Maggiano’s Chopped Salad
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Maggiano’s Chopped Salad is a classic and a fan favorite! Crisp lettuce topped with tomatoes, bacon, avocado and blue cheese tossed in a sweet and savory light house vinaigrette. Add grilled chicken or salmon to make it a meal!
What You Will ❤️ About Chopped Salad
- Easy to Make – Salads are always easy to make but the dressing is great here too! Just shake it all up and pour! This is perfect for any novice chef!
- BLT – it’s a BLT in a salad!
- Flavor Combination – I love the sweetness of the dressing combined with creamy avocado, smoky bacon and then strong bite of blue cheese!
Maggiano’s Chopped Salad Ingredients
This is pretty much two recipes in one – first up the salad. Only five ingredients for the salad – here’s what you need:
- Iceberg lettuce – you could also use Romaine lettuce
- Cherry tomatoes – grape tomatoes or even diced tomatoes are fine for this – but I used a whole container cherry tomatoes
- Applewood smoked bacon – go for the good bacon on this recipe!!! Thick cut & smoked! You could also use diced crispy prosciutto – but Maggiano’s just uses smoked bacon.
- Avocado – If you’ve got a large avocado that needs to ripen quick, set it next to a banana overnight!
- Blue Cheese – I didn’t like Blue cheese until I was an adult – the “funk” was too much but now – I LOVE IT!! I buy a fairly mild version with just a little funk. You could also use gorgonzola cheese.
Maggiano’s Sweet House Vinaigrette Ingredients
The Maggiano’s House Dressing is a light and sweet vinaigrette. There’s not too much of that tart vinegar flavor – so I had to make sure I got it JUST RIGHT! Here’s what you need:
- Red wine vinegar – if you don’t have this – you can mix equal parts red wine and white vinegar
- Water
- Dijon mustard
- White sugar
- Minced garlic
- Coarse-grained salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Vegetable oil – you could also use Extra Virgin Olive Oil but I think canola/vegetable oil is lighter
- Dried oregano
Recipe Variations
This salad is pretty great as is – but you can make some tweaks based on your tastes. Here are a few ideas:
- Protein – add a grilled chicken breast – my fav way of making is in the air fryer
- Cheese – if you’re not a fan of blue cheese – you could use feta or goat cheese
- Egg – hard boiled egg would be a great addition to this one
- Crunch – I love the added crunch of croutons or even a diced small red onion!
How to make Maggiano’s Chopped Salad
You can have this on the table in just 10 minutes! It’s a perfect side dish any time of year! Here’s how to make it:
- In a medium bowl, blend all vinaigrette dressing ingredients together. Refrigerate for an hour. (You can also make in a blender or food processor.)
- In a large skillet, cook bacon slices to desired doneness. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Roughly chop or break apart bacon slices.
- In a large bowl, add lettuce, tomatoes and bacon.
- Drizzle 3/4 cup dressing to bowl of lettuce mixture and toss to combine.
- Place salad mixture in large serving bowl. Top with avocado and blue cheese. Serve with remaining dressing on the side.
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Maggiano’s Chopped Salad
Maggiano's Chopped Salad is a classic and a fan favorite! Crisp lettuce topped with tomatoes, bacon, avocado and blue cheese tossed in a sweet and savory light house vinaigrette. Add grilled chicken or salmon to make it a meal!
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Ingredients
- 1 head Iceberg lettuce roughly chopped
- 10 oz cherry tomatoes quartered
- 4 slices applewood smoked bacon cooked and chopped
- 1 avocado diced
- 4 oz. blue cheese crumbled
Sweet House Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp water
- 2 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp white sugar
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- 1 tsp salt kosher or coarse-grained
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or olive oil
- ½ tsp dried oregano
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, blend all vinaigrette dressing ingredients together. Refrigerate for an hour. (You can also make in a blender or food processor.)1/4 cup red wine vinegar, 2 tbsp water, 2 tsp Dijon mustard, 2 tbsp white sugar, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, ½ tsp dried oregano
- In a large skillet, cook bacon slices to desired doneness. Remove from pan and drain on paper towels. Roughly chop or break apart bacon slices.4 slices applewood smoked bacon
- In a large bowl, add lettuce, tomatoes and bacon.1 head Iceberg lettuce, 10 oz cherry tomatoes
- Drizzle 3/4 cup dressing to bowl of lettuce mixture and toss to combine.
- Place salad mixture in large serving bowl. Top with avocado and blue cheese. Serve with remaining dressing on the side.1 avocado, 4 oz. blue cheese
Notes
**We are not dietitians and recommend you seek a nutritionist for exact nutritional information. The information in the nutrition box are calculated through a program and there is room for error. If you need an accurate count, I recommend running the ingredients through your favorite nutrition calculator.**
Nutrition
Serving: 1saladCalories: 383kcalCarbohydrates: 13gProtein: 8gFat: 35gSaturated Fat: 9gPolyunsaturated Fat: 12gMonounsaturated Fat: 11gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 24mgSodium: 738mgPotassium: 482mgFiber: 4gSugar: 7gVitamin A: 883IUVitamin C: 17mgCalcium: 131mgIron: 1mg
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