Too often restaurant salads cost as much as an appetizer – but don’t fill you up. This is NOT one of those salads. This is a salad for people who want to get their fill from salad.
How to Make a Really Great Chopped Italian Salad
A chopped salad is a salad that contains a variety of ingredients cut into roughly the same size.
Here’s what you need to know to make a really great chopped Italian salad:
- ingredients: A variety of fresh ingredients make a tasty and filling salad. Of course, if you want to save money, you can omit certain ingredients or substitute them inexpensively (e.g. use a regular pickle instead of an English pickle).
- size of the ingredients: All your ingredients should be cut into roughly the same size. This makes it easy to mix the salad and pick it up with a fork. Chopped salads, as the name suggests, are served chopped and tossed together rather than being layered on a plate.
- dressing: You can buy ready-made Italian dressing or make your own with this easy recipe:
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon of honey
- 2 teaspoons dried Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- Whisk all ingredients together or place in a lidded jar and shake until incorporated.
Make it paleo friendly
- Omit parmesan cheese
- Buy nitrate-free salami
- Buy (or make) sugar-free Italian dressing
Need a good, hearty salad recipe?
If you have high expectations of a salad (read: delicious, filling, flavorful), check out these recipes:
ingredients
-
2 heads of romaine lettuce
-
1/2 English cucumber
-
cherry tomatoes
-
1/4 red onion
-
1/2 cup Kalamata olives
-
8 mini peppers
-
6 hot pepper peppers
-
12 slices of salami
-
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
-
Italian dressing
instructions
- Ingredients for the preparation: Cut all salad ingredients into bite-sized pieces. The goal is for most of the ingredients to be roughly the same size.
- Mix all the ingredients in a large salad bowl or prepare individual plates. Serve with Italian dressing.