My Favorite Cobb Salad

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!

Ingredients Notes

Most Cobb Salads have fairly similar ingredients, so what makes this one so great? Let me tell ya.

Bacon – How you cook the bacon and the brand of bacon you buy makes a big difference. I’ve found that baking bacon reduces the mess and turns out perfectly every time. We are also big fans Burgers’ Smokehouse bacon (in our area) and uncured bacon from ButcherBox (delivery service we use).

Chicken – You choose how to cook your chicken using our instructions in the recipe card below, but the best advice I can give is don’t overcook it. It’s done when it registers 165°F internally.

Cheese – You can use whatever cheese you like the best, but, for my money, I think Gorgonzola provides the biggest impact. It tastes like a mix of feta and blue cheeses, but it’s tamer than traditional blue cheese for sure.

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.

Lettuce, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrot, avocado – Be sure to pick the freshest looking and ripe produce you can. 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.

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.

Other Salads You’ll Love!

If you like this Cobb Salad, you may want to try a few of other favorites…

Fiesta Chopped Salad

Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad

Autumn Chopped Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette

Summer Strawberry Salad

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★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews

My Favorite Cobb Salad Recipe

This Cobb salad is colorful, complex in flavor and texture, and a crowd-pleaser. Enjoy this easy and healthy recipe!

Yield: 4 servings 1x

Prep: 10 minutesCook: 0 minutesTotal: 10 minutes

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Units: USM

Scale: 1x2x3x

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

1. 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.
2. 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.

 

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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.

 

Where We Get Our Chicken & Bacon: We get our meat from ButcherBox. The chicken is organic and curated from trusted farms. We highly recommend this service to source healthy meat–like uncured bacon, wild salmon, and grass-fed beef–and have used it for years ourselves.

© Author: Rachel Tiemeyer

Cuisine: American Method: No cook