Kitchen Sink Chopped Salad

This Kitchen Sink Chopped Salad is packed full of refreshing ingredients! It’s the perfect side or entree salad to which you can substitute whatever tickles your fancy.

Totally versatile, add rows of your favorite salad add ins, shake up the cheese and top with your favorite salad dressing!

Kitchen Sink Chopped Salad

I discovered this wonderful composed salad in the midst of a heat wave; there were many nights where a hot dinner was just plain unappealing. An entrée salad was the perfect option for those oppressively hot evenings, especially one chock-full of tasty veggies.

I turned to The Mom 100 Cookbook for inspiration and saw this tasty and healthy composed salad. I was sold.

Tips for Making This Kitchen Sink Chopped Salad

As the name implies, this kitchen sink salad can be made with whatever you have floating around in your refrigerator. 

• A layer of sliced Romaine lettuce created a bed for rows of marvelous toppings. But iceberg, arugula or any salad greens would be fabulous.
• From there, add black olives, artichokes, shredded cheese and more. I was tempted to add diced avocados, but ran out of room. You can certainly tweak this to include your favorite veggies.

• Add beans or chicken for more protein. There are so many options.
• A simple vinaigrette with shallots and Dijon mustard drizzled over the salad was the finishing touch. But another homemade dressing or even your favorite store bought salad dressing would work, too.

• Line up your ingredients in rows across a platter for a beautiful composed salad. Alternatively, fill your salad bowl with greens and add pie shape wedges of the ingredients around the bowl. Just wait to add your dressing before serving.
• It’s the perfect hot weather meal with added protein, and I love making it for pitch in meals and even company!

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Kitchen Sink Chopped Salad

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A versatile Chopped Salad that can be tweaked to whatever is in your fridge.

• Author: Liz Berg
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 20 mins
• Yield: 4-6 servings 1x
• Category: Salad, Side Dish
• Method: Mixing
• Cuisine: American

Ingredients

For Salad:

2 hearts of romaine lettuce, sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch ribbons

1 red bell pepper (or orange, yellow, or green), stemmed, seeded, and diced

2 large carrots, peeled and sliced or shredded

1 (14-ounce) can artichoke bottoms, cut into 1/4-inch dice, or 1 (6-ounce) jar marinated

Artichoke hearts, drained and coarsely chopped

1 cup thinly sliced seedless or English cucumber

1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes, cut into halves

1/2 cup chopped or slivered red onion

1/4 cup sliced pitted black olives (any kind)

1/4 to 1/2 cup shredded or grated cheese, such as Parmesan, Cheddar, Swiss or mozzarella

1/4 to 1/3 cup Classic Vinaigrette, to taste, or a salad dressing of your choice

Classic Vinaigrette:

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup vinegar of your choice (I used aged balsamic)

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Instructions

1. Place a layer of romaine on serving platter. Arrange strips of ingredients over the lettuce. Alternatively, combine lettuce, bell pepper, carrots, artichokes, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, and olives in a large serving bowl. Toss in the cheese, if using. Dress with Classic Vinaigrette.
2. To make the dressing, put all ingredients in a container with a lid. With the lid on tightly, shake vigorously to combine. Taste for seasoning and add more mustard and/or salt if needed.

Notes

Recipe courtesy of the Mom 100 Cookbook