Italian Chopped Salad
This Italian chopped salad recipe is easy, fast, and fresh. Salami, homemade croutons, and pepperoncini peppers make this one flavorful salad!
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time15 minutes mins
Total Time25 minutes mins
Course: Salad
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: Italian chopped salad recipe
Servings: 6
- 1 head iceberg lettuce chopped
- 1 dozen pepperoncini peppers chopped
- 3 Persian (mini) cucumbers chopped
- 8 ounces Italian salami chopped
- 1/2 small red onion chopped
- 1 generous handful arugula
- 1 small handful fresh parsley chopped
- Kalamata olives to taste
- Salt & pepper to taste
Croutons:
- 1 demi baguette (or 1/3-1/2 regular baguette) cut into croutons
- Garlic powder to taste
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or to taste
Dressing:
- 1-2 cloves garlic minced
- 3-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 4 tablespoons olive oil
- Pinch of dried oregano
Preheat oven to 350F and move the rack to the middle position. Prepare your croutons by cutting the bread into desired-size pieces, adding them to a baking sheet, and sprinkling them with some garlic powder and salt & pepper, then tossing them with the oil. Bake for about 15 minutes or until they're lightly browned.
Meanwhile, prep all your other salad ingredients and add them to a large bowl.
Let the croutons cool for a few minutes.
I just add the dressing ingredients right into the bowl, but you can put them in a jar and shake them together if you wish. I suggest playing with the oil/vinegar quantities, one tablespoon at a time, until you get the taste you like.
Add the croutons to the salad bowl and toss. Serve immediately.
- Recipe can easily be halved - it does make a pretty large salad as written. The full salad serves about 4 as a main course or 6-8 as a side salad (keeping in mind portions and ingredients e.g. size of lettuce vary).
- I used a ciabatta baguette that had sun-dried tomatoes baked in.