This classic Italian Chopped Salad 🥬🍅🧀 is fresh, colorful, crisp, and loaded with savory salami, Parmesan, creamy mozzarella, crunchy vegetables, and a zippy homemade red wine vinaigrette! Assemble everything in under 15 minutes for a beautiful side salad or main course salad for lunch, dinner, potlucks or events. Easy to prep ahead of time.
Easy Italian Chopped Salad Recipe
- Fresh, colorful, and satisfying texture. This restaurant-style Italian chopped salad is piled high with savory salami, creamy mozzarella, crisp romaine and radicchio, juicy tomatoes, and more for big texture in every bite. One forkful and you’ll be hooked!
- Flavor galore. There’s plenty of briny Italian inspired flavor with a combo of pepperoncini peppers, Kalamata olives, Parmesan cheese, red onion, salami, and a tangy red wine vinaigrette. It all lends the bold, zesty flavor you expect from a great Italian chopped salad.
- Ready in just 15 minutes, no cooking. Since you’re simply assembling a variety of easy-to-find fridge and pantry ingredients, this is a 15-minute masterpiece. It’s ideal for busy lunches, or weeknight dinners – either as a hearty side dish or the main course. Add extra meat and cheese if you’d like if you’re serving it as a main.
- Flexible and easy to customize for more protein. The homemade vinaigrette is a whisk-together number that’s ready in 30 seconds but you can use your favorite store bought Italian dressing or vinaigrette. You can add leftover chicken, extra deli meat, grilled shrimp, a can of drained garbanzo beans, or more cheese to boost the protein.
- Perfect for sharing, entertaining, potlucks, or picnics. If you’re entertaining last minute, or want something that you can set out buffet-style if you’re having people come over, or need something to bring to a potluck, this is Italian chopped salad with salami perfect. Arrange the colorful ingredients in rows or small piles on a large platter for a gorgeous presentation.
Ingredients in Chopped Italian Salad with Homemade Vinaigrette
Red Wine Vinaigrette
This homemade vinaigrette is so easy, but store bought Italian dressing or another favorite dressing or vinaigrette is fine.
- Olive oil: Use a good quality olive oil because you will taste it in the dressing.
- Red wine vinegar: You could sub with another vinegar like champagne vinegar but then you won’t have a red wine vinaigrette.
- Dijon mustard: Break out that jar of Gray Poupon or similar since that’s what you want there. You could also use a grainy brown mustard but don’t use yellow mustard.
- Seasonings: Garlic clove or garlic powder, Italian seasoning, salt, freshly cracked black pepper.
- Honey: Optional and adds welcome sweetness if the dressing tastes too sharp or intense.
Salad
- Lettuce: Romaine and radicchio are the classic choices but you can work in other lettuces if you have them to use. If you’re making this in advance, store the lettuce separately so it stays crisp.
- Vegetables: Cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes, red onions, pepperoncini peppers, Kalamata olives. These are flexible so if you want to mix-and-match, add others, or omit those called for that’s easy to do.
- Cheese: Freshly grated Parmesan adds so much flavor or try Percorino Romano for extra sharp flavor. Mozzarella pearls add wonderful creaminess. If you cannot find mozzarella pearls, you cube mozzarella cheese instead.
- Meat: Diced salami is a must-have but you can always add extra Italian-inspired meats like prosciutto or try leftover Italian chicken, shrimp, a can of drained garbanzo beans, or your favorite deli meat.
- Garnish: Fresh parsley is what I use and if you have basil and want to toss it in, go for it.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Italian Chop Salad
- Vinaigrette: Whisk together now and set it aside so the flavors can develop. Tip: For even better flavor, make the dressing a day in advance and let the ingredients mingle in a jar in the fridge.
- Lettuces: Chop and spread it over a large serving dish. To save time, buy bagged lettuce.
- Veggies: Arrange everything in lines or piles over the greens.
- Cheese and Meat: Evenly sprinkle the Parm, mozzarella, and salami.
- Garnish, Dress, and Toss: If you prefer based on when and how you’re serving this, you can let people dress and toss their own salad.
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for step-by-step photos and process shots of the cooking process.
Italian Chopped Salad
🥬🍅🧀 This classic chopped Italian salad is fresh, colorful, crisp, and loaded with savory salami, Parmesan, creamy mozzarella, crunchy vegetables, and a zippy homemade red wine vinaigrette! Assemble everything in under 15 minutes for a beautiful side salad or serve as a main course for lunch, dinner, potlucks or events. Easy to prep in advance.
Ingredients
Red Wine Vinaigrette
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil, (make sure you use a high quality oil because you will taste the olive oil in the finished vinaigrette)
- ¼ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, such as Grey Poupon; a grainy or spicy brown mustard may be substituted if desired
- 1 small garlic clove, finely grated (or about 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder)
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
- honey, optional and to taste
Salad
- 2 heads of romaine lettuce, chopped as fine as desired (about 12-14 cups chopped lettuce; or use about two 12-ounce bags of chopped romaine lettuce, or as desired)
- ½ head of radicchio, (about 4 cups or as desired; or use a bagged lettuce blend with radicchio already included)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, or grape tomatoes, halved if desired
- 1 cup fresh mozzarella pearls, drained, (sold in a a small tub in liquid; or dice a larger ball of mozzarella into bite-sized pieces if you can't find the pearls sometimes labeled as ciliegine)
- 1 to 1 ½ cups salami, sliced into bite-sized pieces or strips; or add meat to taste (your favorite type of hard salami, prosciutto, mortadella, etc.)
- ⅓ cup red onion, finely diced (rinse under cold water and wring out in a paper towel to remove some of the bite)
- ⅓ cup sliced pepperoncini peppers
- ¼ cup sliced Kalamata olives
- ¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, or as desired
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, for garnishing and to taste (sub with or add fresh basil, if desired)
Instructions
- Vinaigrette: To a medium bowl or a mason jar with a lid, add all the ingredients (except the honey) and whisk vigorously or place the lid on the jar and shake well.Tip – Store bought Italian dressing or another favorite vinaigrette is just fine here.
- Flavoring tips – Taste vinaigrette and if it tastes at all flat or boring, it likely needs more salt, so don't be afraid to add it. If it tastes two pungent or intense, add honey to taste. Start with 1 teaspoon and work up from there as desired.
- Set vinaigrette aside for now to allow for the flavors to develop and marry. If you only have a bit of time, your countertop is fine; but if you're making it a day in advance I would cover and refrigerate it.Tip – If you have time, I recommend making the vinaigrette a day in advance because the longer it has to sit, the better the flavor will be.
- Salad: To a large serving platter or shallow bowl, add the romaine, and then the radicchio.
- And while you can really add the remaining ingredients in any order and in any arrangement, I sprinkle on the tomatoes, salami, mozzarella pearls in little rows or piles and groupings over the lettuces for visual appeal.
- Tip – For extra protein, feel free to add Italian-inspired meats like prosciutto, bresaola, or mortadella; leftover Italian chicken, shrimp, a can of drained garbanzo beans, or your favorite deli meat.
- Add the red onions, pepperoncini, and black olives.
- Evenly sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top and then the fresh parsley. And add more of anything you'd like!
- You can either dress the salad or leave the vinaigrette on the side for people to dress their own.
- Serve as desired. A fresh lemon wedge is a nice touch or bread like biscuits or sourdough.
Notes
Make Ahead: If you want to prepare this salad for meal prep or serving in the future, you can. Prep and chop all the ingredients. Store the romaine and radicchio separately from everything else because they’ll tend to get soggy if the other ingredients sit on them. Keep the vinaigrette separate until just before serving when you can drizzle it on.
Storage: Once dressed, leftover salad will get soggy as time passes so best to consume it as close to freshly made and dressed as possible. Leftover homemade vinaigrette, when stored separately, will keep airtight in the fridge for 2-3 weeks.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving, Calories: 305cal, Carbohydrates: 4g, Protein: 11g, Fat: 27g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 14g, Cholesterol: 32mg, Sodium: 1214mg, Potassium: 249mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 1g, Vitamin A: 1137IU, Vitamin C: 14mg, Calcium: 123mg, Iron: 1mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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