Our recipe for Chicken Cobb Salad makes a delicious and healthy meal! It’s just like the original Cobb recipe, but with juicy, grilled breast meat and a tangy balsamic dressing. This simple, high protein dinner is perfect for the summer grilling season!
We’ve all had those boring, tasteless salads that we eat just because we’re “supposed to.” But let’s not do that anymore… Especially when salads can be as flavorful as this one is!
The dressing has a little kick from the dijon mustard, and you can switch up the toppings to fit your taste or what you have in your kitchen!
You can put it together in about 30 minutes, or even less if you prepare the chicken, toppings, and bacon ahead of time. Trust us, you’re going to love it!
reasons to make chicken cobb salad for dinner tonight
There is a lot to love about this Cobb Salad recipe. It’s one of our favorites because it’s:
- Nutrient-Rich and High in Protein: This salad is packed with protein from grilled chicken breasts and hard boiled eggs. Plus it’s got healthy fats from avocado, and an array of vitamins and minerals from the variety of vegetables.
- Easy to Customize: Whether you have specific dietary restrictions or simply prefer certain ingredients over others, this Cobb salad recipe is highly customizable, allowing you to tailor it to your individual taste preferences and needs.
- Quick and Convenient: Ideal for busy days, this healthy salad recipe comes together in just about 30 minutes! You can serve it up more quickly by grilling the meat ahead of time.
ingredients
To make our cobb salad recipe, you’ll need:
- romaine lettuce – you could use iceberg, but I think romaine has better texture
- crispy bacon – use our method for cooking it in the oven!
- hard boiled eggs – buy precooked hard boiled eggs to save time
- avocado
- cherry tomatoes
- red onion
- cooked chicken breasts
- fresh parsley
- green onions
cobb salad dressing ingredients
Rather than using a heavy mayo-based dressing, we toss the greens in a creamy balsamic vinaigrette that is light, tangy and refreshing!
- balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard both give acidity to the dressing
- garlic
- olive oil helps to add richness!
- lime juice
- salt, pepper
SUBSTITUTIONS FOR COBB SALAD
Chicken Breasts: You can substitute the breast meat with grilled chicken thighs or chicken tenders. Really any cooked protein will work in this recipe! If you want, you could make a tuna cobb salad by adding a scoop of healthy tuna salad on top. Another great meal prep idea is to make crockpot turkey breast and use some of the leftovers!
Lettuce: We like the crunch of romaine lettuce on our chicken cobb salad, but you could use spinach, spring mix, kale, radicchio, or even butter lettuce.
Other toppings: Try adding crumbled blue cheese, garbanzo beans, cucumbers, bell peppers, nuts/seeds, croutons, or shredded carrots.
Dressing: Any store-bought dressing will work. Or make your own! Ranch dressing, blue cheese dressing, and Italian dressing are all good.
Bacon: We use no sugar added bacon from Butcherbox. Check out our Butcher Box Reviews! If you’d like to use a substitute, consider turkey bacon, chopped ham or prosciutto.
Eggs: If you want to save time, make your eggs in the air fryer! These Air Fryer Boiled Eggs are come our perfect every time!
tips for making the best cobb salad with chicken
There are several options for cooking the chicken to put into your salad. How you cook it is really just a personal preference.
Here are some of our favorite ways to prepare it:
- Bake it in the oven: You can make baked boneless chicken breast, which keeps the flavors simple so the flavor of the vegetables can shine. Or, for more flavor, opt for something like maple mustard chicken breast.
- Grill it: To add smoky flavor, cook the chicken for this cobb salad recipe on a BBQ grill. We suggest using either our recipe for BBQ chicken breast or balsamic grilled chicken! The balsamic adds a tangy punch of flavor that pairs really well with the flavors in the cobb salad dressing.
- Use prepared or leftover chicken: You can save a lot of time by using rotisserie chicken. Another easy and quick method is to use any cooked poultry that you have in your fridge. We like to top ours with leftover oven roasted chicken.
Time Saving Pro Tip
The dressing, chicken, bacon, and hard-boiled eggs can all be made a few days in advance and stored in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve. I don’t recommend slicing the avocado until you’re ready to eat.
tips for preparing and assembling the cobb salad
- Use a sharp knife to avoid bruising the romaine lettuce.First, wash and dry the romaine lettuce leaves, stack them together, then roll them up into a tight cylinder. Using a sharp knife, slice the romaine crosswise into thin strips. You can chop further if desired to achieve bite-sized pieces.
- Wait until just before serving to toss in the cobb salad dressing. Nobody likes limp lettuce! So, we like to wait until about 5 minutes before serving to add the dressing. Or, if you’d like, just leave the vinaigrette off and let everyone dress their own serving at the table.
- Whisk the ingredients well to keep the vinaigrette emulsified.
Oil and vinegar do not mix together naturally. In order to create the creamiest vinaigrette dressing, you have to create an emulsion. The best way to do this is to combine the dressing ingredients in a high speed blender.
serving suggestions
One of the things that makes a cobb salad so special is how it’s assembled. Unlike a traditional tossed salad, the ingredients are placed in clusters or rows on the serving platter. It is so pretty to look at!
Thanks to the hard boiled eggs, bacon, and chicken breast, the meal has plenty of protein and healthy vegetables, and it’s a very filling salad. You really don’t need to serve anything else with this meal.
But, if you want a heartier meal, serve some tomato basil soup and slices of crusty bread on the side. You could even serve it with avocado toast!
Cobb Salad Chicken FAQs
A Cobb salad contains a signature combination of ingredients, typically including romaine lettuce, grilled or roasted chicken, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, diced tomatoes, and a choice of dressing, such as a vinaigrette or creamy balsamic. The toppings are typically arranged in neat rows or sections, which is the Cobb salad’s classic presentation.
A Cobb salad typically features romaine lettuce, chicken, and bacon, with a vinaigrette or balsamic dressing, while a chef’s salad combines mixed greens with various deli meats, and is often served with a creamy dressing like this Homemade Ranch.
storing chicken cobb salad leftovers
This salad will last in the refrigerator for up to 3 days in an airtight container.
To keep it fresh, add a paper towel to the container and change it every day – this helps absorb moisture and keep the greens fresh!
Leftover dressing will store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week, making it perfect for meal prepping.
Other healthy salad recipes:
Looking for more delicious salad ideas? Check out these other recipes:
Chicken Cobb Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Salad:
- 5 cups romaine lettuce chopped, rinsed and dried
- 6 slices bacon cooked and chopped – no sugar added
- 3 hard-boiled eggs sliced in half
- 1/2 cup sliced avocado (1/2 an avocado)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/4 cup sliced red onion 1/2 of a small onion
- 4 cups cooked chicken breasts chopped (3 chicken breasts)
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley chopped for garnish (optional)
- 2 tablespoons green onions chopped for garnish (optional)
Cobb Salad Dressing:
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove pressed or finely minced
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Juice of ½ a lime
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- Prepare and chop all salad ingredients. (Here’s a link to our favorite grilled chicken recipe) Set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, garlic, olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper until smooth.
- In a large bowl, layer romaine lettuce, bacon, hard-boiled eggs, avocado slices, cherry tomatoes, and red onion slices. Top with chopped chicken.
- Drizzle the creamy balsamic dressing over the salad and garnish with parsley and green onions if you like! Serve immediately.
Notes
- Cook your chicken ahead of time. Grill it, bake it, or use a rotisserie chicken!
- Wait until just before serving to toss in the cobb salad dressing.
Nancy says
I love hard boiled eggs but shelling them is a pain. What’s the secret to making perfect hard boiled eggs?