Italian Chopped Salad
This Italian chopped salad recipe is easy, fast, and fresh. Salami, homemade croutons, and pepperoncini peppers make this one flavorful salad!
Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 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
Instructions
- 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.
Notes
- 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.