Cobb Salad
This classic Cobb Salad has chicken, hard boiled eggs, avocado, tomato, bacon and blue cheese, all served on a bed of crisp greens and drizzled with a tangy balsamic dressing. This delicious salad is one you’ll make again and again.
I love eating a big salad for lunch or dinner, and this cobb salad is a favorite. With so many flavor-packed ingredients, this salad will make your taste buds happy and leave you feeling satisfied. You can prepare many of the ingredients for a cobb salad ahead of time, making it a breeze to assemble at dinner time. This version has all of the classic cobb salad ingredients plus a tangy balsamic dressing. You’re going to love it!
What is a Cobb Salad?
A cobb salad is a popular salad found on most restaurant menus and usually made with salad greens, chicken, hard boiled eggs, tomato, avocado, bacon and blue cheese. Legend has it that the salad was invented late one night in 1937 by Robert Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles, when he combined leftovers from the restaurant’s kitchen. Stories vary, but however it came to be I’m happy to have this delicious salad in our recipe rotation.
If you love main dish salads, you might also enjoy this BBQ Chicken Salad, Taco Salad and Salmon Salad.
Cobb Salad Recipe Ingredients
This salad is full of protein and packs a lot of flavor!
- Chicken: Use sliced or chopped cooked chicken breast. Leftover chicken works well here, or see below for options for how to cook the chicken.
- Hard Boiled Eggs: Cook them on the stove or make Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs.
- Bacon: You can’t beat the savory, salty flavor that bacon brings to a salad. Cook the bacon in the oven or make Air Fryer Bacon.
- Romaine Lettuce: I love using romaine in cobb salad because its crisp texture stands up well to all of the other salad components.
- Avocado: A ripe, creamy avocado is one of my favorite salad ingredients.
- Tomatoes: Use cherry tomatoes, grape tomatoes or chop up whole ripe tomatoes.
- Red Onion: Slice it thinly so that it doesn’t overpower the other flavors.
- Blue Cheese: A classic cobb salad ingredient, the blue cheese packs a punch of flavor. Feel free to substitute feta cheese if you prefer.
- Fresh Parsley or Chives: Adding fresh herbs is optional, but I love the fresh pop of flavor that they bring to the salad.
Cobb Salad Dressing
I love serving this salad with a Balsamic Vinaigrette, and you’ll find a simple balsamic dressing included in the recipe below. This salad could also be served with a variety of dressings. Honey Mustard Dressing, Italian Dressing, Greek Salad Dressing, Ranch Dressing or Blue Cheese Dressing would all be delicious.
How to Make Cobb Salad
Here’s an overview of the steps to making a cobb salad. Find the full recipe with ingredient amounts and instructions below.
- Cook the chicken and bacon, and hard boil the eggs. This can all be done ahead of time and then stored in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the salad.
- Place the chopped lettuce in a large bowl or on a large platter.
- Arrange the salad ingredients in rows on top of the lettuce. Then sprinkle on the chopped fresh parsley or chives, if using.
- Whisk together the salad dressing ingredients.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve.
Cooking the Chicken
There are many options for how to prepare the cooked chicken for the salad:
- Poached Chicken
- Grilled Chicken
- Pan Seared Chicken Breast
- Instant Pot Whole Chicken
- Baked Chicken Breast
- Rotisserie Chicken
Leftover chicken works great, so if you’re making grilled or baked chicken for dinner, cook a few extra chicken breasts to use in this salad the next day.
Make Ahead Tips
A cobb salad is easy to put together, but it does take time to prep all of the components. You can meal prep some of the ingredients ahead of time to make it faster to put the salad together at dinner time.
- Cook the chicken ahead of time or use leftover cooked chicken from another meal.
- Hard boil the eggs ahead of time. Hard boiled eggs can be stored in the refrigerator for up to one week.
- Cook the bacon up to one day ahead and refrigerate.
- Wash, dry and chop the lettuce and store it in an airtight container in the fridge.
- Whisk the dressing ingredients together and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Let the dressing come to room temperature and then shake or whisk to recombine.
More Favorite Salad Recipes
Cobb Salad Recipe
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 1 pound cooked chicken breast, sliced
- 4 hard boiled eggs, cut into quarters lengthwise
- 4 slices cooked bacon, chopped
- 10 cups chopped romaine lettuce, 1 large head lettuce or 2 romaine hearts
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 8 ounces cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- ½ small red onion, thinly sliced
- 3 ounces crumbled blue cheese
- chopped fresh parsley or chives, optional
Cobb Salad Dressing
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons smooth Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons honey
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Cook the Chicken, Eggs and Bacon:
- The chicken can be baked, grilled, poached, or from a rotisserie chicken. Leftover chicken works perfect here. Click the links in the ingredient list above for my recipes for poached chicken, hard boiled eggs and baked bacon.
Assemble the Salads:
- Place the chopped lettuce in a large salad bowl or on a large platter. Arrange the sliced chicken, chopped hard boiled eggs, chopped bacon, avocado, tomatoes, red onion, and blue cheese on top of the lettuce. Sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs (if using).
Make the Salad Dressing:
- Combine all dressing ingredients in a medium bowl or mason jar. Whisk or place a lid on the jar and shake until very well combined.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad right before serving.
Notes
- You may have a little dressing left over, depending on how lightly or heavily you dress the salad.
