Chef Salad begins with crisp leafy green lettuce topped with a variety of meats, cheeses, and salad-friendly vegetables such as cucumbers and tomatoes. Serve a creamy salad dressing with this dish.

You can put any ingredient you want onto your Chef Salad Bar. It’s about personal preferences when making these delectable delights at home.

We tend to enjoy Chef salad in the warmer months and this Harvest salad in the Fall. Also, see our 5 Delicious Salad Recipes To Make for Summer Meals.

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Chef’s Salad Ingredients

A classic chef salad recipe will include; lettuce, proteins, cheeses, fresh vegetables that can be eaten raw and cut into small pieces, hard-boiled eggs, croutons or crackers, and your choice of salad dressing.

Types of lettuce for chef salad

Choose one or a mixture of all these types of lettuce for your chef’s salad bar. Crispy Iceberg lettuce is the most popular choice for a chef salad.

• Romaine lettuce
• Iceberg Lettuce
• Spring mix

Fresh Vegetables

• Cucumbers
• Tomatoes such as grape or cherry tomatoes
• Onions, sliced thin
• Bell Peppers, like red or orange
• Radish, sliced thin
• Carrot sticks

Best Cheese for salad recipes

• Finely shredded cheddar cheese
• Diced Swiss cheese
• Feta cheese
• Diced provolone cheese

Proteins

• Hard-boiled eggs, either chopped or sliced thin
• Deli meats, like ham, turkey, roast beef or chicken
• Grilled chicken, chopped
• Bacon crumbled

Extras

• Homemade Croutons–recipe here
• Candied Pecans–recipe here
• Raisins
• Craisins
• French Fried Onions
• Nuts; Pecans, Cashews, Pistachios

Free Printable Salad Ingredients Checklist below

Add any variety of toppings to your bed of lettuce to create your favorite salads.

How To Set Up A Chef’s Salad Bar at Home

Salad Buffet

Set up a Chef Salad Buffet and allow everyone to create their own. This is a fun way to serve Chef Salad for a dinner party or other gathering.

Dressings To Serve with Chef’s Salad

Unlike Caesar Salad which is served with Caesar dressing, you can enjoy a Chef Salad with any dressing of your personal preference.

Popular salad dressing choices include; Thousand Island dressing, Blue cheese dressing, French dressing, and Ranch salad dressing.

Chef Salad Recipe

Preparing the fresh vegetables only takes a few minutes. If you are cooking meat like we are with our bacon and boneless chicken, that will be the only cooking involved. You can skip the cooking by using deli meats such as ham or turkey.

Step 1

Rinse your lettuce under cool running water and drain on paper towels. You can use a Salad Spinner to help dry your lettuce quickly.

Lettuce Crisping Tip:

You can crisp Iceberg lettuce by putting it into a large colander which then sits inside a large bowl. Top the lettuce with an ample amount of ice and allow it to sit out for about 30 minutes. Pour off the ice. Then drain the lettuce in the colander. I learned this trick working in the restaurant industry.

Step 2 Veggie prep

Peel cut, slice and chop your vegetables.

Peeling cucumbers is a personal preference. Washing them isn’t. Always rinse fresh vegetables under cool running water and pat dry with paper towels.

Step 3

While your lettuce is drying go ahead and cook any meat you plan to use for your salad, like boneless skinless chicken breast. Since we are talking about chopped meat in small quantities, it will only take a few minutes to cook. I cut my chicken up into bite-size pieces before cooking so it cooks quicker.

If you are cooking bacon for your salad, use this tip for cooking bacon in the oven.

You can skip this step and use deli meats like deli ham or turkey breast.

Step 4

Gather your extra salad toppings such as cheeses, nuts, croutons, or fruit, and get ready to assemble the salad.

Begin by adding your desired amount of lettuce to the bowl first. Top that by layering the remaining ingredients of meats, cheese, and salad toppings.

Provide a variety of salad dressings. Serve and enjoy!

A good classic salad is a quick and easy weeknight summer meal with versatile ingredients. A chef salad bar is an easy, customizable, and delicious option to feed a crowd. With fresh ingredients and a variety of vegetables, meats, cheese, and toppings everyone can build a salad they love.

How to store leftovers

Store any leftovers in airtight containers. Lettuce, meats, and cheese need to be stored in the refrigerator. Nuts and croutons can be stored on the counter in an airtight container.

Printable Salad Checklist

See Our Series on Growing Your Own Lettuce

3 Reasons To Grow A Salad Bowl Garden

How To Grow Your Own Salad Greens Year Round

Salad Bowl Gardening Made Easy

Types Of Lettuce To Easily Grow In Containers

Salad Fixings You Can Grow Indoors

More Salad Recipes

Classic Caesar Salad Recipe with Homemade Caesar Dressing. Better than the restaurant because it’s homemade.

Mandarin Orange Salad with Homemade Mandarin Orange Dressing. Only four ingredients to my dressing recipe.

Old Fashioned Crunchy Pea Salad recipe. This classic pea salad recipe is great for potluck dinners.

Broccoli Bacon and Raisin Salad with homemade dressing. It’s that mayo, vinegar, and sugar dressing which is so stinking delicious on broccoli salad.

Sweet and Salty Strawberry Watermelon Salad easy recipe. A perfect summer salad for any occasion.

Thank you for sharing!