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
I hope this Chicken Cobb Salad recipe becomes a new favorite salad for you. If you enjoyed this video, please subscribe to our Youtube Channel and make sure to click the bell icon so you can be the first to know when we post a new video.
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.
Hi! I love this salad! All your recipes are delicious. I have a question, what are your favorite knives?
I’m so glad you’re enjoying our recipes, Sarah! Our shop here has our favorite tools listed. I hope that helps.
This salad is delicious. Please post more Russian and Ukrainian recipes though! It has been a while!
I’m so glad you liked that! Thank you for visiting our blog!
Hi, Natasha, I love this salad and all of your other recipes, I also watch all your videos and enjoy all of them. (all of the ones I try to make taste amazing)
That’s so great. Thanks so much for sharing that with me.
Hi Natasha,
I love watching you on YouTube. You are my favorite chef. You make cooking fun and that is what it should be. Most of my kitchen tools are Oxo brand. They are sturdy and seem to last forever. I will have to try this salad ASAP. Thanks again. Peter
Hi Peter! We do have quite of few of those ourselves! I’m so glad you like videos. Thank you for that great feedback & I hope you enjoy this salad.
Could not find the link for the salad spinner that you used.
Hi Janice, our favorite is this OXO Salad Spinner.
I just love a good cobb salad. This one was great and that dressing was perfection!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Love your recipes, just trying to clarify something tho……this is a Cobb salad, but yet no corn is in this Cobb salad. Very confused atm.
Hi, you can leave out the corn if you prefer. We enjoy it, so we added it.
I am such a huge fan of Cobb Salad. I love how versatile it is. Great for me… I just omit the tomatoes. Great for my kiddo… I just omit the cheese… Great for my hubby… he eats it as is and we all LOVE it!
I’m so glad you were able to get this to work for the entire family! Thank you for sharing your amazing review with us!
This salad is so beautiful, and the dressing is yummy! (I ordered the splatter screen from your link last month, and although it’s counter-intuitive, I believe you are using it upside down in the video!). :). I have so enjoyed using your recipes over the past couple of years. Thanks!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed this salad, Roz!
Hello, I like your recipe you mentioned about link for pan to cover when you frying. Can you please give me link. Thank you.
Hi Anna. Glad you liked this recipe. You must be referring to the splatter guard.
That salad is as beautiful as the chef. A keeper and work of art. Your hubby is an excellent videographer and your animations are hilarious especially your catching the tomato!
Well done!
Thank you for that wonderful compliment, Dave!
Thank you so much for your wonderful & entertains recipes – pls advise which garlic press to buy. Mine never work
Hi Jude, we have one in our shop here. I hope this helps.
Mine wasn’t as gorgeous as yours, but it was totally delicious!
I’m so glad you loved it!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review.
This was so good! You are the queen of amazing salads!
You’re so nice! Thank you!
Good looking food thanks your great )bless your kitchen and u
You’re welcome, Mary! I’m glad you liked this recipe.
Hi Natasha!
I ha e a question for ya
I love the salad that you are showing (cob salad).. I want to make this for my family, but what can I substitute the avocado with, and still make the salad yummy?( we dont like avacodos)
I also want to thank you for all your recipes..I’ve tried alot of them and they are a big success at my house!
Have a wonderful day…Robin
Hi Robin, the good thing is salads are very versatile. You can omit or add any favorite vegetables. Cucumber can be a good option too.
Can’t wait to try this recipe. The dressing sounds delicious and could be used on so many salads! Thank you!
One quick tip (and maybe you already know this)…I just learned from Jacques Pepin that you can keep avocados from turning brown by dipping the peeled avocado in cold water. I still need to try this to “prove” it, but if Jacques says it, I tend to trust it. If you try it soon, please let me know how well (or not) it works.
Hi Cheryl, thank you so much for sharing that tip with me.
Nutritional information for the dressing Only please
Hi Gail, there is no easy way to break that out with our nutrition label, unfortunately. It’s not advanced enough to separate those two out.
Which garlic press did you use in this recipe? Thanks
Hi Polly, here is the garlic press we love. It’s one of my favorite tools and I love that it cleans itself.
What is you favorite garlic press you use?
Hi Lauren, we love the OXO brand garlic press from Amazon.
What kind of splatter retainer do you use? When you cooked the bacon you placed it over the pan. Thanks.
Hi Lily, we have our favorite splatter screen in our Amazon Shop HERE.
Do you have a link for your wooden salad servers?
Thank you,
Renee Price
Hi Renee, our favorite tools can be found here.
Hello, where did you buy the splash guard?
Hi Shornett, here is the splatter guard that I use. I love how it keeps my stovetop clean.
Natasha, silly question, but may I ask, where is your favorite place to shop for avocados? Let’s say you need several readily ripe avocados for a recipe, to use them altogether instead of waiting for them to ripen one by one
Hi Alena, we purchase them at our local grocery store or Costco in bulk.
Hello! For the nutrition facts, is that for the entire salad or for a serving size? Thank you!
Hi Ashley, the nutrition and calorie counts are per serving and there are 4 generous servings as a side salad.