Ultimate Chopped Salad

You gotta love a chopped salad! There’s something so satisfying about all of the different textures, flavors and colors. This is our favorite chopped salad recipe, chock full of color and crunch with kale as its main ingredient. This is not only scrumptious but it’s incredibly healthy.

It’s best to let the kale “cook down” in the dressing for at least an hour.  Raw kale can be a bit hard to digest.

Marcia’s Best Salad Dressing

1 C. extra virgin olive oil
1 C. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 to 2 small garlic cloves, crushed
1 Tbs. honey or agave or Dijon mustard
1 tsp. Kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Place all dressing ingredients into a large bowl, add kale and mix together until well combined.

Here is their list of the best mix-ins to make the ultimate in chopped salad deliciousness.  If you don’t want to use kale, chopped romaine or any combination of greens (butter lettuce, arugula, spinach, mesclun etc) is great too. Remember to thinly slice or finely dice everything so it mixes evenly. Pick your favorite 6-7 mix-ins for an incredibly yummy, satisfying meal!

Chopped Salad Suggestions

Chopped kale leaves, stems removed
Cooked and cooled brown rice, quinoa or wheat berries
Pomegranate seeds
Toasted slivered almonds, pine nuts or sunflower seeds
Currants or dried cranberries
Diced avocado
Cubed roasted sweet potato or squash
Crumbled feta, goat, blue or Gorgonzola cheese
Grilled or Corn
Diced Red onion
Red and yellow peppers
Artichoke hearts
Hearts of palm
Diced tomato
Kalamata olives}
Hard-boiled egg
Crispy crumbled bacon
Chickpeas
Cucumber
Slivered Carrots
Diced Beets

Get creative…make a deconstructed “chopped salad bar” for lunch with friends or for a light supper in the Spring or Summer.  Put all of the components in separate bowls and let guests toss their own!