This chopped salad will amaze everyone around the table! Homemade Italian dressing, crisp veggies and Parmesan cheese combine into one extraordinary salad.

Chopped salad

On the lookout for a super side salad to accessorize with all your meals? Alex and I are always looking for a great green salad. (It’s like a great pair of shoes, right?) May we present, our new very favorite one: this incredible chopped salad. It’s classy and tight. There’s our homemade Italian dressing: tangy, savory, and herby. Add to that shallots, tomatoes, cucumber, and a zing from pepperoncini. Parmesan cheese seals the deal. Are you ready to get cooking? Because this chopped salad wants to be part of your kitchen repertoire.

Chopped salad

How to make a chopped salad
Last weekend we served this salad at a dinner party. Wow! What’s in this salad? was murmured around the table. That’s when you know a recipe is a keeper! It looks unassuming, but it’s one of our favorites to date. What carries this chopped salad is our homemade Italian dressing recipe. The flavor is zesty and bright, full of garlic, white wine vinegar, and balanced with a touch of maple syrup. Dried basil, thyme, and oregano bring in an earthy flair. (See our dressing tips below.)

Other than the dressing, this chopped salad is just a matter of, well, chopping up all the ingredients! Here we’ve chosen ingredients that vibe on an Italian chopped salad. You can feel free to customize the veggies in this chopped salad to your liking…but we found this combination to be just about perfect:

Crunchy veggies: shallot, cucumber, and cherry tomatoes
Jarred pepperoncini: add a tang and a little heat
Green olives: add just the right salty hit.

Tip for making homemade Italian salad dressing
Making homemade salad dressing is the key to a great chopped salad! Here are a few tips to making a creamy emulsion where the oil and vinegar incorporate perfectly:

Whisk by hand with a large whisk.
Use a medium-sized bowl to allow for enough movement of the whisk. (Trust us, we’ve done it in small bowls before and it’s almost impossible to get the oil and vinegar to meld.)
Add the olive oil little by little. We add it tablespoon by tablespoon and whisk in between until the oil fully incorporates.
How to make chopped salad

Turn chopped salad into a main dish!
This chopped salad is so tasty, you’ll want to make it for every meal! To mix it up a bit, you could turn it into a main dish salad and eat it for dinner. We’d suggest to:

Add protein like hard boiled eggs, seared ahi tuna, or chopped chicken.
Serve with a side like cornbread or artisan bread.

Favorite Chopped Salad

This chopped salad will amaze everyone around the table! Homemade Italian dressing, veggies and Parmesan cheese combine into one extraordinary salad.

Ingredients

1 recipe Homemade Italian Dressing
1 Romaine heart (3 cups)
5 cups leafy lettuce
1 large shallot
1 English cucumber (2 cups chopped)
½ cup cherry tomatoes
1/3 cup ripe green olives, halved
½ cup jarred sliced pepperoncini
¼ cup Parmesan shavings or shreds, plus more to serve
¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
Instructions
Make the Homemade Italian Dressing.
Chop romaine and lettuce. Thinly slice the shallot. Peel and chop cucumber. Slice tomatoes and olives in half.
Mix together all the ingredients for the salad, including the dressing, and toss to combine. If making in advance, refrigerate the components separately; bring the dressing to room temperature before serving.