Italian Chopped Salad
Make-ahead friendly salad! With crisp lettuce, mozzarella, Parmesan + salami in a zesty homemade red wine vinaigrette. The best chopped salad!
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
Equipment
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.
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.