The best Cobb Salad recipe topped with chicken, hard-boiled eggs, bacon, tomatoes, avocado, cheese, homemade croutons, and ranch dressing!
A cobb salad looks fabulous on a serving platter and tastes as good as it looks. It can be served as a side or as the main dish. Prepare the salad ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator until ready to enjoy.
What You’ll Find In This Post
Cobb Salad Ingredients
Here are the ingredients we love having on our Cobb salads. You can customize the recipe to fit your family’s tastes or use what you have on hand. Scroll down for the complete recipe with ingredient measurements.
- Lettuce: We chose a spring mix for the lettuce, but you can use any lettuce you want.
- Chicken: You can use leftover chicken, store-bought chicken, or quickly make chicken in an air fryer.
- Croutons: Homemade croutons are the best, and you can prepare them ahead of time. Wait to add them to the platter until just before serving.
- Eggs: We sliced our hard boiled eggs, but they could also be chopped, cubed, or crumbled.
- Bacon: A little crispy bacon adds so much to a Cobb salad! We cooked our bacon in the oven and then crumbled it once it cooled.
- Tomatoes: We used grape tomatoes since they are easy to slice and hold their shape.
- Cucumber: The cucumber can be sliced, cubed, or cut into strips. English seedless cucumbers are a great choice if you want to leave the skin on.
- Avocado: You may want to slice and add the avocado right before serving to prevent browning.
- Cheese: The traditional cheese for a cobb salad is blue cheese, but we opted for cubed white cheddar instead.
- Chives: The chives are sprinkled over the salad for added flavor as well as being a colorful garnish.
- Ranch Dressing: We served this salad with homemade ranch dressing, but you can use any dressing you want.
How To Make Cobb Salad
Once you’ve got all of the ingredients prepared, all you need to do is assemble the salad! A large platter is a perfect way to serve a Cobb salad since all of the ingredients can be laid out in rows. Scroll down for the printable recipe card and complete instructions.
- Lettuce: Start by covering the bottom of the platter with chopped lettuce.
- Toppings: Line the salad toppings up in rows over the lettuce. If you are preparing the salad ahead of time, leave any ingredients that may get soggy (such as croutons) or brown (such as avocados) aside and add them before serving.
- Garnish: Sprinkle the salad with minced chives and serve with salad dressing.
Frequently Asked Questions
It was named after Robert Howard Cobb the owner of the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood.
The difference is the ingredients used to make the salad, as well as the way they are laid out in rows on a platter or plate.
Many of the ingredients are the same (meat, cheese, eggs, veggies), but the salads are plated differently. Additionally, a chef’s salad often includes diced ham, while a Cobb salad is usually made with cubed chicken. Also, Cobb salads include avocado, and the cheese is traditionally crumbled blue cheese.
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A 7 Layer Salad is a pretty way to prepare a salad for a dinner party or potluck. It is very customizable and can be prepared ahead of time.
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A Tomato Cucumber Salad with fresh summer vegetables is always a hit at barbecues and picnics. This quick, easy side dish can be prepared ahead of time.
Cobb Salad
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 cups chopped lettuce
- 1 cup cooked cubed chicken
- [1 cup croutons find my recipe here]
- 2 hard boiled eggs sliced
- 1/2 cup cooked crumbled bacon
- 1/2 cup grape tomatoes halved
- 1/2 cup cubed white cheddar cheese
- 1 cucumber sliced
- 1 avocado sliced
- 2 tablespoon minced chives
Instructions
- Cover the bottom of a platter, bowl, or plate with lettuce.
- Arrange the salad toppings in rows on top of the lettuce. (If preparing ahead of time, wait to add the croutons and avocado at the last minute.)
- Sprinkle the chives over the salad.
- Serve with homemade ranch dressing (find my recipe here) or dressing of choice.
