Summer Cobb Salad With Grilled Chicken
A Summer Cobb Salad with Grilled Chicken is a refreshing way to celebrate the bounties of summer! Crisp garden veggies are topped with hearty bacon, cheese, chicken, and a delicious tangy dressing. On nights when it’s too hot to work away in the kitchen, this salad is a lifesaver.
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It’s pretty hot out there, so I made you this scrumptious Summer Cobb Salad With Grilled Chicken!
This salad is abundant with fresh vegetables and super tasty toppings like crispy bacon, sharp cheddar cheese, hard-boiled eggs and juicy grilled chicken!
And to top it all off, you drizzle a sweet tangy dressing over the whole thing!
You’re welcome.
We’re in the season of life right now where the garden is starting to dictate what we make for dinner.
This week my garden was screaming lettuce and peas!
Honestly, I need that kind of bossiness in my life right now. The fewer decisions I have to make the better!
Also, it’s getting hot out there and HUMID. So I’m reaching for cooler and lighter ingredients lately.
That’s where this salad comes in!
I LOVE salads for dinner and this one is super hearty and chock full of enough savory fixins’ to leave my tummy full and satisfied.
What is Cobb Salad?
Based on what I’ve read here, the Cobb Salad was originally born at the famous Hollywood restaurant, The Brown Derby.
Apparently, Chef Cobb was starving one night and raided the fridge at the restaurant. He ended up pulling out some lettuce and a bunch of other ingredients that were laying around, and thus the salad was created! It was so delicious they put it on the menu, and it has gained immense popularity ever since!
Why do we love this Summer Cobb Salad with Grilled Chicken?
Oh how I love thee, let me count the ways…
First reason: you can use whatever ingredients you want! You’re only limited by your imagination here, so raid that fridge and garden!
Second reason: this salad is super hearty. It’s full of vegetables, and an abundance of salty, crunchy, and savory toppings. This salad is substantial enough to be it’s own meal!
The final reason: THE TOPPINGS. Oh wow this one’s my favorite. Abundant with fresh vegetables, this salad is then topped with a bunch of delicious ingredients like bacon, cheese, eggs and of course juicy grilled chicken!
Finish the whole thing off with a sweet and tangy dressing (I love honey mustard or poppy seed dressing the best), and you’ve got yourself the perfect summer meal!
How to hard boil eggs
This is the way my mom makes her hard boil eggs and they come out perfect every time! I also find this works for any number of eggs–from 2 to 6!
Instructions:
Place your eggs in the bottom of a sauce pot. I used a 2 quart sauce pot for five-six eggs.
Fill the pot with enough cold water to cover the tops of the eggs by an inch.
Set the pot of water and eggs on the burner and set it to high. Bring the water to a boil.
Once the pot is boiling, reduce the heat to medium high and let the pot simmer for 10 minutes.
After the timer goes off, remove the pot from the stove and run cold water over the eggs to stop the cooking.
Once the eggs are cooled, gently tap the outer shells to crack them open.
Gently and carefully peel away the shells and rinse off the hard boiled egg to remove any remaining shell reminents.
Store hard boiled eggs in an airtight container in the fridge.
How to make Summer Cobb Salad With Grilled Chicken
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 head of Romaine lettuce, about 5 cups, hopefully, picked from your garden!
- 3 hard boiled eggs, sliced
- 5 strips of bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped into small pieces
- 1 ripe avocado, cubed (not pictured because I forgot to put it on the platter like a bonehead)
- 2/3 cup of cubed sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 cup of cucumbers, cut into bite-sized chunks
- 3/4 of a medium sized red pepper, cut into strips
- 1 1/2 cups of grilled chicken breast diced into cubes– which is about 1 1/2 medium chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup of fresh peas
- 1/2 cup of shredded carrots
- Poppy Seed Dressing or whatever dressing you love the most!
Instructions:
Wash and chop the lettuce into large chunks. Set aside.
Gather the rest of the prepared ingredients and arrange them in rows on your serving platter.
Divide the lettuce evenly among four bowls and top with the platter ingredients.
Alternatively, you can put all the lettuce in an even layer on the platter and arrange the ingredients on top!
Dress with poppy seed dressing, or whatever dressing your family loves!
Can I make this Summer Cobb Salad with Grilled Chicken ahead of time?
You sure can!
I wouldn’t assemble your platter of ingredients until shortly before you’re ready to serve, however, all the vegetables (minus the avocado) can be washed and chopped a couple of days ahead and stored in the fridge.
The chicken, eggs and bacon can be cooked a few days ahead and stored in the fridge as well!
Variations
This is the fun part! This salad allows for a wide range of creativity, and you can really add whatever ingredients you want!
In my opinion, the basic components of a Cobb Salad are:
- lettuce
- some type of cheese
- chopped crispy bacon
- avocado
- hard boiled eggs
- any sweet and tangy salad dressing
So with the above as a guide, you can really modify and add whatever ingredients you like! Here are some fun additions:
- If I have them (especially during the garden season), I love adding cherry tomatoes
- Thinly sliced onions
- Olives
- Grilled zucchini
- Corn kernels, grilled or fresh
- Use crispy or fried chicken instead of grilled
- Croutons of course
The list could go on forever!
As for dressing options, other great dressings for this salad include avocado dressing, honey mustard, French, or Thousand Island!
You can even switch up the salad for the seasons–like in the Fall, use roasted cubed squash, dried fruits, toasted nuts and a maple honey mustard dressing. And make sure to still keep that bacon in there!
YUM!!!
Summer Cobb Salad With Grilled Chicken
Ingredients
- 1 head of Romaine lettuce, about 5 cups, hopefully, picked from your garden!
- 3 hard boiled eggs, sliced
- 5 strips of bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped into small pieces
- 1 ripe avocado, cubed
- 2/3 cup of cubed sharp cheddar cheese
- 1 cup of cucumbers, cut into bite-sized chunks
- 3/4 of a medium sized red pepper, cut into strips
- 1 1/2 cups of grilled chicken breast diced into cubes-- which is about 1 1/2 medium chicken breasts
- 1/2 cup of fresh peas
- 1/2 cup of shredded carrots
- Poppy Seed Dressing or whatever dressing you love the most!
Instructions
- Wash and chop the lettuce into large chunks. Set aside.
- Gather the rest of the prepared ingredients and arrange them in individual rows on your serving platter.
- To serve, divide the lettuce evenly among four bowls and top with the platter ingredients.
- Alternatively, you can put all the lettuce in an even layer on the platter and arrange the other ingredients on top!
- Dress with poppy seed dressing, or whatever dressing your family loves!
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