, calcium, etc.
How to Store the Leftovers
When kept in airtight containers in the fridge, this salad should last for up to 3 days. Note that the dressing might cause the veggies to turn soggy, so keep them separated if possible.
Love Salads? Give These Dishes a Try As Well!
Our love for salads knows no bounds, so over the years, we’ve tried out quite a few recipes. Many of which we absolutely love and we think you will too. If you like something similar to this Chopped Salad, give our Chef Salad a try.
For those looking to try something a bit new, this Avocado Salad, Beet and Feta Cheese Salad, and Japanese Salmon Salad might be worth checking out.
Chopped Salad Recipe
It's always a good idea to have a chopped salad recipe in your culinary repertoire. This classic salad is a colorful mixture of fresh and sweet veggies, tied together by a bright and zesty dressing with a subtle earthy hint. With sprinkles of crispy bacon and crumbled feta cheese, each bite offers a heavenly taste that makes eating veggies a much more pleasant experience.
- cook TIME 3 mins
- prep TIME 12 mins
- total TIME 15 mins
- COURSE Side Dish
- CUISINE American
- SERVINGS servings
- CALORIES 211 kcal
INGREDIENTS
- 4 oz avocado (sliced)
- 4 oz romaine lettuce (shredded into bite-sized pieces)
- 4 oz cherry tomato (halved)
- 4 oz cucumber (half-moon sliced)
- 2 oz yellow bell pepper (coarsely chopped)
- 1/4 cup scallion (diagonally sliced)
- 2 large eggs (hard-boiled)
- 1 oz pan-fried bacon
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- 1/2 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder
INSTRUCTIONS
Prep:
Boil the Eggs: Bring water to a boil in a saucepan, then gently drop the eggs in, one at a time. When the surface starts bubbling, reduce to a simmer and cover the saucepan with a lid. Let the eggs sit for 10-12 minutes then transfer them into ice water when done.
Slice the Avocados: Remove the skin then thinly slice the green part crosswise.
Slice the Cucumber: Slice the cucumber in half lengthwise, then crosswise slice each half into half-moon pieces.
Chop the Bell Peppers: Lengthwise slice the bell pepper into large pieces. Discard the core then slice each piece crosswise into bite-sized pieces.
Cook:
Make the Sauce: In a small bowl, whisk 1 tbsp lime juice, 1/2 tbsp honey, 1 tsp Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1/8 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp ground black pepper, 1/2 tsp dried oregano, and 1/2 tsp garlic powder together until the mixture turns dark brown with a slightly thick consistency.
Assemble the Salad: On a plate, make a bed of 4 oz romaine lettuce then lay 4 oz avocado, 4 oz cherry tomato, 4 oz cucumber, 2 oz yellow bell pepper, 2 large eggs, and 1 oz pan-fried bacon over.
Garnish and Drizzle the Sauce: Garnish the salad with 1/4 cup scallion. Drizzle the sauce over the salad then lightly toss to evenly coat the ingredients. Enjoy!
NUTRITION
Tuyet Pham
Head Chef, Culinary ConsultantLuna Regina
Writer, Author- poconosdjCrunchy and colorful chopped salad, a refreshing delight!