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This simple cobb salad is so full of tasty ingredients it’s a meal all on its own. It is quick to make and utterly delicious.
Cobb salad is by far one of my favorites. It is so filling. I love to drizzle mine with Homemade Ranch Dressing, but you could easily use Homemade Caesar Dressing or Cilantro Lime Dressing to mix things up a bit!
What Is a Cobb Salad?
The cobb salad is a main-dish American garden salad typically made with chopped salad greens. I say “main dish” because this thing is loaded!!
A Chef salad and cobb salad both have lettuce, cheese, and meats such as bacon, chicken breast, and ham, plus hard-boiled eggs. But a cobb salad can use different types of lettuce as well as contains avocado and tomatoes.
The classic cobb salad is one of my all-time favorite salads. It’s the perfect salad for dinner because, beyond the greens, it’s got so much more.
This version uses cubed cheddar cheese, but blue cheese crumbles are also a popular addition to this salad. The great thing is you can add or change it up to make it your own!
Just Prep and Enjoy!
You can change or omit any of the cobb salad ingredients to suit your preferences, but here are all the staples this salad calls for!
PREP. Wash greens and dry.
LAYER + ENJOY! Place on a large serving platter or in a large serving bowl. Layer toppings, then sprinkle with green onions. Serve with a quality ranch dressing (we prefer homemade ranch!).
Variations
It is said that this famous salad was created by accident. California’s Brown Derby Hotel owner, Robert Cobb, was hungry one night and threw together a salad with ingredients that he had on hand in his hotel. The combination was delicious and the cobb salad recipe was born.
Since he threw this salad together with what he had on hand, I figured you can too. If you have an ingredient that isn’t part of a traditional cobb salad go ahead and add it.
- Lettuce. We used romaine lettuce, you can use any green lettuce you have on hand or a mixture of them. Some favorites include: iceberg lettuce, green leaf, butter, spinach, or arugula.
- Chicken. Grilled chicken, roasted chicken, rotisserie chicken, or chicken from a can. Any cooked chicken you have will work. You can also use turkey. If you’d rather use pork or beef you absolutely can!
- Other produce. Aside from the signature avocados you can add or subtract your favorite produce. Besides what we used in this recipe you could add broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, red onion, cold peas, or celery.
- Croutons. This delicious salad addition is not typically a cobb salad ingredient, but if you love ‘em go ahead and add ‘em.
Make it Ahead
Make it ahead of time. Cobb salad can be made 2-3 hours ahead of time. I would save the avocados to slice until right before serving because they will brown fairly quickly.
Also, save the cobb salad dressing to add before serving. Cover the assembled salad with plastic wrap and store it in the fridge.
To prep this dish further ahead of time, I suggest storing the different ingredients in separate containers in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the salad.
Recipe FAQ
I found that adding eggs to hot water instead of cold water is the key to being able to peel the eggs more easily. Over medium-high heat bring a saucepan of water to a boil, add room-temperature eggs, reduce the heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add eggs to a bowl of ice water, drain, and peel. See our Easy Hard Boiled Eggs post for more info.
The Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant, the birthplace of the Cobb salad, used a delicious French dressing. I like using ranch dressing, and you can use your favorite dressing.
For More Salad Recipes, Try:
- Antipasto Salad
- 7 Layer Salad
- Strawberry Harvest Salad
- Chicken Caesar Salad
- Waldorf Salad
- Southwest Salad
Cobb Salad
Ingredients
- 6 cups romaine hearts, chopped
- 1 avocado, sliced
- ½ cup cheddar cheese, cubed or grated
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
- 1 chicken breast, seasoned, fully cooked and cubed
- 1 cup corn, sautéed or broiled
- 4 slices bacon, chopped
- 2 boiled eggs, chopped
- 2 green onions, sliced
Instructions
- Wash 6 cups romaine hearts and pat dry.
- Place on a large serving platter or in a large serving bowl.
- Layer on 1 sliced avocado, ½ cup cubed cheddar cheese, 1 cup cherry tomatoes, 1 cubed chicken breast, 1 cup sauteéd corn, 4 crumbled slices of bacon, and 2 chopped boiled eggs. Sprinkle with 2 sliced green onions.
- Serve with a quality ranch dressing (we prefer Homemade Ranch Dressing!).
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Excellent!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it!
Oh my goodness, we moved last year and we had a restaurant in our old town that made the best cobb salad. I’ve been missing it but now…. THIS recipe is even better than theirs so thank you! I don’t miss theirs anymore!
This is so good and delicious!! I love how flavorful it is!!
I can honestly eat this salad every day in the summer and never get tired! Bursting with flavour and very satisfying!
I have recently become a huge fan of Cobb salad, especially as it’s so easy to be made low FODMAP, as I have to be. This recipe is absolutely perfect. I love it! After cutting down the amount of avocado to about half, I could eat this every single day with no FODMAP worries! Thanks! Love this!
Simple to make and loaded with all of my favorites! best salad ever!
What a fantastic meal! I made it pretty just like yours and got ooohs and ahhhs from the beginning to the end. Thank you!
Another favorite salad that we love. You really can’t go wrong with this salad that has a little bit of everything in it.
Cobb salad is one of those salads that I can eat all year! It’s filled with so many delicious ingredients & leaves you nice & filled!