Classic Cobb Salad Recipe (Hearty, Homemade & Easy)

Story has it that the cobb salad was created as a midnight snack, hastily assembled with leftover ingredients.  Many years later, you’ll find it on a lot of menus in restaurants spanning large cities to rural towns.  Let’s face it, it’s the perfect harmony of ingredients from an acidic vinaigrette across mild rotisserie chicken, studded with sharp blue cheese crumbles, rich bacon, and creamy hardboiled eggs.  You’ll often find it with avocado as well.

Make It Your Own

Personally, the thought of rich on rich – like bacon, blue cheese, avocado, and egg – is a wee bit on the rich scale for me, especially in a salad.  I turn to salads when I want something light, fresh, a contrast of flavors, and yet filling.  So in this recipe, I ditch the bacon and the avocado (don’t shame me, you can add it back if you like it) and highlight the rotisserie chicken, acidic vinaigrette, marinated tomatoes, and hard-boiled eggs.  This is my version of the classic cobb.

Why It’ll Work For You Too

Salad recipes are there to give you inspiration when you’re lacking.  Once you have a starting point, you can create a topping bar that allows everyone in your family to make a customized salad to their liking.  Here’s some ingredients you may want to include or ideate from as you create your salad bar:

• Rotisserie chicken (make this easy on a Costco trip day)
• Ripe tomatoes
• Blue cheese crumbles
• Diced avocado
• Bacon bits
• Hardboiled eggs
• Pickled red onions or shallots
• Chopped fresh herbs (parsley, chives, or tarragon)

How To Make A Cobb Salad

1. Prep ingredients
2. Prep vinaigrette
3. Chop and arrange lettuce
4. Assemble salad
5. Dress with vinaigrette

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Yield: 4 servings

Classic Cob Salad (Easy, Hearty & Homemade)

This is a cobb salad you can make your own by adding in the ingredients you love and holding the one's you don't. While I love bacon and I also love blue cheese, the richness of the two together with hardboiled eggs is not my kind of cobb salad. I enjoy the rotisserie chicken with a sweet, acidic vinaigrette complimented by blue cheese, hardboiled eggs, and fresh herbs. So make mine, or make it your own!

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Ingredients

VINAIGRETTE

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• 1 shallot, minced
• 2 TBSP champagne vinegar (can use white wine vinegar too)
• 2 TBSP fresh lemon juice
• sea salt or kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 TBSP Dijon mustard
• 1 TBSP whole grain mustard
• 1-2 TBSP honey
• 2 TBSP olive oil

SALAD

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• 2 heads of romaine, chopped
• 1 rotisserie chicken, shredded
• 4-6 oz. blue cheese
• 4 eggs, soft or hard boiled
• 1/4 cup fresh chives, chopped
• 1/4 LB ripe tomatoes, sliced in half or in wedges
• 2 TBSP fresh parsley, chopped

Instructions

1. For the vinaigrette, combine all ingredients except the oil in a medium bowl. Whisk together until combined and then slowly add the oil allowing it to emulsify with the remaining ingredients. Taste for seasoning, acidity and sweetness and adjust as needed.
2. For the salad, spoon a bit of the vinaigrette over the sliced tomatoes and stir to coat. Set aside to allow vinaigrette to infuse tomatoes. Build your salad with the ingredients you choose.

From Basic to Elevated

This salad has range. It can go from simple weeknight dinner – grabbing a rotisserie chicken and pulling it together quickly – to a fancy, special entrée served with a nice glass of white or sparkling wine.  Dress it up or dress it down, the cobb delivers on a great weeknight meal.