Chopped salad. Hear us out. We combine the hallmark ingredients of two classic salads—Cobb and Waldorf—in this simple, satisfying, and we dare say stunning collision of healthy and indulgent.
Chopped salad. Yeah, we know, we said salad. Not like us. But before you run off in search of more indulgent food, hear us out. Those greens like kale and cabbage that everyone is saying you should try to eat more often? You’ll find them here jumbled with creamy avocado and pungent blue cheese and sweet apples and crunchy almonds. We also toss in some chicken and bacon—yep, bacon—for spectacularness and then the whole shebang is tossed with a perfectly sweetened mustard vinaigrette. This is a salad we can get excited about. We’re pretty confident it’ll excite you, too.–Angie Zoobkoff
Chopped Salad
Ingredients
- 1 cup kale leaves stems removed, roughly chopped or thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup radicchio roughly chopped or thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup napa cabbage roughly chopped or thinly sliced
- 2 ounces cooked turkey or chicken cut into small chunks
- 1 slice cooked bacon crumbled
- 1/2 large avocado sliced or chopped
- 2 tablespoons chopped apple (any kind you like!)
- About 12 raw almonds coarsely chopped or slivered
- Blue cheese crumbles (optional)
- 3 to 4 tablespoons honey Dijon vinaigrette
Directions
- In a largish bowl, toss together the kale, radicchio, and cabbage and mix well. Scatter the turkey or chicken, bacon, avocado, apple, almonds, and blue cheese, if using, over the top. (If you want to make the salad ahead of time and take it to work for lunch, simply refrigerate the salad and the vinaigrette separately and toss them together at the last minute.)
- Drizzle with the honey Dijon vinaigrette and toss to coat. Grab a fork and have at it.
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Recipe Testers' Reviews
This chopped salad was a light and lovely lunch—a treat that serves one but it could easily be scaled up to feed more! The ingredients combine the best of two classic salads—the bacon and chicken and avocado of a Cobb salad with the apple and nuts from a Waldorf salad—and ties them all together with a lightly sweetened vinaigrette. The combined effect of all of those flavors together on one plate made me think of that famous Mae West quote, “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful!” I used regular curly kale, the Treviso variety of radicchio, and leftover chicken from a rotisserie hen. I did use the blue cheese—a mild Danish variety.
Originally published March 22, 2017
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Angie Zoobkoff
This chopped salad was fantastic for lunch. The crunchy greens were balanced by the creamy avocado and cheese, and although radicchio can be quite bitter, I felt that the sweetness from the apple and the vinaigrette tamed it very well. I made it the night before a busy day, with the dressing separate, and tossed it all together just before eating. It came together quickly, kept well overnight, was delicious, and kept me full all afternoon!