Easy Chicken Cobb Salad with the best homemade Cobb Salad Dressing! This protein-packed salad is a meal in itself loaded with crisp lettuce, juicy tomatoes, chicken, bacon, boiled eggs, creamy avocado, and crumbled blue cheese.
You will want the easy Balsamic Vinaigrette on all of your salads. Watch the video tutorial below and you will be craving this Classic Cobb Salad.
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Chicken Cobb Salad Recipe
The original Cobb Salad was developed by Bob Cobb in 1937 for his Brown Derby Restaurant in Los Angeles. It has become a famous American dish and is similar to a Chef’s Salad. It starts with a bed of green lettuce with rows of ingredients arranged over the top just like we did in our Salmon Cobb Salad, or Shrimp Cobb Salad, and it is served with a vinaigrette dressing.
Cobb Salad Video Tutorial
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What’s In a Cobb Salad?
This is one super satisfying salad. Since it has so much protein, you can eat it as a main course or as a side salad.
- Chicken – We love using Baked Chicken Breast or our juicy Instant Pot Whole Chicken, but a store-bought rotisserie chicken works great to save time
- Bacon – try air fryer bacon or crispy oven-baked bacon. You could also sautee bacon in a skillet.
- Eggs – a great way to add more protein to the salad. Use hard-boiled eggs or Instant Pot Boiled Eggs.
- Lettuce– chopped romaine bulks up the salad nicely
- Tomatoes – add a juicy sweet bite – you can use just about any tomatoes (see variations below).
- Avocado – Adding an avocado always elevates a salad!
- Cheese – blue cheese is classic to a cobb salad but you can swap it out if you prefer (see variations section for ideas).
- Onion – a little red onion goes a long way but adds tons of fresh vibrant flavor
- Parsley – it’s an optional but very nice garnish that makes the salad taste a little fancier.
Variations
- Protein – you can use a variety of meats here which is why we have everything from a Salmon Cobb Salad to Shrimp Cobb Salad. We also have a delicious Steak Cobb Salad in my debut Cookbook.
- Cheese – The cheese of choice for the original Cobb Salad is blue cheese. We used a gorgonzola blue cheese but a Roquefort or other blue cheese would work as well. If you aren’t a fan of blue cheese, a crumbled feta works great.
- Lettuce – iceberg is the classic option, but you can substitute it with chopped iceberg lettuce or even some green lettuce.
- Tomatoes – I love using cherry tomatoes, but grape tomatoes or even diced heirloom tomatoes would work great here.
What is the Best Cobb Salad Dressing?
A vinaigrette is the classic dressing for Cobb Salad. We use a homemade balsamic vinaigrette here. It’s one of our most loved dressings and the same one we use for Beet Salad and Autumn Chopped Chicken Salad.
If you want to substitute the dressing, try the Red Wine Vinaigrette from our Greek Pasta Salad. A classic Creamy Ranch Dressing, Avocado Ranch, or Jalapeno Ranch would also work well. Note: if you are using a creamy ranch-based dressing, I would recommend using feta cheese instead of blue cheese.
How to Make Cobb Salad
- Pre-Cook Everything – Cook your chicken, bacon, and eggs and set them aside to cool (see all of our make-ahead tips below).
- Chop your Lettuce, rinse and spin it dry (a salad spinner is such a time saver!), then arrange it on a large shallow platter.
- Arrange toppings in rows – this makes for such a beautiful presentation. Sprinkle finely chopped parsley over the top.
- Make the Dressing – shake it up in a mason jar and drizzle over the salad just before serving.
Make-Ahead
You can make the salad and the dressing 2-3 hours ahead of your dinner; just keep them covered and refrigerated separately. Otherwise, the dressing will start to soften the vegetables. Here are some make-ahead tips:
- Dressing – make this in a mason jar so you can shake it well just before serving in case it separates. Serve it right out of the mason jar.
- Lettuce can be rinsed and dried 2 days ahead (a salad Spinner works best), then refrigerate until ready to use.
- Avocado should be sliced shortly before serving since avocado tends to discolor when it comes in contact with air.
- Chicken Breast can be pre-cooked and chilled
- Bacon can be browned ahead. Drain on paper towels and refrigerate until ready to use.
- Eggs – Cook hard-boiled eggs and refrigerate for several days until ready to use.
This Chicken Cobb Salad is easy to assemble but sure looks stunning when served. Everything about this salad is good! This homemade version blows the Chic-fil-A Cobb Salad and Cheesecake Factory’s Cobb Salad out of the water.
More Top-Rated Salad Recipes to Love
- Caesar Salad
- Avocado Chicken Salad
- Beet Salad
- Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad
- Avocado Corn Salad
- Chickpea Salad
Cobb Salad with the Best Cobb Salad Dressing
Ingredients
Chicken Cobb Salad Ingredients:
- 6 oz bacon, (6 slices) chopped and browned
- 1 medium head romaine lettuce, 5 cups chopped, rinsed and dried
- 2 cooked chicken breasts, *
- 2 hard-boiled eggs
- 1 large avocado, sliced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled (or feta cheese)
- 2 Tbsp parsley, finely chopped
Cobb Salad Dressing:
- 3 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 garlic clove, pressed or finely minced
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Bake, Air Fry, or Sautee bacon on a skillet.* Cook 2 hard-boiled eggs, chill in ice water then peel and quarter the eggs. C
- Chop, rinse and spin dry romaine lettuce and arrange on a shallow platter.
- Arrange the remaining salad ingredients (chicken, eggs, avocado, tomatoes, onion, blue cheese, and bacon) in rows over the salad, then sprinkle the finely chopped parsley over the salad.
- Transfer dressing ingredients to a mason jar and shake like crazy. Drizzle over salad just before serving or let guests add their own dressing to taste.
Notes
*To Sautee bacon, set a skillet over medium heat and cook bacon until browned and crisp on both sides. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to cool then crumble.
Nutrition Per Serving
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
Haven’t tasted it yet…but it looks amazing!
Thank you!
How far in advance can the sallad dressing be made? I need all the advanced time I can get!
Hi Peggy, I have a Make-Ahead section on the recipe post with all my make ahead tips. I hope that helps.