Chef Salad

This beautiful and delectable Chef Salad brings all the best hearty protein together with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and seasoned croutons.  This main meal salad is perfect for those busy spring nights and hot summer days.

May is here, and there is so much to do. There are graduations, spring concerts, field days, school award ceremonies, baby showers, and weddings.  Sometimes, a great salad recipe is all you need to satisfy your awesome family.  This fabulous Chef Salad will fit that bill perfectly!

What is a Chef Salad?

This traditional American salad combines hard-boiled eggs, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, and several varieties of meats such as ham, turkey, roast beef, or chicken. It is a gorgeous salad and is usually presented with the ingredients aesthetically placed before it is tossed. It is commonly served with ranch or bleu cheese dressing, but it is equally delicious with thousand island, Italian dressing, or creamy poppyseed dressing.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

See the complete list of ingredients below on the recipe card.

• Romaine lettuce: It is a good, sturdy lettuce that holds up well to the weight of this salad. My second choice would be iceberg lettuce or a combination of romaine and iceberg.
• Eggs: Try steaming the eggs for super-easy peeling.  I have had a lot of success with this method.
• Meat: I like bacon, ham, and turkey, but other great choices are chicken or roast beef.
• Cheese: Use Swiss, cheddar, bleu, mozzarella, or provolone cheese.  It is your salad, so fix it to your liking.
• English cucumber: Use English cucumbers for tender skins that don’t need peeling. If using regular cucumbers, peel them to remove the thick skins before you slice them.
• Tomatoes: Fresh tomatoes like grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, Campari tomatoes, heirloom tomatoes, or any sun-ripened tomatoes work well in this recipe.
• Croutons: I like making homemade croutons. Once you taste these fresh croutons, you will never return to store-bought croutons.
• Salad dressings: Take your pick. This salad is delicious with so many dressing but don’t forget avocado ranch and honey mustard vinaigrette.

Preparation Tips

• Other fruits and vegetables to include are olives, pepperoncini, avocado, red onions, and carrots.
• You can prepare this salad up to a day in advance, but do not add the croutons or the salad dressing until ready to serve. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator.
• This salad was meant to be enjoyed so customize it to suite your taste. There are lot of ideas for substitutions in the ingredient notes.

More Salad Recipes

Classic Chef Salad Recipe

This beautiful and delectable Chef Salad brings all the best hearty protein together with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and seasoned croutons.  Top with ranch dressing or blue cheese dressing.

5 from 54 votes

Print Pin Rate

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Servings: 4 servings

Calories: 371kcal

Author: Beth Pierce

Ingredients

• 1 medium head romaine lettuce chopped
• 2-3 cups iceberg lettuce chopped into bite size pieces
• 4 hard boiled eggs peeled and quartered lengthwise
• 4 slices crispy cooked bacon
• 4 ounces deli style sliced Swiss cheese cut into julienne strips
• 4 ounces deli style sliced ham cut into julienne strips
• 4 ounces deli style sliced turkey cut into julienne strips
• 1 cup sliced English cucumber about 1/3 English cucumber
• 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
• 1 cup seasoned croutons
• ⅔-1 cup salad dressing ranch, chipotle ranch, avocado ranch, bleu cheese, Italian, honey mustard
• kosher salt to taste
• freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

• Add romaine and iceberg lettuce to a large bowl.
• Top the lettuce with eggs, bacon, Swiss cheese, ham, turkey cucumbers, tomatoes, and croutons.
• Drizzle with your favorite salad dressing and toss to coat. Season with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Notes

• Other fruits and vegetables to include are olives, pepperoncini, avocado, red onions, and carrots.
• You can prepare this salad up to a day in advance, but do not add the croutons or the salad dressing until ready to serve. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and store it in the refrigerator.

Nutrition

Calories: 371kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 21g | Fat: 25g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 233mg | Sodium: 833mg | Potassium: 448mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1541IU | Vitamin C: 8mg | Calcium: 159mg | Iron: 2mg

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