Summer Cobb Salad With Grilled Chicken
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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.
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?
Cobb Salad was originally born at the famous Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant.
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 You’ll Love This Cobb Salad
- Endless Ingredient Options – Use whatever you have on hand—just raid the fridge or garden!
- Hearty & Satisfying – Packed with veggies and plenty of salty, crunchy, and savory toppings, it’s filling enough to be a meal.
- The Toppings! – Bacon, cheese, eggs, and juicy grilled chicken keeps this salad from getting boring.
- The Dressing – A sweet and tangy finish makes it perfect. I love a honey mustard dressing, maple balsamic vinaigrette, or a homemade poppyseed dressing for this salad!
How to make Summer Cobb Salad With Grilled Chicken
Anything goes with this salad, but here’s what I put in my bowl. Full measurements can be found on the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- Romaine lettuce, about 5 cups
- Hard boiled eggs, (instructions below)
- Bacon, cooked until crisp and chopped into small pieces
- Avocado
- Sharp cheddar cheese or crumble up chunks of blue cheese, goat cheese or feta cheese.
- Cucumbers, cut into bite-sized chunks
- Red pepper, cut into strips
- Pre-cooked Grilled chicken Breast- I like boneless skinless chicken breast. To save time, you can use a rotisserie chicken or precooked chicken from the deli section.
- Additional veggies like fresh peas, shredded carrots, cherry tomatoes
- Poppy Seed Dressing, Balsamic Vinaigrette, ranch dressing, red wine vinaigrette, 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 a large 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 desired dressing, or serve on the side.
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.
Place the eggs in a pot and add enough cold water to cover them by about an inch. Set the pot over high heat and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-high and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, remove the pot from the heat and run cold water over the eggs to stop the cooking. Once cooled, gently tap the shells to crack them, then peel carefully. Rinse to remove any shell bits, and store the eggs in an airtight container in the fridge.
Can I make this Cobb Salad Recipe Ahead of Time?
Yes–and it’s perfect for meal prep, for easy quick lunches or dinners during the summer.
Wait to assemble the platter until just before serving, but all the ingredient prep can be done ahead. Wash and chop all the veggies (except the avocado) a couple of days in advance and store them in the fridge. The chicken, eggs, and bacon can be cooked days ahead and refrigerated for a few days.
Variations
This is the fun part! This salad allows for a wide range of creativity, and you can really toss in whatever ingredients you want!
The classic Cobb Salad consists of
- Lettuce- Romaine, iceberg lettuce, spring mix or baby greens work.
- Blue cheese
- Crisp Bacon
- Avocado
- Eggs
- Tomatoes
- Chicken
With these basics in mind, feel free to mix things up! Here are some variations-perfect for cleaning out the fridge or the garden!
- Thinly sliced red onion
- Olives
- Grilled zucchini
- Corn kernels, grilled or fresh
- Use a scoop of chicken salad or chunks of fried chicken instead of grilled chicken
- Grilled Steak, Ham, Salmon, Shrimp, or Tuna can serve as an alternative protein option
- Add crunchy toppings like croutons, sunflower seeds, roasted chickpeas, glazed walnuts, toasted pecans.
- Fruit: tart apples, dried cranberries, grapes
- Cobb Salad Dressing: avocado dressing, honey mustard, ranch, French, or Thousand Island.
- You can also tailor the salad to the seasons! In the fall, try adding roasted squash, dried fruit, toasted nuts, pears, and a maple Dijon mustard dressing.
A Cobb salad is more decorative and uses higher end ingredients like grilled chicken and blue cheese, while a Chef salad is simpler, featuring deli meats and shredded cheese.
The original Brown Derby Cobb salad dressing was a version of a red wine vinaigrette.
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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 bell 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
- Your salad dressing of choice
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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