This beautiful and delectable Chef Salad brings all the best hearty protein together with fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and seasoned croutons. This main meal salad is perfect for those busy spring nights and hot summer days.
May is here and there is just so much to do. There are graduations, spring concerts, field days, school award ceremonies, baby showers, and weddings. Sometimes a great salad recipe is all you need to satisfy your awesome family. This fabulous Chef Salad will fit that bill perfectly!
What is a Chef Salad?
This traditionally America salad combines hard-boiled eggs, and several varieties of meats such as ham, turkey, roast beef or chicken, cheese, tomatoes, and cucumbers. It is a gorgeous salad and is usually presented with the ingredients aesthetically placed before it is tossed.
How to make a chef’s salad
First hard boil a few eggs. Please see my helpful tips for hard-boiled eggs. Once completely cooled peel and cut into quarters lengthwise. Meanwhile, cook four slices of bacon either in a skillet or in the oven until crispy. Coarsely chop and set aside for a few minutes.
Next, chop and rinse a large head of romaine lettuce. Feel free to add a couple of handfuls of spring greens or torn iceberg lettuce. Shake or spin the lettuce as dry as you can and place it in a large salad bowl. Top the bowl with the hard boiled eggs, crispy chopped bacon, Swiss cheese, ham, turkey, cucumbers, tomatoes, and croutons.
Top with your favorite salad dressing! Some of our favorites are ranch, chipotle ranch, avocado ranch, bleu cheese, Italian, and even a honey mustard vinaigrette. There is really not any wrong dressing for this beautiful salad. Even thousand island and French dressing would be delicious on this salad.
Recipe notes and helpful tips
- For best results choose eggs that are as close to expiration as possible for easier peeling. Try steaming the eggs for even more ease in peeling. I have had a lot of success with this method.
- Purchase good quality deli meats and cheeses.
- If you don’t like swiss cheese try cheddar, bleu cheese, or provolone. It is your salad so fix it to your liking.
- Sun-ripened tomatoes always take this salad over the top but in the winter months, I use grape tomatoes. They seem to have the most flavor during the cold chilly months.
- Other fruits and vegetables to include are olives, pepperoncini, avocado, red onions, and carrots.
- Homemade Croutons are always a huge hit and really bring out the best that the salad has to offer.
- Do you have a favorite creamy homemade dressing? This salad is great with ranch, bleu cheese, thousand island, and even Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing.
Other Salad Recipes to try
Classic Chef Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 small head romaine chopped
- 2-3 cups spring greens or iceberg lettuce torn into bite-sized pieces
- 4 hard boiled eggs peeled and quartered lengthwise
- 4 slices crispy cooked bacon
- 1/2 cup julienne strips deli style Swiss cheese
- 1/2 cup julienne strips deli style ham
- 1/2 cup julienne strips deli style turkey
- 1 cup sliced English cucumber about 1/3 English cucumber
- 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
- 1 cup seasoned croutons
- 2/3-1 cup salad dressing ranch, chipotle ranch, avocado ranch, bleu cheese, Italian, honey mustard
- kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper
Instructions
- Add romaine and spring greens to a large bowl.
- Top the lettuce with eggs, bacon, Swiss cheese, ham, turkey cucumbers, tomatoes, and croutons.
- Drizzle with your favorite salad dressing and toss to coat. Season with kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.
Notes
- For best results choose eggs that are as close to expiration as possible for easier peeling. Try steaming the eggs for even more ease in peeling. I have had a lot of success with this method.
- Purchase good quality deli meats and cheeses.
- If you don't like swiss cheese try cheddar, bleu cheese, or provolone. It is your salad so fix it to your liking.
- Sun-ripened tomatoes always take this salad over the top but in the winter months, I use grape tomatoes. They seem to have the most flavor during the cold chilly months.
- Other fruits and vegetables to include are olives, pepperoncini, avocado, red onions, and carrots.
- Homemade Croutons are always a huge hit and really bring out the best that the salad has to offer.
- Do you have a favorite creamy homemade dressing? This salad is great with ranch, bleu cheese, thousand island, and even Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing.
Nutrition
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Gervin Khan
Wow! I love this salad recipe! easy to prepare perfectly for dinner. It was healthy and delicious.
Lisa H
This chef salad is one of my favorite salads to make and I finally got the kids to enjoy it, especially when I add dried cranberries. Thanks for the great recipe!
Beth Pierce
The pleasure is all mine, Lisa!
Catherine
I love salads. This was a great salad and a nice change from my usual boring salad.
Claudia
Oh, this is so good! Just the photos had me hooked. I loved the chunkiness of it. I usually cut everything a bit smaller in my salads, but not anymore!
Emily
Oh wow, I’ve never heard of this kind of salad before! It looks delicious! I will be trying it soon! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Michelle
This is my favorite chef salad recipe. It is delicious with your avocado ranch dressing!
Betty
Made this for dinner last night! Swapped the deli turkey out for some baked chicken breast and omitted the croutons to make it low carb. We demolished it! Even the 5-year-old twins asked for more! It was a perfect meal!
Beth Pierce
Thanks, Betty! So glad that you and the twins like it. I bet they are a lot of fun!!
Clarice
Wow! This looks really delicious and easy to make. I agree with you that you won’t get wrong with whatever dressing you choose for this salad. Would love to try it with avocado ranch next time. Thank you for sharing your recipe notes and tips.
Beth Pierce
You are most welcome, Clarice! Enjoy!!
Sonia
This is a great chef salad with all my favorite toppings. I had it with your homemade avocado ranch dressing and loved it.
Chloe Arnold
I’m not normally a huge salad person but this looks DIVINE!! And so easy!! I might have to make this tomorrow!
Mary
I’m not sure I have ever had a chef salad before. This sounds like a delicious combination of flavors.
Joe
I am liking this salad already! The ingredients alone, are some of my favorites! Thanks for sharing the recipe.
brianne
This is one of my favorite salads because it’s a healthy and low-carb but enjoyable recipe. The recipe is so simple and easy to make.
Claudia
I love that chef’s salad ingredients are simple and customizable. I can make this any time of the day.
Luna S
I love a good salad for dinner, it is easy to make, tastes delicious, and is healthier than many other dinner options. This was so good, thanks for sharing this!!
Tara
This has been a favorite salad at my house! My family loved it!