Italian Chopped Salad Recipe

This Italian chopped salad recipe is easy, fast, and fresh. Salami, homemade croutons, and pepperoncini peppers make this one flavorful salad!

This salad makes an awesome appetizer/side or a filling main course. A simple Italian vinaigrette brings everything together, and you won’t be able to resist bite after bite of this tasty salad.

This is one of those recipes that’s hearty enough for cold weather but would work year-round. My favorite kind of recipe.

As with any salad recipe, the quantities of the ingredients are totally flexible… if you want more or less of something than I suggest in the recipe, please do change it to suit your taste buds.

I encourage you to play with the dressing ingredients too so it’s not too tangy or too oily for your tastes.

Italian chopped salad ingredients:

• iceberg lettuce
• homemade croutons
• Kalamata olives
• salami
• arugula
• red onion
• cucumber
• pepperoncini peppers
• a light & tasty vinaigrette dressing

The pepperoncini peppers are slightly spicy, but even I can handle it, so you are probably good. 🙂 I subbed the shallot that was sitting in my fridge for like 2 months for the red onion, and it worked well. Feel free to use shallots if you prefer. I also added kalamata olives in here (my fav!), but feel free to swap with black olives or omit them if needed.

You could also use store-bought croutons if you wish, but I prefer making my own. Making them is super easy, and I find the flavor to be much better. It’s also perfect to use up slightly stale bread if you have any. I used a day-old mini ciabatta baguette to make these croutons.

This recipe makes one big Italian salad!

If you’re not feeding a crowd, I suggest cutting it in half, and you’ll still have enough to feed 4+ as a side salad.

I hope you love this simple Italian salad recipe!

Let me know in the comments below if you’ve made it.

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Italian Chopped Salad

By Natasha Bull

This Italian chopped salad recipe is easy, fast, and fresh. Salami, homemade croutons, and pepperoncini peppers make this one flavorful salad! 

Prep: 10 minutes mins

Cook: 15 minutes mins

Total: 25 minutes mins

Servings: 6

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Ingredients 

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• ▢ 1 head iceberg lettuce chopped
• ▢ 1 dozen pepperoncini peppers chopped
• ▢ 3 Persian (mini) cucumbers chopped
• ▢ 8 ounces Italian salami chopped
• ▢ 1/2 small red onion chopped
• ▢ 1 generous handful arugula
• ▢ 1 small handful fresh parsley chopped
• ▢ Kalamata olives to taste
• ▢ Salt & pepper to taste

Croutons:

• ▢ 1 demi baguette (or 1/3-1/2 regular baguette) cut into croutons
• ▢ Garlic powder to taste
• ▢ Salt & pepper to taste 
• ▢ 2 tablespoons olive oil or to taste

Dressing:

• ▢ 1-2 cloves garlic minced
• ▢ 3-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• ▢ 4 tablespoons olive oil 
• ▢ Pinch of dried oregano 

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Instructions 

• Preheat oven to 350F and move the rack to the middle position. Prepare your croutons by cutting the bread into desired-size pieces, adding them to a baking sheet, and sprinkling them with some garlic powder and salt & pepper, then tossing them with the oil. Bake for about 15 minutes or until they're lightly browned.
• Meanwhile, prep all your other salad ingredients and add them to a large bowl. 
• Let the croutons cool for a few minutes. 
• I just add the dressing ingredients right into the bowl, but you can put them in a jar and shake them together if you wish. I suggest playing with the oil/vinegar quantities, one tablespoon at a time, until you get the taste you like. 
• Add the croutons to the salad bowl and toss. Serve immediately. 

Notes

• Recipe can easily be halved - it does make a pretty large salad as written. The full salad serves about 4 as a main course or 6-8 as a side salad (keeping in mind portions and ingredients e.g. size of lettuce vary).
• I used a ciabatta baguette that had sun-dried tomatoes baked in.

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Like the look of this? You may also like my panzanella salad, my baby kale salad with parmesan croutons, or my fattoush salad.