Chicken Cobb Salad

Name: Chicken Cobb Salad
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: 2 tablespoons olive oil (extra-virgin ); 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar; 1 teaspoon avocado oil mayonnaise; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; 1/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt; 1/4 teaspoon black pepper; 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder; 2 hard-boiled eggs (large, sliced); 4 strips cooked bacon (crispy, chopped); 2 baked chicken breast (medium-size, sliced (6 oz each)); 2 cups salad greens; 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes (halved); 1 avocado (sliced; use Haas variety); 2 oz blue cheese (crumbled)

by Vered DeLeeuwUpdated Jan 27, 2025

2 Comments

5 from 5 votes

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This delicious chicken Cobb salad is topped with a simple homemade vinaigrette. A favorite restaurant meal that you can easily recreate at home, this ultra-filling salad is ready in about 30 minutes.

Chicken Cobb salad is served on a white plate.

Main-course salads are tasty, fresh, and filling. I often make Thai chicken salad, Chinese chicken salad, taco salad, and turkey salad. Chicken Cobb salad is one of my favorite lunches to order at restaurants. It's varied, flavorful, and filling. I was surprised and delighted to learn how easy it is to make this salad at home!

Ingredients

The full list of ingredients and exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below. Here are my comments on some of the ingredients.

Sliced hard-boiled eggs: Sometimes, I slightly undercook them, so they're not exactly soft-boiled eggs but actually medium-boiled eggs. The yolks are not liquid but soft. Yum.
Crispy bacon, chopped: Even if you usually like your bacon chewy, it's best to make sure it's crispy for this recipe. You can pan-fry your bacon, make microwave bacon, or cook your bacon in the oven.
Cooked chicken breast, sliced: I use baked chicken breast, grilled chicken breast, or broiled chicken breast. Sometimes, I use leftover Cajun chicken. You can also use rotisserie chicken and slice or cube it. Just make sure to remove the skin. Cold chicken skin is rubbery.
Sliced avocado: I'm a big fan of the creamy Haas avocado. Other varieties are often too fibrous and watery.
Crumbled cheese: Blue cheese is classic, but I've used goat cheese or feta, and both were excellent.

Variations

The classic chicken Cobb salad is made with chopped greens, tomatoes, crisp bacon, chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, chives, Roquefort cheese, and red wine vinaigrette.

But like all salads, it's a flexible recipe with countless versions. Here are a few ideas for varying the classic recipe:

I often use spinach leaves instead of salad greens.
Change up the cheese you use. I love using gorgonzola or stilton as my blue cheese, but you can use any number of crumbled cheeses, including goat cheese and feta. You can even use slices of grilled halloumi cheese.
Use cubed deli ham instead of crumbled bacon.
Use your favorite salad dressing. Good options include a classic vinaigrette, ranch dressing, and blue cheese dressing.

Instructions

Despite its complexity, making this salad isn't difficult, especially if you prep some of the ingredients ahead of time. Scroll down to the recipe card for detailed instructions. Here are the basic steps:

You start by whisking the dressing ingredients until they emulsify into a smooth, velvety salad dressing.

Next, arrange the salad greens on a large serving platter. Arrange the remaining ingredients on top of the greens. You can pretty much arrange them in any order you like. I usually add them in the following order: chicken, tomatoes, avocado, eggs, bacon, and blue cheese.

The last step is drizzling the dressing on the salad and serving it.

Drizzling the Cobb salad with the dressing.

Expert Tip

This salad contains quite a few ingredients. And you need to pre-cook chicken, bacon, and hard-boiled eggs to make it.

So, I keep things simple by preparing these ingredients the day before and refrigerating them. They need to be cold anyway. The next day, assembling the salad is a breeze!

Recipe FAQs

Can I use store-bought precooked bacon?

Yes, but it won't be as good. Even the Applegate brand, which I'm a big fan of, isn't as flavorful as bacon from the same brand that you cook by yourself.

What dressing goes with this salad?

You can use any salad dressing you like. I like to dress this salad with a simple vinaigrette made of olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, and garlic.

I also add a bit of Dijon and mayonnaise, which primarily serve as emulsifiers. Although they also add flavor and creaminess to the dressing.

This is the salad dressing that I use for almost all my salads. It's simple and delicious. But if you prefer a creamy dressing such as ranch or blue cheese, that's fine too. Both go well with this salad.

Can I serve this salad as an appetizer?

You could serve smaller portions of it as an appetizer, but it's usually meant to be eaten as a main-course salad.

Serving Suggestions

The presentation is important here, as you can see in the photos. It's such a gorgeous salad! So it's best to serve it as shown rather than mixed.

You can drizzle half the dressing over the greens and the remaining half over the other ingredients. Alternatively, arrange the salad first, present it at the table without the dressing, and then pour everything into a large bowl, add the dressing, and mix.

The perfect drink to go with this salad? A refreshing glass of cucumber water!

Storing Leftovers

The salad greens will become soggy if stored, and the avocado might turn brown, so I don't keep those. But the rest of the salad keeps fine in an airtight container in the fridge for 3 days.