This Cobb Salad is the perfect meal for warm weather days. A light, fresh, and delicious protein-rich dinner with a tasty cobb salad dressing. Vegan adaptable. Plus 75+ Light & Healthy Summer Recipes!
Cobb salad has all the fixings! The perfect warm weather dinner, I seriously could eat this every day. It tastes fresh and has delightful textures and flavors that balance the palate. It starts with fresh crunchy lettuce, protein of choice, pickled shallots, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, hard-boiled eggs, blue cheese, microgreens or watercress, and coconut bacon; of course, go with what you love, whether it be real bacon, turkey bacon, tempeh bacon or vegan bacon! It’s all tossed in the tastiest Cobb Salad Dressing.
Why You’ll Love This Salad!
- It’s versatile and customizable! The perfect healthy dinner with classic flavors everyone loves. The different components can be added to each salad bowl, based on diet- for example it’s great for mixed households with vegetarians and meat-eaters at the same table.
- Components can be made ahead! The dressing, the pickled shallots, and the protein can all be made in advance- then, it is all about assembling. We like to grill chicken ahead and keep it in the fridge, using it throughout the week; it is delicious chopped or shredded and eaten chilled!
- It’s a great way to get more veggies into our meals!
Table of Contents
Ingredients In Cobb Salad
Ingredient Notes
- Romaine– or any green that has enough integrity and crunch to hold up to all the toppings.
- Protein– grilled chicken, baked chicken or poached chicken; or grilled tofu, baked tofu, or chickpeas or kidney beans.
- Pickled shallots– these are the bomb! They are quick to make and keep in the fridge for days. Feel free to swap out pickled onions.
- Blue cheese– traditional in a classic Cobb Salad, but feel free to swap it out or leave off.
- Veggies & Herbs– cucumber, tomatoes, avocado, chives & fresh oregano.
- Boiled Eggs: Hard-boiled are traditional, but semi-soft-boiled eggs work great too. Leave them off if vegan.
- Bacon– we love coconut bacon ( seen notes for recipe) on almost everything. But of course, go with what you love, whether it be real bacon, turkey bacon, tempeh bacon or vegan bacon!
- Optional: spicy microgreens or watercress add a delicious “bite”!
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How To Make Cobb Salad
Make the Pickled Shallots. A quick, 5-minute task!
Make the cobb dressing. Whisk together the red wine vinegar, minced garlic, dijon, oregano, chives, salt, and pepper. Drizzle olive oil in slowly, emulsifying with the vinegar mixture.
Prep the ingredients: chop the lettuce, and slice the tomatoes and cucumbers.
Assemble the salad: by first tossing the lettuce with a little cobb salad dressing. Place lettuce in serving bowl or individual serving bowls. Layer the chicken (or other protein), tomatoes, cucumber, optional watercress, pickled shallots, avocado, blue cheese and boiled eggs. Drizzle with more dressing and sprinkle with microgreens, coconut bacon and fresh chives, fresh oregano and ground pepper.
Serve with the leftover dressing on the table so everyone can add more if desired.
Cobb Salad FAQS
Hearty and filling a Cobb salad is filled with lots of protein and crunchy vegetables. Fresh crunchy lettuce, chicken, pickled shallots, cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, hard-boiled eggs, blue cheese, and bacon drizzled with cobb dressing.
In 1937 Bob Cobb owned a restaurant called the Brown Derby in Hollywood California. He created this inspired salad late one night while rummaging around for something to eat in the restaurant kitchen, using all the leftover prepped food from the day’s menu. It was an instant hit on the menu.
Yes! Use tofu or beans like garbanzo or kidney beans for plant protein. Leave out the eggs. Use crumbled vegan cheese or leave it off and add toasted nuts or seeds instead, or extra avocado. Use coconut bacon or other vegan bacon like tempeh or tofu. The dressing is vegan!
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Cobb Salad Recipe
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 Entree Salads 1x
- Category: Salad, Entree, Entree Salad
- Method: Tossed
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Cobb Salad is a perfect meal for warm weather days. A fresh, crunchy, and delicious protein rich dinner with a flavorful red wine vinaigrette. Vegan adaptable.
Ingredients
Cobb Salad Dressing
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano (1 teaspoon dried)
- 1 teaspoon fresh chives, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Salad
- 1 large romaine lettuce, cleaned & chopped
- 12 ounces of cooked chicken breast, cut or torn into bite-sized pieces. (Use grilled chicken, baked chicken or poached chicken; or grilled tofu, or baked tofu, or chickpeas or kidney beans)
- 6 ounces tomatoes, chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 medium cucumber, chopped
- 1/2 cup pickled shallots
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 cup coconut bacon (see notes)
- 1 tablespoon chopped chives for garnish plus fresh oregano if desired
- optional: a handful of microgreens ( radish sprouts are nice) or watercress, chopped
Instructions
- Make the Pickled Shallots– if using. These can be made ahead, or sub-pickled onions.
- Dressing: Whisk together the red wine vinegar, minced garlic, dijon, oregano, chives, salt, and pepper. Drizzle olive oil in slowly, emulsifying with the vinegar mixture.
- Assemble the salad: by tossing the lettuce with a little dressing. Place the dressed greens in individual bowls or one shallow platter. Layer on ingredients: watercress, chicken (or other protein), tomatoes, cucumber, shallots, avocado, blue cheese and boiled eggs. Drizzle with more dressing and sprinkle with bacon, fresh chives, fresh oregano, microgreens, and fresh ground pepper.
- Serve with the leftover dressing on the table so everyone can add more if desired. Most likely, you will have some leftovers (will keep up to 1 week in the fridge).
Notes
We love coconut bacon on just about everything. But of course go with what you love whether it be real bacon, turkey bacon, tempeh bacon or vegan bacon!
How to make Coconut Bacon: 1 cup wide raw coconut flakes, 1 tablespoon smoked soy sauce (or soy sauce or braggs + 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke), 1 teaspoon maple syrup (Optional: 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper). Mix together until coconut is completely coated. Bake in preheated oven at 325 F for about 6-9 minutes or until golden. It will crisp up as it cools.
For easier prep, make the pickled shallots, grilled chicken and dressing a day or two ahead.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Large Entree Salad
- Calories: 461
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 635.8 mg
- Fat: 36.8 g
- Saturated Fat: 9.4 g
- Carbohydrates: 19.6 g
- Fiber: 9.4 g
- Protein: 17.8 g
- Cholesterol: 31.6 mg
Delicious! Do all the components- its a flavor bomb and not boring at all. My husband and I discovered that we really enjoy pickled onions and the dressing complimented the salad perfectly.
Wonderful to hear!
Awesome salad. My son declared, “If you owned a restaurant, this would be on the menu.” I shredded tofu, marinated it and baked it in the oven. I had to chop coconut chunks for the bacon but it was great! So good for a hot summer evening meal.
Love this Brenda! So happy you both enjoyed!
Hands down one of my favorite salad recipes. I made it meat based with your baked chicken recipe and bacon. The fresh oregano in the dressing is really nice.
I’m so happy you loved it Michie!
Love this salad! As a vegan, I cannot tell you how much I appreciate your inclusion of tips and tricks to adapt your wonderful recipes for us. While there are many sites offering vegan recipes, yours feature complexity of taste with ease of preparation. And the detailed directions and options are inestimable. Thank you!
So happy to hear this!!! Glad you are enjoying the recipes and finding them adaptable. 🙂