High Protein Cobb Salad (Printable version)
A protein-packed American salad with grilled chicken, bacon, eggs, avocado, and blue cheese in a tangy vinaigrette.
# What you need:
→ Proteins
01 - 2 large chicken breasts (about 10.5 oz), grilled and sliced
02 - 4 slices bacon, cooked until crisp and crumbled
03 - 4 large eggs, hard-boiled and quartered
→ Vegetables
04 - 6 cups romaine lettuce (about 7 oz), chopped
05 - 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
06 - 1 large avocado, diced
07 - 1/2 cup cucumber, sliced
08 - 1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
→ Cheese
09 - 1/2 cup blue cheese (about 2 oz), crumbled
→ Dressing
10 - 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
11 - 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
12 - 1 tsp Dijon mustard
13 - 1 tsp honey
14 - Salt and black pepper to taste
# How To:
01 - Grill or pan-sear the chicken breasts until cooked through, then slice them thinly. Cook the bacon in a skillet until crisp, then crumble into pieces. Hard-boil the eggs for 10 minutes, cool under running water, peel, and quarter each egg.
02 - Wash and chop the romaine lettuce. Halve the cherry tomatoes, dice the avocado, slice the cucumber, and thinly slice the red onion. Pat all vegetables dry.
03 - Spread the chopped romaine lettuce evenly across the bottom of a large serving platter or wide shallow bowl to create a bed for the toppings.
04 - Neatly arrange the sliced chicken, crumbled bacon, quartered eggs, cherry tomatoes, diced avocado, cucumber slices, red onion, and crumbled blue cheese in separate rows across the lettuce for a classic Cobb presentation.
05 - In a small bowl, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt, and black pepper until the mixture is fully emulsified and smooth.
06 - Drizzle the dressing evenly over the salad just before serving. Toss gently if desired, and serve immediately while the ingredients are fresh.
# Expert Advice:
01 -
- The rows of colorful ingredients make it look like you spent all day, but it comes together in about half an hour.
- With grilled chicken, bacon, eggs, and blue cheese in every bite, you stay full for hours without reaching for a snack.
02 -
- Do not dress the salad more than a few minutes before eating, or the lettuce will wilt into a sad puddle and the avocado will brown at the edges.
- Letting the chicken rest for at least five minutes after grilling keeps the juices inside the meat instead of running all over your cutting board.
03 -
- Cook extra chicken and bacon so you can make a second salad the next day without starting from scratch.
- Whisking a tiny splash of cold water into the dressing at the end lightens its texture and helps it coat every leaf instead of pooling at the bottom.