Best Italian Chopped Salad

Best Italian Chopped Salad is full of vibrant ingredients, and makes dinner time interesting. Combining romaine lettuce with veggies, chick peas, olives, mozzarella cheese, salami, and a creamy Italian Dressing encourages healthy eating all week long.

Mike and I recently went out for pizza at a new place in our area, and started out with a huge Italian Chopped Salad. It was similar to this one, and I enjoyed it SO much – maybe even more than the pizza. GASP! I knew I needed to recreate it because I get tired of the same old salads.

Variety of ingredients is key to enjoying salads. When I was in college, I ate the most boring combo over and over again – iceberg lettuce, carrots, cottage cheese, croutons, and French Dressing (remember that orange bottled dressing?). Maybe that’s why I always craved candy after dinner.

Ingredients needed for Best Italian Chopped Salad:

• Romaine Lettuce – Get your salad spinner out to get the lettuce nice and dry, or buy pre-packaged.
• Radicchio – A handful of radicchio is the perfect combo, but you could use other greens here.
• Sliced Mushrooms – I prefer Baby Bella mushrooms in this salad, but white button mushrooms work too.
• Plum Tomatoes – I used a colorful variety mix of tomatoes.
• Red Onion – Slice them thin!
• Chick Peas – One of my favorite salad toppings EVER. So good and a great source of protein and fiber.
• Olives – I prefer black olives over green, but you do you.
• Hard Salami – This salty meat will definitely make your guys want to eat salad. 😀
• Mozzarella Cheese – Buy a block of cheese and cube it.
• Parmesan Cheese – Use a cheese grater to grate your own wedge of parm.

You won’t get bored with this salad. I promise.

Let’s talk about the Creamy Italian Dressing next.

I used two parts olive oil to one part red wine vinegar, a tablespoon of Dijon Mustard, a teaspoon of sugar, and a delicious spice combo of salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder. Seriously creamy and yes, JUST one teaspoon of sugar.

Skip the Ranch Dressing and go for this one!

How to make Best Italian Chopped Salad with Creamy Italian Dressing:

1. Prep ingredients. Clean and chop the lettuce, slice the onion and tomatoes, cube the cheese, halve the salami, and strain the chick peas and olives.
2. Combine. Add all salad ingredients to a large salad bowl – the lettuce, radicchio, mushrooms, tomatoes, onion, chick peas, olives, cheese, and salami – and toss.
3. Make dressing. Measure all salad dressing ingredients into a mason jar, and shake vigorously. Store in the refrigerator until ready to dress individual servings.
4. EAT. Enjoy the BEST Italian Chopped Salad! 😀

Here’s what I recommend if you want to make this salad last all work week.

1. Buy your ingredients on the weekend.
2. Prep all your ingredients on Sunday. Wrap the veggies in paper towel and keep them in storage bags or containers. Make the salad dressing as well and keep everything in the refrigerator.
3. Mix up half of the salad on Monday at dinner time, and store in airtight container. Add dressing to individual servings.
4. When the first half is gone, mix up the remaining ingredients.
5. Enjoy it ALL week long!

Other healthy and delicious salads for you to try:

• Mexican Quinoa Salad with Avocado Crema – A personal fav, and one that’s a full meal for me.
• Chopped Greek Pasta Salad – Great for summertime barbecues.
• Crunchy Asian Cabbage Salad – THE most popular recipe on my blog, currently.

Make this delicious salad next: Shaved Cauliflower Salad with Lemon Dressing

Please let know if you try this recipe. Be sure to comment and leave a review on the blog so I can see what you think. You can also like my Facebook Page, follow me on Pinterest, and catch me on Instagram.

5 from 3 votes

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Best Italian Chopped Salad

Best Italian Chopped Salad is full of vibrant ingredients, and makes dinner time interesting. Combining romaine lettuce with veggies, chick peas, olives, mozzarella cheese, salami, and a creamy Italian Dressing encourages healthy eating all week long.

Course Salad

Cuisine Italian

Keyword best chopped salad, creamy Italian Dressing, Italian chopped salad

Prep Time 20 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 6 large salads

Calories 440 kcal

Author Sue Ringsdorf

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 10-12 cups romaine lettuce - cleaned and chopped
• 2 cups radicchio (or other lettuce of your choice) - chopped
• 1/4 cup red onion - sliced thin
• 1 cup grape tomatoes - halved
• 8 ounces sliced Bella mushrooms
• 1 can garbanzo beans - rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup black olives
• 4 ounces salami - sliced in strips
• 8 ounces mozzarella cheese - cubed
• 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese

For the dressing:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper - to taste

Instructions

1. For the salad: Combine all salad ingredients in a large bowl, or six main dish serving bowls.
   

2. For the dressing: Combine all dressing ingredients in a salad shaker or a mason jar. Shake well, and drizzle over salads to serve.

Nutrition Facts

Best Italian Chopped Salad

Amount Per Serving

Calories 440 Calories from Fat 333

% Daily Value*

Fat 37g57%

Saturated Fat 11g69%

Cholesterol 50mg17%

Sodium 1023mg44%

Potassium 551mg16%

Carbohydrates 9g3%

Fiber 3g13%

Sugar 4g4%

Protein 18g36%

Vitamin A 9920IU198%

Vitamin C 9.1mg11%

Calcium 340mg34%

Iron 2.2mg12%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.