What’s In a Cobb Salad?
This is one super satisfying salad. Since it has so much protein, you can eat it as a main course or as a side salad.
Chicken – We love using Baked Chicken Breast or our juicy Instant Pot Whole Chicken, but a store-bought rotisserie chicken works great to save time
Bacon – try air fryer bacon or crispy oven-baked bacon. You could also sautee bacon in a skillet.
Eggs – a great way to add more protein to the salad. Use hard-boiled eggs or Instant Pot Boiled Eggs.
Lettuce– chopped romaine bulks up the salad nicely
Tomatoes – add a juicy sweet bite – you can use just about any tomatoes (see variations below).
Avocado – Adding an avocado always elevates a salad!
Cheese – blue cheese is classic to a cobb salad but you can swap it out if you prefer (see variations section for ideas).
Onion – a little red onion goes a long way but adds tons of fresh vibrant flavor
Parsley – it’s an optional but very nice garnish that makes the salad taste a little fancier.
Variations
Protein – you can use a variety of meats here which is why we have everything from a Salmon Cobb Salad to Shrimp Cobb Salad. We also have a delicious Steak Cobb Salad in my debut Cookbook.
Cheese – The cheese of choice for the original Cobb Salad is blue cheese. We used a gorgonzola blue cheese but a Roquefort or other blue cheese would work as well. If you aren’t a fan of blue cheese, a crumbled feta works great.
Lettuce – iceberg is the classic option, but you can substitute it with chopped iceberg lettuce or even some green lettuce.
Tomatoes – I love using cherry tomatoes, but grape tomatoes or even diced heirloom tomatoes would work great here.
What is the Best Cobb Salad Dressing?
A vinaigrette is the classic dressing for Cobb Salad. We use a homemade balsamic vinaigrette here. It’s one of our most loved dressings and the same one we use for Beet Salad and Autumn Chopped Chicken Salad.
If you want to substitute the dressing, try the Red Wine Vinaigrette from our Greek Pasta Salad. A classic Creamy Ranch Dressing, Avocado Ranch, or Jalapeno Ranch would also work well. Note: if you are using a creamy ranch-based dressing, I would recommend using feta cheese instead of blue cheese.
How to Make Cobb Salad
Pre-Cook Everything – Cook your chicken, bacon, and eggs and set them aside to cool (see all of our make-ahead tips below).
Chop your Lettuce, rinse and spin it dry (a salad spinner is such a time saver!), then arrange it on a large shallow platter.
Arrange toppings in rows – this makes for such a beautiful presentation. Sprinkle finely chopped parsley over the top.
Make the Dressing – shake it up in a mason jar and drizzle over the salad just before serving.
