Italian Chopped Salad
by Chungah
This post may contain affiliate links. Please see our privacy policy for details.
Make-ahead friendly salad! With crisp lettuce, mozzarella, Parmesan + salami in a zesty homemade red wine vinaigrette. The best chopped salad!
Featured Comment
Why you’ll love this Italian chopped salad
- Anything but boring. Say goodbye to boring, dull salads! This Italian chopped salad goodness is packed with crisp romaine and radicchio lettuce, cubed mozzarella, dry Italian salami and a vibrant red wine vinaigrette.
- The dressing is everything. The ingredient list is short with just a few pantry staples – extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon, garlic, oregano and crushed red pepper flakes. A dressing so good, this salad will simply knock your socks off, elevating any main dish.
- Make-ahead salad. Prep time is kept to a minimum and the salad comes together so fast as there is zero cooking involved (no stovetop, no oven, no nothing). The best part? All the ingredients can be diced, prepped and assembled beforehand. Just be sure to toss your salad right before serving for maximum freshness.
What is an Italian chopped salad?
An Italian chopped salad is a classic salad made with chopped greens, Italian meats, cheese, various vegetables and a zesty red wine vinaigrette.
Key ingredients in Italian chopped salad
Greens
Romaine lettuce and radicchio lettuce
Meat
Dry Italian salami
Cheese
Fresh mozzarella and Parmesan
Beans
Canned chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
Vegetables and mix-ins
Bell pepper, cucumber, pepperoncini (or banana peppers), grape tomatoes (or Roma tomatoes) and red onion
Extras
Black olives
Dressing
Red wine vinaigrette
How to make an italian chopped salad
- Make the dressing. Whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a mason jar, storing up to 1 week in the fridge and shaking well before using.
- Prep the salad. Dice all the salad ingredients in uniform bite-sized pieces for a consistent bite. This will allow for a perfect balance of flavors and textures.
- Add the dressing. Stir in the dressing just before serving, starting with a small amount and adding to taste, topping with shaved Parmesan.
- Serve. Serve immediately, preferably within 2 hours to avoid a soggy, wilted salad.
what to serve with italian chopped salad
- White Mushroom Pizza
- Creamy Sausage Gnocchi
- Spaghetti Carbonara
- The Best Homemade Bolognese
- Easy Garlic Parmesan Knots
Tools For This Recipe
Salad spinner
Italian Chopped Salad: Frequently Asked Questions
More romaine, iceberg or cabbage will work well here.
Provolone is a solid option.
Absolutely! Skip the salami and increase the chickpeas and bell peppers.
Yes! The dressing can be made 1 week in advance and stored in an airtight container (such as a mason jar) and placed in the fridge, letting it come to room temperature for about 15 minutes and shaking well before using.
Store the leftovers separately (salad ingredients and dressing apart) in airtight containers in the fridge. Dressed salad will unfortunately not keep very well.
Italian Chopped Salad
Video
Ingredients
- 1 head romaine lettuce, roughly chopped
- 1 cup chopped radicchio lettuce
- 8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/4-inch cubes
- 4 ounces dry Italian salami, cut into matchsticks
- 1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 (2.25 ounce) can sliced black olives, rinsed and drained
- 1 yellow bell pepper, diced
- ½ English cucumber, diced
- 6 pepperoncini, sliced
- 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
- ⅓ cup chopped red onion
- ½ cup shaved Parmesan
for the dressing
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 clove garlic, grated
- ¾ teaspoon dried oregano
- ⅛ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- To assemble the salad, place romaine and radicchio in a large bowl; top with mozzarella, salami, chickpeas, olives, bell pepper, cucumber, pepperoncini, tomatoes and red onion.
- Pour the dressing on top of the salad and gently toss to combine. Top with Parmesan.
For the dressing
- In a medium bowl, whisk together olive oil, vinegar, Dijon, garlic, oregano and red pepper flakes; season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Equipment
Notes
- Prep ahead of time. Save time by making the dressing up to 1 week in advance, and prepping and dicing the vegetables 1-2 days prior and storing them in airtight containers in the fridge.
- Dry the greens thoroughly. Wash and dry the greens thoroughly using a salad spinner to avoid the dressing from sliding off or causing the greens to go limp and soggy very quickly.
- Cut in uniform size. Cut all of the salad ingredients in similar size pieces for a consistent bite.
- Use extra virgin olive oil. High quality extra virgin olive oil is ideal for salad dressings for maximum flavor.
- Add some crunch. Add some pine nuts, sunflower seeds or slivered almonds for even more crunch.
- Toss the dressing just before serving. This will avoid a soggy salad and allow for maximum, crisp freshness.
- Make it vegetarian. Skip the salami altogether to make it vegetarian-friendly, adding extra chickpeas and bell peppers.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!
This has become our favourite meal! We refer to it as “that salad”. We frequently have it with homemade focaccia bread and air fried chicken wings. Doesn’t get much better than that.
This is our favourite salad by far! It has everything and the dressing is perfectly suited.
I made this for my husband and I for dinner. We both loved it! Thanks again for another delicious meal!
Wow wow!!!! So good, I also added sliced pepperoni with salami !!! Thanks, on our summer salad rotation!
This has become my go to lunch for work! Make a big batch and keep the dressing separate package up the night before I need it lasts me a few days and is SO DELICIOUS ! So much flavor!
Should you pour the dressing on the salad and let it marinate before you serve it. If so, how long before?
This salad hit the spot on a hot summer day! So vibrant and chock full of healthy ingredients! Will be adding this to my regular salad list!
What a delightful twist on a salad! The Italian Chopped Salad sounds like a taste explosion. Thanks for sharing this exciting recipe, can’t wait to give it a try!
This was delicious!! The recipe just happened to pop up in my email when I was trying to decide what to make for dinner tonight. I made it as written other than the radicchio because my grocery store was out. So much flavor!!! Served it with rolls and it made a great summer dinner.
I’ve made a version of this salad many times and it is a winner! My only suggestion is to sub the mozzarella with provolone. It makes such a difference!