My Favorite Cobb Salad
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This salad is hands-down my favorite Cobb Salad ever. With a variety of vegetables, perfectly cooked proteins, and Gorgonzola cheese, this colorful salad is complex in flavor and texture. The savory dressing is to die for, too!
Reasons You’ll Love this Recipe
- You can cook your chicken any way you want. Slow cooker, instant pot, oven, etc.
- Perfect for Spring and Summer – This salad is amazing when you use garden tomatoes and fresh crisp lettuce, especially!
- The Dressing – The savory vinaigrette is really what turns this salad into something you won’t easily forget. Oh my, the complexity of ingredients like Dijon, Worcestershire, garlic, lemon juice, and more are simply amazing.
- It can be a side dish or a lunch. Thanks to the chicken and cheese, it’s pretty filling.
Ingredients Needed
Here is what you’ll need to make this delicious salad.
Ingredient Notes
Bacon – I’ve found that baking bacon reduces the mess and turns out perfectly every time. We suggest getting uncured bacon from ButcherBox (delivery service we use).
Cheese – You can use whatever cheese you like the best, but, for my money, I think Gorgonzola provides the biggest impact.
Hard-Boiled Eggs – How you cook your eggs is really important here. Try our no-fail Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs. The shells fall right off.
Tip for Making the Chopping Easier
This isn’t a difficult salad to make, but it does involve a fair amount of chopping.
I got a new chef’s knife for Christmas that I’ve been waiting my whole life for (I didn’t know I was, but I was). It makes chopping vegetable after vegetable a delightful task as it quickly slices and dices anything in its way.
America’s Test Kitchen, my go-to source for unbiased ratings and reviews of cookware and kitchen equipment, highly recommends this particular knife. The best news is that it’s very affordable on Amazon! I tell everyone to get it.
More Salad Dressings You’ll Love
We have loads of homemade salad dressings on our site. A few personal favorites at the moment are: Southwest Ranch Dressing, Honey Balsamic Dressing, or Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette.
FAQs
While Cobb Salad is best enjoyed fresh, you can prepare certain components ahead of time to save time. For example, you can cook the chicken, hard-boil the eggs, and cook the bacon in advance. However, it’s recommended to assemble the salad just before serving to maintain its freshness and texture.
Yep. You can also use other dressings such as ranch, blue cheese, or balsamic vinaigrette, depending on your preference.
You can refrigerate the dressing for up to two weeks or freeze for up to 3 months. Yes it will freeze!
Other Salads You’ll Love!
If you like this Cobb Salad, you may want to try a few of other favorites…
Did you make this? Snap a photo and tag us on Instagram at @thrivinghome so we can see your creations and cheer you on!
Cobb Salad
This Cobb salad is colorful, complex in flavor and texture, and a crowd-pleaser. Enjoy this easy and healthy recipe!
Ingredients
Dressing Ingredients:
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon Dijon Mustard
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (Gluten-free option: look for gluten-free brand of this!)
- 1 small clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salad Ingredients:
- 8 cups (4 ounce container) mixed greens (or chopped Romaine or Green Leaf lettuce)
- 1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
- 2 Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs, chopped
- 1 cup grated carrot
- 2 cups diced, cooked chicken (Either use rotisserie chicken from the store or see chicken cooking methods in Cooking Notes.)
- 1/2 pound cooked thick-cut bacon, crumbled (try Baked Bacon)
- 1 avocado, diced
- 4 ounces crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (sub: feta or shredded cheddar cheese)
- 1 cup croutons (optional; omit if making this gluten-free)
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Instructions
- Make the Dressing: Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar with lid. Seal and shake. Refrigerate for up to two weeks or freeze for up to 3 months.
- Make the Salad: In a large bowl toss the greens with 2/3 of the dressing. Put the dressed greens onto a large serving dish. Scatter the rest of the ingredients on top in a colorful array. Drizzle with the remaining dressing on top and serve.
Notes/Tips
How to Know If Chicken Is Done: Chicken is done when it reaches 165°F internal temperature. (A digital meat thermometer is a must to help cook chicken perfectly.)
How to Cook Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts:
- Bake in Oven: Preheat oven to 400°F. Place chicken in a casserole dish or on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake uncovered for about 20-25 minutes, until done.
- Slow Cooker: Place chicken and marinade in slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 3 to 3 1/2 hours. Really! That’s all it takes to get it done, otherwise you’ll overcook and dry it out.
- Instant Pot: Place chicken and marinade in Instant Pot. Lock and seal the lid. Cook at high pressure for 7 minutes and use a quick release of the pressure when the cook time is up. (Note: It will take 10-15 minutes to come to pressure before the cook time starts.)
- Grill: Pound out the chicken to about 3/4 inch thick (or cut it in half lengthwise) to help with fast and even cooking. Preheat grill to medium-high heat and clean the grates well. Grill for about 4-5 minutes per side, maybe longer depending on the thickness, until done.
Hands down OUR favourite too! Made it during a heat wave in May and now it’s an absolute staple in our house. (Even though there is atleast 1 item in it that each person normally doesn’t eat!)
Hi Melissa. So glad to hear this is a staple for your family. My family is the same with not everyone liking each ingredient. That’s what I love about do-it-yourself salads! Pick and choose what you want makes everyone happy! 🙂
This looks great! If I bake the chicken in the oven, would you just season it simply with salt and pepper, or brush on some of the dressing, or…? Thanks!
You could marinade it in extra dressing and then bake at 400°F for about 20-25 minutes, until done. That’s what I’ve done in the past.
By far my all-time favorite salad! It changes depending what I have on hand bit is easy to throw together and uses up all kinds of leftovers. I love the dressing so much!