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Oval platter of mixed salad with lettuce, tomatoes, mozzarella balls, sliced salami, yellow peppers, shredded cheese, and lemon wedges. Wooden salad servers rest on the dish.
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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.
Prep Time12 minutes
Course: 30-Minute Meals, Salad, Sides, Salads & Vegetables
Cuisine: Dinner, Italian, Salads
Diet: Gluten Free
Keyword: chopped Italian salad, Italian chop salad, Italian chopped salad
Servings: 6
Calories: 305cal

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.
    A white bowl filled with a yellow, herb-speckled vinaigrette next to a metal whisk on a white marble surface.
  • 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.
    A white oval platter filled with chopped green lettuce and shredded purple radicchio, placed on a marble surface.
  • 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.
    Oval platter with chopped lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced salami, mozzarella balls, and radicchio arranged in colorful rows on a marble surface.
  • 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.
    A fork holds a bite of salad with lettuce, sliced deli meat, cheese, and peppers over a bowl of mixed salad ingredients.
  • Add the red onions, pepperoncini, and black olives.
    Oval platter with chopped lettuce, mozzarella balls, salami slices, yellow peppers, red onion, black olives, cherry tomatoes, and radicchio, arranged in neat rows on a marble surface.
  • Evenly sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top and then the fresh parsley. And add more of anything you'd like!
    Oval platter with chopped lettuce, cherry tomatoes, salami strips, mozzarella balls, pepperoncini, olives, red onion, grated cheese, and lemon wedges, arranged in neat sections on a marble surface.
  • You can either dress the salad or leave the vinaigrette on the side for people to dress their own.
    A close-up of an Italian salad with sliced meats, cherry tomatoes, cheese, and greens, as dressing is being poured from a spoon.
  • Serve as desired. A fresh lemon wedge is a nice touch or bread like biscuits or sourdough.
    A bowl of chopped salad with lettuce, cherry tomatoes, sliced meats, pepperoncini, shredded cheese, and a lemon wedge on a marble table.

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. 
A bowl of chopped salad with lettuce, tomatoes, salami, cheese, banana peppers, and a lemon wedge, with more salad and cheese in the background.

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
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