Cobb salads are the salads for people who usually don’t like salads. While there is lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes in a cobb salad, but there is also chicken, crispy bacon, hard boiled eggs, avocado, sharp cheddar cheese and a delicious citrus dill dressing. It is a pretty exciting salad and I would be willing to bet that even a non-salad appreciator will enjoy this one.
Let’s get it started…
For 2 meal sized cobb salads, you will need 1 boneless skinless chicken breast (or some shredded rotisserie chicken), 4 strips of thick cut bacon, 1 small head of romaine or leafy green lettuce, 4 eggs, 1/2 of an english cucumber, 4 ounces of cherry tomatoes, a quarter of a red onion, 1/2 of a ripe avocado, 1/2 cup of sharp cheddar cheese and 1/4 cup of citrus dill dressing.
The component that takes the longest will be the bacon, so start with that. My favorite way to make crispy bacon is baking a few strips on a flat baking sheet in a 400 degree oven for about minutes. You don’t even really need to flip it. If you oven has a hotter side and you see that your bacon is cooking uneven, you can rotate the pan half way through, but I just put mine in a preheated oven, set the timer and forget about it until the time is up. It is so easy this way. No splattering, no baby sitting and it is always really crispy.
Once the bacon is done, transfer it onto a paper towel lined plate and set it aside until you are ready for it.
Next will be the chicken. Season your chicken with garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and paprika. Add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into a medium skillet and place it over medium heat. Brown the chicken on both sides and once the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees, set it onto a cutting board to rest.
If you have left over chicken or a rotisserie chicken on hand this will work great too!
While the chicken and bacon are cooking, we can hard boil the eggs. Place a four eggs into a deep saucepan pan and fill the pan with cold water until all of the eggs are fully submerged. Place the pan over high heat until the water begins to boil. Cover the pan, turn off the heat and let the eggs sit over the same burner (turned off) for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, transfer the eggs into an ice bath and let them chill until your are ready for them.
Now that the chicken, bacon and eggs are ready, everything else goes pretty quickly. Chop 1 small head of romaine, 1/2 of an english cucumber, some cherry tomatoes and finely dice a quartered of a red onion.
Dice 1/2 of an avocado and chop the crispy bacon into bite sized pieces.
Peel your hard boiled eggs and sliced them into bite sized pieces.
If you want to make this salad even more incredible, I highly recommend making my citrus dill dressing by combining 1/4 cup of plain full fat greek yogurt, 1/4 cup of sour cream, 1/2 teaspoon of minced or crushed garlic, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, a pinch of black pepper and about 1 tablespoon of fresh dill fronds that have been very finely chopped and whisk until fully combined. Squeeze the juice from half of a lemon and half of a lime into the dressing and mix until everything is fully incorporated.
Combine the ingredients in a large bowl or platter and drizzle with your dressing. If you have any leftover bacon or crumbled cheddar on your cutting board, sprinkle that over the top and grab your favorite fork, because you are in for something delicious…
This is a masterpiece of a salad. There is so much going on with the chicken, the crispy and salty bacon, the creamy avocado and hard boiled eggs, that sharp cheddar cheese and tangy red onions and those sweet little cherry tomatoes. Then when you top it off with the brightly flavored citrus dill dressing, you too will become a salad believer.
With crispiness, crunchiness and creaminess all of the textures you’d want from a salad are nailed and the flavors are there too… salty, sweet, tart, tangy and fresh.
Whether you love salads or feel indifferent about them, make this cobb salad and be prepared to fall in love…
Cobb Salad
Ingredients
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- a big pinch of garlic salt, onion salt, paprika and cumin (for seasoning the chicken)
- 4 strips of thick cut bacon
- 1 small head of romaine or leafy green lettuce, chopped
- 4 eggs, hard boiled, peeled, quartered
- 1/2 english cucumber, chopped
- 4 ounces of cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/4 of red onion, diced
- 1/2 of an avocado, diced
- 1/2 cup of sharp cheddar cheese, shredded or crumbled
- 1/4 cup of citrus dill dressing
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
- Place 4 slices of bacon on a baking sheet
- Bake the bacon in a 400 degree oven for 15-20 minutes or until it is crispy
- Transfer the crisp bacon onto a paper towel lined plate to cool and set aside
- While the bacon is cooking, season 1 boneless skinless chicken breast with a bit of garlic powder, onion powder, cumin and paprika
- Add 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil into a medium skillet and place it over medium heat
- Brown the chicken on both sides and once the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees transfer it to a cutting board to rest
- Place 4 eggs into a deep saucepan and cover with enough water to fully submerge them
- Place over high heat and bring to a rolling boil. Once the water is boiling, cover the pan and turn off the heat
- Allow the pan to sit on the burner (turned off) for 10 minutes
- Transfer the eggs into an ice bath and set aside for 10 minutes to chill
- Peel and rinse the eggs and cut them into quarters
- Chop 1 small head of romaine or leafy green lettuce into bite sized pieces and place into the bottom of your salad bowls
- Add chopped cucumber, cherry tomatoes and red onion
- Dice 1/2 of an avocado and add this to the salad
- Dice up the bacon and chicken and divide between salads
- Add shredded cheddar cheese
- Add 2 tablespoons of citrus dill dressing and toss to combine
- Enjoy!
