This Chef Salad is healthy and delicious that’s perfect for lunch or dinner with a homemade dressing and the perfect meal for under 30 minutes.
I love a good salad that’s crips, delicious and full of great ingredients, like bacon! I mean, put bacon in any salad and you’ve got a winner in my book but this salad, is on the healthier side too. It’s also great as a main meal for lunch or dinner. My husband almost had a fit when he saw salad for dinner because salads are usually a side for us, but as he started eating it, he loved it and he was actually very full after.
What’s the difference between a chef salad and a cobb salad?
At first glance these two salads may look a bit identical. First of all, both are main dishes, and both have lettuce. A cobb salad is typically made with chopped green, tomatoes, bacon, chicken, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, blue cheese and a vinaigrette dressing. A chef salad is a more generic salad made with more generic salad ingredients such as cucumbers, tomatoes, carrots, then meats such as ham, bacon and cheddar cheese.
Ingredients
Keep scrolling down to the recipe card for full ingredient amounts and instructions, or click the Jump To Recipe button at the top.
Dressing:
- Mayonnaise – The base of any good dressing, in my opinion.
- Vinegar – Just a bit for a little acidity.
- Paprika – You can use smoked or sweet.
- Sugar – You can substitute with honey or agave if you wish.
- Salt & Pepper – To taste.
Salad:
- Lettuce – I love Boston lettuce for this salad, but you can use Romaine or iceberg lettuce as well.
- Eggs – Large, hard boiled.
- Bacon – Cooked until crisp and chopped.
- Ham – Store bought and chopped.
- Veggies – You’ll need peas (frozen are fine), carrots, cucumber, green onions and cherry tomatoes.
- Cheddar Cheese – Shredded. No salad is complete without a little bit of cheese.
How to make chef salad
- Make the dressing: Add all the dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Add all the salad ingredients to a bowl and toss everything together. Drizzle with the dressing, toss and serve. Alternatively, you can arrange the ingredients in rows as seen in the pictures with the lettuce as a base.
What to serve with it
Chef salad really is a meal on its own but why not try pairing it with some nice, homemade bread! Try these recipes:
- No Knead Bread
- No Knead Skillet Bread
- Butter Biscuits
- Feta Fry Bread
- Honey Rolls
- Best Ever Dinner Crescents
- Quick Yeast Dinner Rolls
Leftovers
Your chef salad can last anywhere between 1-5 days. Depending on if you have already dressed the salad or not, is a factor. Undressed salad will keep for a few days longer, typically 3-5 days, than if the salad already has the dressing incorporated.
If the salad is already dressed, it’s best that day, and might last another day in the fridge but the lettuce will get soggy.
More Great Salad Recipes To Try:
- Cobb Salad
- Kale and Quinoa Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette
- Avocado Tomato Salad
- Israeli Salad with Goat Cheese
- Panzanella Salad
- Kale Salad with Blueberry Vinaigrette
- Mushroom Arugula Warm Salad
- Chopped Mexican Chicken Salad
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Chef Salad
Ingredients
For Dressing
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- ½ tablespoon sugar granulated
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper freshly ground
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
For Salad
- 1 boston lettuce chopped
- ½ cup peas
- ½ cup carrots grated
- ¾ cup cheddar cheese shredded
- ¾ cup ham chopped
- 4 slices bacon fried and chopped
- ½ english cucumber sliced
- 6 green onions chopped
- 6 cherry tomatoes quartered or halved
- 4 eggs hard boiled
Instructions
- Make the dressing: Add all the dressing ingredients to a bowl and whisk until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- Finish the salad: Add all the salad ingredients to a bowl and toss everything together. Drizzle with the dressing, toss and serve. Alternatively, you can arrange the ingredients in rows as seen in the pictures with the lettuce as a base.
Recipe Notes
- To get perfect hard boiled eggs all the time, add your eggs eggs to a saucepan, cover with at least 2 inches of cold water. Bring the water to a full boiling, you should see big boiling bubbles, turn off the heat and cover the pot. Keep the saucepan on the burner for about 10 to 12 minutes. At this point I like to run cold water over the eggs and peel them under the tap, this way it’s easy to peel the eggs and you get perfectly peeled eggs every single time.
- Adding a bit of salt or vinegar to your water for the eggs, will prevent the eggs from cracking while cooking.
- Your chef salad can last anywhere between 1-5 days. Depending on if you have already dressed the salad or not, is a factor. Undressed salad will keep for a few days longer, typically 3-5 days, than if the salad already has the dressing incorporated.
I love your recipe ,it is so beautiful when set up properly and it is delicious too. You are the best salad maker ever!!!
Ah! Thank you! 🙂
This is my favorite salad! I mix up the salad ingredients for different flavors and it is always amazing! We don’t eat pork so we use turkey or chicken in place of the ham.
Adding fresh herbs (dill, parsley, cilantro) to the lettuce adds a great flavor profile.
This is my favorite salad! I mix up the salad ingredients for different flavors and it is always amazing!
Adding fresh herbs (dill, parsley, cilantro) to the lettuce adds a great flavor profile.
Thx for the dressing recipe! I will definitely be making this again…and I like that the ingredients are always at hand. (At least for me 🙂
I prepared mine with Turkey, less calories without ham, I don’t care for eggs omitted them also. I used Sweet ‘n Low in place of sugar.
My chef salad was delicious and filling. I’m watching carbs, to drop a few pounds plus I’m type 2 diabetic.
Love the dressing it’s yummy!!!
Am I just really blind, or is there no ham listed in the ingredients?
Ha! 😂Not blind! Added it now.
Thank you for this recipe! I love it!