This post first appeared on Yellow Bliss Road where I am a contributor.
This easy Chicken Cobb Salad recipe is as good as any restaurant for a fraction of the price! Ready in 25 mins, you’ll want to have this salad for lunch on the regular!
I love great salad recipes and the Grilled Chicken Cobb Salad has been at the top of my list for years! Just about every restaurant has one on the menu and it’s a full meal. The ratio of lettuce to toppings is perfect and you can add your favorite dressing to taste. What’s not to love about that?! Maybe it’s the fact that I can never say no to something with avocado and bacon, but this salad makes a regular appearance at lunchtime at our house.
Cobb Salad Ingredients
- Lettuce – A mix of greens including iceberg lettuce, watercress, romaine lettuce, and endive are a classic combination, but arugula, radicchio, and green lettuce would be yummy additions too.
- Tomato – I prefer grape or cherry tomatoes for this salad, but dice Roma or beefsteak tomato would work just fine.
- Avocado – I could put it on every salad (and I do!) The avocado plays beautifully off the bacon and blue cheese in this salad!
- Bacon – It makes EVERYTHING better! Cook it crispy and crumble it up so you get some in every bite!
- Blue Cheese – You can choose your favorite, from Roquefort to Stilton. If blue cheese isn’t your thing, substitute punchy cheese you like…I love the unexpected cheddar from Trader Joe’s.
- Boiled Eggs – You can use a soft-boiled or hard-boiled egg for this salad. I usually go with hard-boiled since I make a few extra when I’m prepping for deviled eggs.
- Chicken – You want your chicken to have some flavor so it’s best to use a grilled chicken breast or chop up some rotisserie chicken from the store. You can also pan fry or bake your chicken, just be sure to season it!
The original Cobb salad is made with a mix of greens (iceberg lettuce, watercress, endives, and romaine lettuce), tomato, bacon, chicken (not fried), hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, Roquefort cheese, and red wine vinaigrette.
Cobb Salad Dressing
You can pretty much put any dressing you like on your cobb salad, but these are some of my favorites.
Obviously, I’ve mixed things up a bit with this chicken cobb salad recipe and made it my own. You can absolutely make this salad to your tastes. I’ve seen Cobb salads with red onion and cucumber. Southwestern Cobb salads with corn and black beans. Even shrimp or crab in place of the grilled chicken. So don’t be afraid to mix things up a bit.
What is a Cobb salad?
The origins of the Cobb Salad come from the Brown Derby in Hollywood, CA in the 1937 and was named for the restaurant’s owner Robert Howard Cobb after he threw a bunch of leftover ingredients together late at night. He tossed the salad in French dressing and the Cobb salad was born. Personally, I don’t care how this salad happened…I’m just happy it did!
What makes Cobb salad different?
A cobb salad and a chef’s salad are very similar but there are a few differences worth noting.
- Both salads start with lettuce and are topped with meat, tomatoes, cheese, and dressing.
- Chef’s Salad will include one type of lettuce (usually iceberg or green lettuce), deli meats like ham and turkey, cucumber, carrots, and cheddar cheese.
- Cobb Salad includes a mix off lettuces (iceberg, watercress, endive, and romaine), chicken breast, bacon, avocado, and blue cheese. Most presentations arrange the chicken and other toppings in rows or sections on top of the lettuce.
If you want to get a head start on your prep for this recipe, make some extra chicken the night before or grab a rotisserie chicken from the store and cook your bacon ahead of time. That way you can grab everything you need from the fridge and whip up this chicken cobb salad whenever a craving hits!
Try some my other favorite salads!
- Brown Rice & Apple Salad
- Chopped Wedge Salad
- Pomegranate and Pear Salad
- Apple Chicken and Feta Salad
- Chef’s Salad Lettuce Wraps
- Garlic Parmesan Croutons
Chicken dinners we love!
- Huli Huli Chicken
- Chicken & Cornbread Casserole
- Easy Chicken Cordon Bleu
- Cajun Chicken Pasta
- 30-Minute Bacon Chicken Chili
- More dinner ideas
Chicken Cobb Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 3 strips bacon
- 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
- Salt & pepper
- ½ head iceberg lettuce
- ½ head romaine lettuce
- 8 grape tomatoes
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 1 ounce blue cheese crumbled
- 2 ounces ranch dressing (or blue cheese dressing)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lay out bacon strips on a foil-lined baking sheet. Cook for 10-12 minutes or until bacon is crispy. Removed from oven and transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
- Heat grill or a skillet over medium-high heat. Season chicken on both sides with salt & pepper. Cook, flipping once, for about 3-4 minute per side. Make sure chicken reaches 165 degrees F internal temp and is no longer pink. Remove to a plate to rest.
- Rinse and dry lettuces, then remove outer leaves and core. Cut into bite-sized pieces and place on a platter or shallow serving bowl.
- Rinse and halve tomatoes. Place on top of the lettuce to one side of the bowl. Slice eggs and place next to the tomatoes in a line. Cut avocado in half, remove from skin and then chop or slice. Add next to eggs.
- Slice or dice chicken and place on salad next to avocado. Crumble bacon and place next to the chicken. Crumble blue cheese and place next to bacon.
- Serve with blue cheese or ranch dressing on the side.
Nutrition
All nutritional information is based on third party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes per household.
Lawrence says
This salad would be at the top of my list for years too. I follow the eat clean routine to build a flexible and healthy body. Salad is one of my indispensable dishes in my daily menu. I love the ingredient, it so fresh, healthy and full flavor.