This Italian Chopped Salad is full of pasta, salami, grilled chicken, pepperoni, tomatoes and the most AMAZING dressing.
ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD WITH HOMEMADE CREAMY ITALIAN DRESSING
VIDEO INCLUDED BELOW
Have y’all seen the Tyson Grilled & Ready green bags in the grocery store? You can find these larger (22 oz.) bags in the freezer section. Or you can find the smaller (6 oz.) bags in the refrigerator section (my store keeps it near the bacon). The frozen ones can be thawed quickly in the microwave. Such a time saver! You can make quick chicken wraps or chicken fajitas. Or do like me and throw it in a salad! On a low carb diet? Just leave out the pasta!
THE BEST ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD ON THE PLANET!
What I love about salads the most is they can be a good time to use up some stuff in your pantry. Got a can of olives you haven’t used? Throw those in there. Maybe a can of chickpeas? Why not? That can go in too. And you can tailor this to your family’s preferences. But I’m tellin’ ya, you are gonna love this dressing. It is divine!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
For the Dressing:
olive oil
red wine vinegar
honey
dijon mustard
Italian seasoning
garlic
salt & pepper
For the Salad:
ditalini pasta
romaine lettuce
grape tomatoes
salami (or pepperoni)
mozzarella
cucumber, sliced
green onions, sliced
marinated artichoke hearts
Tyson® Grilled & Ready® chicken breast strips
Additional optional add-ins: olives, pepperoncini peppers, pepperoni red onions
HOW TO MAKE ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD WITH HOMEMADE DRESSING:
Then serve it up and dig in!
Originally published: June 2014
Updated & republished: June 2019
ITALIAN CHOPPED SALAD WITH HOMEMADE SALAD DRESSING
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp Italian seasoning
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- salt and pepper
For the salad:
- 1 cup ditalini pasta
- 3-4 cups chopped romaine lettuce hearts
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
- 1 cup cubed salami or pepperoni
- 1 cup mozzarella cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 cup cucumber sliced
- 1/2 cup green onions sliced
- 1/2 cup mini pepperoni optional
- 1 7.5 oz jar marinated artichoke hearts drained and chopped
- 2 cups grilled chicken breast diced
- Additional optional add-ins: olives, pepperoncini peppers, red onions
Instructions
- First thing you want to do is get your water boiling so you can get your ditalini pasta cooked. Because that needs to be cooked, drained and cooled down before adding it to the rest of the salad. While the pasta is cooking, you can get started with making the dressing.
- In a jar, add in all the dressing ingredients.
- Pop the lid on nice & tight.
- Then give it a really vigorous shake.
- Once your pasta has cooked to al dente, drain it well.
- Then run some cool water over it so that it can cool down a bit faster.
- While the pasta is finishing draining and cooling, start chopping up your veggies.
- Then add them all to a large bowl and add in the diced grilled chicken.
- Once pasta has cooled, add it to the salad mix.
- Now it's time to pour that yummy dressing on top! Give it all a good stir.
Video
Nutrition
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I’m always looking for a good dressing recipe. I had the ingredients on hand, so I thought I would give this a try. OMG! It was amazing! I used it on a caprese salad and to dip bread in. Really delicious! Thank you.