Cobb Salad Recipe

The first time I ordered a Cobb salad at a diner near Bryant Park, I paid fourteen dollars for something I could make at home for less. That bugged me the whole subway ride back. So I went home, opened the fridge, and figured out this Cobb salad recipe with a little vinaigrette I whisk in a coffee mug.

Jump to:

• Why You Will Like This Cobb Salad
• Ingredients You Need for This Cobb Salad
• Cobb Salad
• How to Make Cobb Salad Step by Step
• Storing Your Cobb Salad Leftovers
• My Best Tips and Variations for Cobb Salad
• Cobb Salad Questions I Get Asked
• Recipes You May Like
• Final Thoughts

Honestly? Mine tastes better. And it takes 30 minutes.

Here's what makes this one work in a real kitchen. You cook the chicken, bacon, and eggs whenever you have a spare half hour, stash them in the fridge, and then dinner is just slicing and stacking. Alex called it "the salad with bacon on it," which is now its permanent name in our apartment.

If you like this kind of pile everything on a platter dinner, you'll probably also like my creamy chicken salad for easy summer lunches. Same idea, different mood, and it uses up the extra chicken from this one.

Why You Will Like This Cobb Salad

• Only 30 minutes from start to plate when your toppings are already cooked
• No fancy technique, just slicing and arranging
• The homemade vinaigrette takes 2 minutes and beats bottled dressing by a mile
• Salty bacon, creamy avocado, tangy blue cheese, and cool tomatoes in every bite
• Naturally low carb and packed with protein, about 31 grams per serving
• Everyone builds their own plate, so picky eaters stay happy

Ingredients You Need for This Cobb Salad

Nothing here is hard to find. I get most of it at my regular corner market.

For the dressing:

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 teaspoon avocado oil mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder

For the salad:

• 2 cups salad greens
• 2 medium baked chicken breasts, sliced, about 6 ounces each
• ½ cup cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1 Haas avocado, sliced
• 2 large hard boiled eggs, sliced
• 4 strips cooked bacon, crispy and chopped
• 2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

A few swaps I've tested. If blue cheese is too sharp for your family, feta works and Sarah actually prefers it. No red wine vinegar? Apple cider vinegar is fine. And leftover rotisserie chicken saves you a whole step, which I do more often than I like to admit.

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How to Make Cobb Salad Step by Step

Step 1: Whisk the Dressing

In a small bowl, whisk the olive oil, red wine vinegar, mayonnaise, Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and garlic powder together.

Keep whisking until it looks creamy instead of separated. That takes about 30 seconds. The mayo is the trick here, since it holds the oil and vinegar together so your dressing doesn't split the second you look away.

Step 2: Lay Down the Greens

Spread the salad greens across a large platter.

A platter, not a bowl. This matters more than it sounds. When you use a bowl, everything slides into one soggy pile at the bottom. A flat surface keeps the rows looking neat and lets people take what they want.

Step 3: Arrange the Toppings

Now stack everything on top in rows. I go in this order every time: chicken, tomatoes, avocado, eggs, bacon, then blue cheese.

Why that order? The chicken goes first because it's the heaviest. The bacon and cheese go last so they stay on top where you can see them. Nobody wants hidden bacon.

Step 4: Dress and Serve

Drizzle the dressing over the whole platter right before you bring it to the table.

Not sooner. I made that mistake once when I was trying to get ahead of a dinner party, and by the time we sat down the greens had gone limp. Now I pour it at the table and let everyone toss their own portion.

Storing Your Cobb Salad Leftovers

Here's the thing about leftovers with this one. The greens and avocado don't hold up.

The lettuce goes soft and watery after a few hours under dressing, and the avocado turns brown no matter what you do. So I pull those off the platter and toss them.

Everything else keeps beautifully. Store the chicken, bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and cheese in an airtight glass container in the fridge for up to 3 days. The dressing keeps separately for about a week in a small jar. Just shake it before using, since it settles.

The next day, all you need is fresh greens and a new avocado and you've got dinner in five minutes. Donald takes it to the office like this and says it's the only lunch that doesn't make him sad at 1pm.

My Best Tips and Variations for Cobb Salad

I've made this more times than I can count, and these are the things that actually changed the result.

• Cook everything the day before. This is the whole game. Bake the chicken, do the bacon in the oven, boil the eggs, then refrigerate. Cold toppings are what you want anyway.
• Salt at the end, not the start. Bacon and blue cheese bring plenty. Taste first, then decide.
• Slice the avocado last. Even 10 minutes of sitting out starts the browning.
• Cut the chicken across the grain. Thin slices feel more tender, even from the same breast.
• Warm the eggs to room temp for about 10 minutes before slicing. They crumble less.

Want to change it up? Swap the chicken for grilled shrimp in summer. Add corn kernels for sweetness. Skip the meat entirely and double the eggs and cheese for a vegetarian version, which I did last Tuesday when I realized I'd forgotten to defrost anything.

One thing to watch out for: don't crumble the blue cheese too fine. It disappears into the dressing and you lose those little salty pockets that make the whole plate work.

Cobb Salad Questions I Get Asked

What are the traditional ingredients in a Cobb salad?

The original version came from a Hollywood restaurant in the 1930s and included greens, chicken, bacon, hard boiled eggs, avocado, tomatoes, blue cheese, and chives, dressed with a red wine vinaigrette. My version keeps all of that and skips the chives, mostly because I never have them on hand. The layout in rows is part of the tradition too.

What dressing goes best with Cobb salad?

A red wine vinaigrette is the classic pairing, and that's what I use here. The acid cuts through the bacon fat and the rich blue cheese, so nothing feels heavy. Creamy ranch or blue cheese dressing works if that's what your family likes, but I find it doubles up on the richness. Try the vinaigrette once before you decide.

Can Cobb salad be prepared ahead of time?

The components, yes. The assembled salad, no. I cook the chicken, bacon, and eggs a full day ahead and keep them chilled in separate containers. Chop your tomatoes ahead too. Then assemble and dress right before serving. Avocado is the only thing I always slice at the last minute.

How long does leftover Cobb salad last in the refrigerator?

Undressed toppings keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container. Once the salad has been dressed and tossed, plan on eating it within a few hours, since the greens break down fast. If you have dressed leftovers, eat them cold the next morning and skip the lettuce.

Recipes You May Like

• Creamy Burrata Salad With Fresh Avocado and Tomatoes if you loved the avocado here and want something softer and creamier
• Crunchy Bacon Broccoli Salad for another salad where bacon does the heavy lifting
• Crispy Homemade Garlic Croutons to scatter on top when you want a little crunch

Final Thoughts

So that's my Cobb salad recipe. Whisk the dressing, layer the greens, stack your rows, and pour at the table.

I love this one because it looks like I tried hard and it takes almost nothing out of me. That's my kind of dinner.

Make it this week and tell me how it went in the comments. And save it to Pinterest so you can find it again when the fridge is full of odds and ends.