This Classic Italian chopped salad is simple to make and is loaded with a variety of ingredients, yet light and fulfilling. All the ingredients are chopped and mixed to give you a bit of everything in each bite.
This Italian salad is chopped so mixing it is very easy. It is called chopped salad because almost all of the ingredients are chopped and combined except for the chickpeas and cheese which aren’t chopped. All you need is to dress it with the salad dressing and serve with croutons.
When To Eat The Chopped Salad
This salad can be eaten at any time of the day. Most people prefer to eat salad as a side dish for lunch or dinner. Salad is usually served as a first course during a formal dinner but different country have different menu style and when salad is served. This Italian salad can be eaten as a main dish because it is loaded with a lot of ingredients which makes it a balanced meal. The salad can be made ahead of time and be kept in the fridge till needed.
Ingredients Needed For The Chopped Salad
This salad uses very few ingredients and comes together very quickly. The ingredients needed are:
- Romaine lettuce
- Roma tomatoes
- Salami
- Ham
- Chickpeas or garbanzo
- Mozzarella cheese
- Italian salad dressing
Variation
This salad can be made into vegetarian option by omitting the ham and salami and adding Kalamata olives, pepperoncini (pickled pepper), cucumber, and radicchio. Baked Chicken Thighs With Rotisserie Seasoning or baked turkey can also be used as the protein for the salad.
How To Make The Italian Salad
This recipe can be put together easily and uses simple steps:
- Wash the lettuce and tomatoes and pat them dry. The salad leaves can be dried by salad spinner or dish towel.
- Chop all the vegetable, drain the chickpeas and grate the cheese.
- Combine all the ingredients.
- Dress it with the Italian dressing and toss to coat all the salad.
- Sprinkle with more cheese and serve with croutons or any bread of choice.
Italian Salad Dressing
This is very easy vinaigrette to make than I recommend using for this loaded salad. It uses very few ingredients.
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Ground black pepper
Salt
Italian seasoning
Powdered garlic
How To Make The Salad Dressing
In a small bowl, whisk the oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and powder garlic until well combined. Use three tablespoons of the dressing for the salad and add more as needed. Store the remaining in a covered container and keep in the refrigerator.
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Classic Italian Chopped Salad
Ingredients
- 3 cups romaine lettuce
- 2 medium size Roma tomatoes
- ⅓ cup diced salami
- ⅓ cup ham
- 1 cup chickpeas / garbanzo beans
- ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 3 tbsp. Italian salad dressing
Italian salad dressing
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
- ¼ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp powdered garlic
- ½ tsp Italian seasoning
Instructions
- In a large bowl , wash the lettuce and tomatoes in salt water to get rid of any unwanted materials. Dry the leaves with tea towel or dish towel or even spinner.
- Chop the lettuce, tomatoes, salami and the ham. Open the chickpeas and drain the water from it. Grate the cheese if you are using a block of cheese and set all the ingredients aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, tomatoes, ham, salami, chickpeas and the shredded cheese. Mix all the ingredients until combined.
- Drizzle 3 tablespoons of the salad dressing on the salad, then mix gently until the dressing coat all the ingredient.
- Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve with croutons or any bread of choice
Italian Salad Dressing
- In a small bowl, whisk the oil, vinegar, pepper, salt, garlic and seasoning together until combined.
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Hi Ishmael, thank you so much for your kind words.