This hearty Italian Chopped Salad is full of flavor and absolutely delicious. Crunchy veggies, creamy cheese, and the best lemon herb dressing all come together to make a tasty and filling salad that everyone is sure to love!

Why You’ll Love This Hearty Italian Chopped Salad

  • It’s hearty – this Italian Chopped Salad isn’t your typical side salad, ok?! It’s packed with all the best things like chickpeas for extra protein, creamy mozzarella cheese, soppressata, and plenty of crunchy veggies. This is a salad that’s sure to keep you full!
  • It’s full of flavor – not only is this salad extra hearty, it’s also full on flavor! With ingredients like pepperoncini and a tasty lemon herb dressing, there’s absolutely no lack of flavor in this salad.
  • It’s SO EASY to make – personally, my favorite thing about this salad is just how easy it is to make! Once you have all of your ingredients whipping up this salad is as easy throwing everything into a mixing bowl.

Watch How to Make This Recipe

salad ingredients

Chopped Salad Ingredients

Romaine Lettuce: the base of this salad is crisp romaine lettuce which gives the salad a delicious crunch.

Garbanzo Beans: for extra protein (and overall goodness!) we’re adding can of chickpeas. Be sure to drain and rinse them before adding to the salad.

Pepperoncini: these are one of my favorite things to add to salads because they’re packed full of flavor. They add a delicious brightness to this chopped salad.

Olives: I know olives aren’t everyone’s favorite thing but if you love them then you’ll love this salad. Salty kalamata olives are such a delicious addition in this salad but of course feel free to leave them out if you prefer.

Tomatoes: plenty of fresh juicy cherry tomatoes are a must-have in a good salad.

Artichoke Hearts: if you have never added artichoke heart to your salad then I can confidently tell you that you’re missing out, haha. For extra flavor this recipe uses grilled artichoke hearts and trust me, you’ll want to eat them straight out the jar.

Cucumber: I recommend using English or seedless cucumber for this recipe. They tend to have a thinner skin and less bitter flavor than traditional cucumber.

Red Onion: ok, a little chopped red onion adds so much good flavor to this salad. If needed, you can rinse the onion under cold water after you have diced it to relieve some of the “bite” that’s usually associated with raw onion.

Soppressata: this is an Italian dry salami. If you cannot find it, feel free to use another cured meat like salami. You can also leave this ingredient out if you would like to keep the pasta salad vegetarian.

Mozzarella: creamy balls of mozzarella cheese run throughout this salad and I mean it just doesn’t get any better than that.

Parmesan: for a little extra salty cheesy flavor we’re adding a bit of parmesan cheese.

Recipe Variations

  • Add extra veggies – this salad is so easy to customize! have extra veggies you need to use, add them in! some of my favorite veggies to add are chopped celery, bell pepper, and even diced carrot.
  • Add chicken – this salad is perfect to pair with grilled chicken or add in some leftover roasted chicken and toss.
  • Keep it vegetarian – leave out the soppressata altogether for an easy vegetarian option.

dressing being poured over salad

The Best Lemon Herb Dressing

A very simple, yet flavorful, lemon herb dressing works to pull this salad together. This delicious dressing could not be easier to make.

Here’s what you need:

  • red wine vinegar
  • olive oil
  • dijon mustard
  • oregano
  • minced garlic
  • lemon juice

To make the dressing all you have to do is add all of the ingredients to a high powered blender or mixing bowl and blend or whisk until combined.

Helpful Kitchen Tools

salad ingredients in serving bowl

How to Make This Delicious Chopped Italian Salad

Assemble the salad: Add all of the salad ingredients to a large mixing bowl.

Make the dressing: Add the dressing ingredients to a large bowl and whisk together until well combined.

Toss and Serve: Pour some of the dressing over the salad and toss. Add more dressing to taste, serve, and enjoy!

italian chopped salad in bowls

Meal Prep Tips

Want to make this recipe for your weekly meal prep? Here are my favorite tips:

  • Make the dressing: make the dressing in advance and then store in an air-tight container like a mason jar.
  • Chop and store your veggies: make throwing your salad together extra easy by chopping your veggies in advance and then storing in air-tight containers in the fridge.
  • Assemble but leave off the dressing: you can easily assemble the salad a day in advance and leave off the dressing until right before you are ready to serve.

How to Store

Store any leftover salad in an air-tight container in the fridge for 1-2 days.

chopped salad in white bowl with fork

More Delicious Salad Recipes to Try

Get all of our reader favorite salad recipes, HERE!

I hope you give this Italian Chopped Salad a try! It’s the perfect hearty and delicious salad! If you do give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment with a star rating below. You can also snap a photo & tag @allthehealthythings on INSTAGRAM. Your reviews and ratings help support All the Healthy Things and make it possible for me to continue to create the recipes you trust and love.

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italian chopped salad in bowls

Italian Chopped Salad

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 5 from 16 reviews
  • Author: Ashlea Carver
  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 0 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 6 1x
  • Category: Lunch & Dinner
  • Method: No Cook
  • Cuisine: Italian
  • Diet: Gluten Free

Description

This hearty Italian Chopped Salad is full of flavor and absolutely delicious. Crunchy veggies, creamy cheese, and the best lemon herb dressing all come together to make a tasty and filling salad that everyone is sure to love!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 6 cups chopped romaine lettuce
  • 115 oz can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1/3 cup roasted red peppers, chopped
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced pepperoncini
  • 1/2 cup kalamata olives, sliced in half
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
  • 1/2 cup grilled artichoke hearts, chopped
  • 1/2 cup diced English cucumber
  • 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
  • 4 oz soppressata or salami, diced
  • 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, sliced into ribbons
  • 1/2 cup mozzarella balls, halved
  • 1/4 cup shaved parmesan cheese
  • salt and pepper to taste

Dressing

  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 large clove finely minced or pressed garlic
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Assemble the salad: Add all of the salad ingredients to a large mixing bowl.
  2. Make the dressing: Add the dressing ingredients to a large bowl and whisk together until well combined.
  3. Toss and Serve: Pour some of the dressing over the salad and toss. Add more dressing to taste, serve, and enjoy!

Recipe by: Ashlea Carver / All the Healthy Things | Photography by: Eat Love Eat

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17 Comments

  1. I come back to this salad time and time again. It feeds a crowd and always gets rave reviews!






    1. Ashlea Carver says:

      I’m so glad you love it!

  2. Tasty! The salad is awesome and the dressing is excellent, my cousins wanted the recipe.






  3. Love this salad. Always looking for a way to get away from boring salads. I added a little mayo to the dressing to make it a little creamier and more “grinder” like!






  4. This was a delight! Such a flavorful salad, and the dressing was especially good. Thank you!






  5. Mark French says:

    I’m a picky salad lover and this was amazing! The only ingredient I left out was onion because my husband doesn’t like raw onion. The dressing was delicious and just the right amount. We have an Italian themed family birthday dinner next week and I’m bringing this!






  6. Another weeknight dinner win from ATHT! A great way to use up lots of leftover veggies and pantry staples. I subbed provolone for the mozz and black olives for the kalamatas as that is what I had. Made a big batch of the dressing too to use on other salads through the week. Delish!






  7. Christis Raimo says:

    This salad was AMAZING! I’m going to visit the Italian side of the family in a few weeks and I’ll be making it again for them. The dressing was so easy, light and delicious!






  8. Another winner from All the Heathy Things! So delicious!






  9. So good! Love all the components!






  10. This is such an easy delicious salad. Great for a Friday night when you don’t want to cook and a food suggested alternative to my bf when he wants pizza for dinner. Will be making again and again!






  11. This salad was so tasty and filling! The dressing was a perfect addition.






  12. Made this on Sunday for lunches all week (I stored the dressing separately). Sometimes it’s hard for me to find a meal prep recipe I’ll want to eat multiple days in a row but I just kept looking forward to this one!






  13. Stephanie G says:

    Just finished up the leftovers of this awesome salad! I love chopped salads but never know what to add and feel like they’re so much better at a restaurant- not anymore! I’m always looking for recipes I can start during nap time and this was perfect- I made the dressing (so easy and delicious) ahead of time and got everything washed and chopped and just needed to assemble at dinner time! Another great one- thank you!






  14. Elyse Raymond says:

    This salad was absolutely delicious 🤤. I plan on making it for my lunches for the week!! Look forward to trying more of your recipes!






  15. This salad was all of my favorite things in one bowl! So so good.






  16. I made this for dinner this week and it was delicious! Perfect salad for summer. I’m cooking for one so it can be hard to find recipes that work for me throughout the week, but I chopped up the ingredients over the weekend and it was super easy to throw together one serving tonight.