Why you’ll love this Italian chopped salad
The salad was inspired by the chopped salad I had at Portillo’s in Chicago sometime last summer. I left out the cheese and I made a creamy Italian dressing because it’s pretty impossible to replicate a “house” dressing.
The ditalini was a must-have, but I choose whatever sounded good for the rest of the ingredients. You can do the same. I even considered adding chickpeas, but I forgot at the last minute.
This salad is totally customizable though, you can include or omit any of the ingredients in this salad. Just choose what you love and chop it up.
→ If you like this recipe, you should try these: leftover turkey salad / easy broccoli salad / kale caesar salad / roasted vegetable pasta salad / Mediterranean quinoa salad
Ingredient notes:
- Ditalini – We love ditalini in this salad recipe, but you could also use small shells or a basic elbow macaroni. Stick with small, bite sized pasta but not too small that you won’t be able to taste the pasta.
- Marinated artichokes – These artichokes are prepared and marinated with herbs, spices, and often have a tangy vinegar taste which pairs very well with the ingredients in our Italian salad.
- Peperoncinis – Banana pepper or cherry peppers would be your best substitute for this ingredient.
- Bacon – You can use precooked bacon to save yourself some time and mess.
- Creamy Italian dressing – We made our own for this recipe, but you can absolutely use a store bought creamy Italian dressing if you prefer.
Making changes to a recipe can result in recipe failure. Any substitutions listed are simple changes that I believe will work in this recipe, but results are not guaranteed.
Frequently asked questions
You can use a low fat mayo or choose one made with healthier fats such as avocado oil mayonnaise.
The only item in the ingredients with gluten is the noodles, you can omit those entirely or substitute for a gluten free noodle variety that is similar in size.
If you keep the leftover (unused) dressing in a sealed container in the fridge you can get it to last several days, and maybe even up to two weeks, depending on the freshness of your ingredients, and still taste great.
→ More Italian favorites: meat stuffed shells / Italian green beans / Italian anise cookies / Italian breakfast sandwiches / dairy free pesto sauce / pumpkin pasta with Italian sausage
Italian Chopped Salad
Ingredients
For the dressing:
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise, or vegan mayo for egg free
- 1/4 cup tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
For the salad:
- 1 cup uncooked ditalini pasta
- 1 large bag Italian salad mix, romaine with red cabbage
- 1 English cucumber, seeded and chopped
- 2 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
- 1 cup chopped bacon
- 1 cup diced pepperoni
- 1 cup chopped marinated artichokes, drained
- 1 cup chopped pepperoncini peppers
Instructions
- Cook the pasta. In a large pot of salted, boiling water, cook the pasta according to the package directions for al dente. When pasta is cooked, drain and rinse with cold water.
- Make the dressing. Combine the ingredients for the dressing in mixing bowl or mason jar. Whisk until smooth until and adjust seasoning with salt & pepper, to taste. Set aside or refrigerate until ready to use.
- Toss the salad. In a large bowl, combine salad ingredients and add your desired amount of dressing. Mix the salad is until evenly coated. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this? Leave a comment below!
what a great looking salad with mostly clean ingredients – – thanks, can’t wait to try this.
And LOLA is a keeper, she a beauty!!! did she get veggies too?
Oh you’re so sweet! She didn’t get any veggies, but she did get a ditalini or two that dropped. 🙂