10 Minute Italian Chopped Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

I love having a BIG salad for dinner. And this crunchy savory chopped salad fits the bill. It comes together in about 10 minutes, making it the star of a weeknight dinner, potluck or elevated lunch. Depending on your preference and choice of ingredients, it can easily be made Paleo, Keto, vegetarian or Whole30 compliant.

This is less of a recipe and more of a technique as you can easily vary the ingredients based on what you have on hand. The key to any chopped salad is getting all of the ingredients chopped into small pieces so that you get a lot of variety in taste and texture in each bite. In this case, I focused on making sure I had a balance of savory, salty, crunchy, and creamy from:

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1. Chopped romaine. I like using romaine hearts in this recipe rather than traditional greens because it’s easy to get nice uniform, crunchy pieces.
2. Chopped turkey and salami add a savory, salty pop.
3. Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) add to the Italian vibe
4. Carrots
5. Tomato
6. Cucumber
7. Green onion
8. Radishes – I like to use “watermelon radishes” when I can find them, both because of the great color and their mild flavor
9. Fresh basil (a must!)
10. Avocado
11. (Optional) cheese. Omit if you’re making a Paleo version but I like adding either Feta, chopped smoked mozzarella or goat cheese

It’s lightly dressed in a super-simple balsamic vinaigrette that you can whip together in less than two minutes. But in a pinch you could substitute a bottled dressing. I really like the Primal Kitchen salad dressings because they’re avocado-oil based, contain super-clean ingredients and they’re delicious. You could also use the Five Ingredient Soon-To-Be-Famous Vinaigrette.

Try it and let me know what you think. Be sure to tag #grownupdish or @grownup_dish on Instagram so I can share your posts.

10 Minute Italian Chopped Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

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• Author: jzmcbride
• Total Time: 10 minutes
• Yield: 8 cups 1x

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Description

This crunchy savory salad comes together in about 10 minutes, making it the star of a weeknight dinner, potluck or elevated lunch. Depending on your preference and choice of ingredients, it can easily be made Paleo, Keto, vegetarian or Whole30 compliant.  It works equally well as an entree or a side dish.

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Ingredients

Units USM Scale 1x2x3x

• Two heads of romaine hearts, chopped small
• One bunch green onion, chopped
• 3/4 can garbanzo beans, drained
• 1/2 cup seedless cucumber, diced
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1/2 cup tomato, diced
• 1/4 cup carrots, grated or diced
• 1/4 cup radishes, diced
• 10 large basil leaves, chopped
• (optional) 1/4 cup cheese – Feta, Smoked mozzarella or crumbled goat cheese
• (optional) 1/4 pound each hard salami and turkey, chopped

For the Balsamic Vinaigrette:

• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

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Instructions

1. Chop all ingredients for salad.
2. Make vinaigrette by whisking together olive oil and vinegar. Add salt & pepper to taste.
3. Toss salad ingredients in vinaigrette and serve. You’ll have extra salad dressing.

Notes

Leftovers will keep in the refrigerator for a few days.

Feel free to substitute any other produce or meats that you prefer.

For Paleo version, omit the cheese.

For vegetarian/vegan version, omit the meat

For Whole30 compliant version, ensure that lunch meat and vinegar are complaint and omit cheese.

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Category: Recipe
• Method: salad
• Cuisine: Italian