I have a challenge for you (and me) today. I challenge us all to start making a giant fresh salad on Sundays, so we can eat salad all week long. Starting with this gigantic, colorful, dare-I-say the best Italian chopped salad.
When you have a really great salad in the fridge, you might even reach for it before you grab the bag of chips. Happened to me! I’ve enjoyed four iterations of this salad over the past couple of weeks (especially the final version you see here), and I’m still craving more.
The motivation behind this salad recipe came when I ordered an Italian chopped salad and a pricy Neapolitan pizza down the street. I requested the chopped salad without the bacon, and it was definitely missing that salty, savory, gimme-more edge without it. Crispy bacon is the only meat I ever miss.
The Best Italian Chopped Salad
I set out to create a better meatless Italian chopped salad, and here it is. You’ll find most of the usual ingredients, including crisp lettuce, radicchio, red onion, fresh tomatoes, pepperoncini peppers and provolone cheese. I tried a few other kinds of cheese, but it’s no wonder provolone is the most common—it’s the tastiest. That said, you could easily skip it for a delicious dairy-free/vegan salad.
You’ll find a few unexpected ingredients here that send this salad over the top. First up, chickpeas, which aren’t uncommon but make this salad more hearty. I also added celery for extra crunch, and sun-dried tomatoes for some extra oomph. The umami flavor in sun-dried tomatoes make up for the umami-rich pork that you usually find in Italian chopped salads.
Toss all of those ingredients in a bold, homemade Italian vinaigrette and you will have a seriously addictive salad. I’ve enjoyed smaller portions as a side or larger portions as a light meal.
Please let me know how you like this recipe in the comments! Your feedback is so important to me.
Craving more big chopped salads? Don’t miss my Chopped Greek Salad, Colorful Chopped Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing, Mexican Green Salad with Jalapeño-Cilantro Dressing or Fattoush Salad Recipe.
Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad
- Author:
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 to 8 side servings 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: By hand
- Cuisine: Italian
Truly the best Italian chopped salad recipe, with chopped fresh greens and veggies in a simple Italian vinaigrette. This salad is vegetarian and easily vegan. Recipe yields 6 to 8 side servings or 3 to 4 meal-sized servings (a lot). If you store the salad separately from the vinaigrette, it will keep well for up to 4 days.
Ingredients
Salad
- 10 ounces chopped romaine lettuce* (about 2 medium or 3 small heads, chopped)
- ½ medium head of radicchio*, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
- ½ medium red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup stemmed and thinly sliced pickled pepperoncini peppers
- ⅓ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and roughly chopped
- 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
- 1 cup (4 ounces) ¼″ cubes of provolone cheese (optional)
Italian vinaigrette
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 10 twists freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ teaspoon salt, more to taste
- Pinch of red pepper flakes, for heat (optional)
Instructions
- In a large serving bowl, combine the chopped lettuce, radicchio, onion, celery, cherry tomatoes, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas and cheese (if using). Toss the ingredients together and set aside.
- To prepare the dressing, combine all of the ingredients in a liquid measuring cup. Whisk until blended. Taste, and add more salt if the dressing doesn’t knock your socks off (I usually add one to two more pinches of salt).
- If you’ll be serving all of the salad at once, go ahead and drizzle enough dressing in to lightly coat the salad and toss to combine. I prefer to store the salad and dressing separately so I can enjoy salad for a few days. Just whisk the dressing again before drizzling (if the olive oil solidifies a bit in the refrigerator, don’t worry, that’s normal—just let it warm up for about 5 minutes at room temperature or microwave for 10 to 20 seconds).
Notes
Recipe inspired by the chopped salad at 1889 Pizza and created with reference to Smitten Kitchen and The Kitchn.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Omit the cheese! It’s still great without it. For a vegan dressing, substitute maple syrup for the honey.
*Romaine and radicchio notes: If you want to make this salad in a hurry, just buy two bags of chopped romaine/radicchio mix, and chop it into even smaller, bite-sized pieces. Radicchio is very bitter and can be hard to find, but I thought it added something special to this salad. If you hate it/can’t find it, skip it. If you adore it, feel free to use the whole head.
▸ Nutrition Information
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Grammasue
Kate. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. I did omit the garbanzo beans only bc we don’t care for the texture; added marinated artichokes & kalamata olives & swapped green leaf lettuce for the romaine (we don’t buy romaine any more because of all the recalls) & green leaf holds up to the dressing better. Our entire family lives the salad. Oh plus, instead of oregano in the dressing, I omit the salt & add 1 tsp of Good Seasons Dry Ital Dressing Mix. It adds zest & lasts in the ref a week! Love your site & your recipes!
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome! I’m glad you loved it.
India Puryear
This was very good and easy to make. Since I didn’t have red wine vinaigrette, I subbed it for balsamic vinaigrette which was just as good. Thank you for this delicious recipe.
★★★★★
Kate
You’re welcome, India!
paula m thaggard
Kate,
I love all the recipes I’ve tried of yours ..which is a lot of them! I make this salad often now, we can’t stop, and we never get tired of it. I love your baked ziti with roasted vegetables and your southwestern corn chowder just off the top of my head, oh and the granola bars with almonds and chocolate chips!! We’ve switched to a mainly plant based diet within the past few years and it has been fun and exciting to learn so many new recipes! I was so inspired I bought your cookbook for my daughters and my sister in law, they all love it!
Thanks!
★★★★★
Kate
I love that, Paula! Thank you for your review. I’m happy you are enjoying so many recipes.
Maby L
Hello Kate,
My next salad that I prepared was the Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad. It was my first time that I used radicchio. I loved it a lot especially the dressing along with it.
I truly love your recipes.
Thank you.
Take care.
Maby
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you, Maby! I’m glad to hear that.
Christina M.
THIS IS SO GOOD! We make this all the time at my house.
★★★★★
Kate
Wonderful to hear! Thank you for your review.
Lyndsey
This was so good! A breeze to put together and as always the mix of your ingredients and dressings balanced so well. I found myself in a boring vegetarian meal rut a couple months ago and have been making an effort to try new recipes. I have been primarily relying on yours, and they consistently blow me away- healthy but tasty, and my meateater husband agrees. He just yelled from the living room “the salad’s really good!” It’s very apparent how much care you put into your recipes. Just wanted to drop a line and express my appreciation.
★★★★★
Kate
That’s fantastic! Thank you for sharing, Lyndsey.
Ella
Love your fresh, tasty and delish recipes! Can I omit the honey and still have dressing taste good?
Kate
Hi! The sweetness helps to balance out some of the tangy and bitterness. You can use maple syrup if you want.
Carol
Thank you for saving lunch! This has become our go to lunch option. Keeps beautifully in the fridge for 4-5 days. We add sliced mushrooms and red bell peppers. I’m vegetarian, but if I add a sliced grilled chicken breast my husband is perfectly happy. Seasoned croutons are a great addition.
★★★★★
Kate
I love that! Thank you for sharing your variation, Carol.
Kerstin
I made this salad tonight, with only one head of Romaine. Together with the dressing, it gave me renewed salad inspiration! I love salads packed with color and texture, and this is that kind of salad. It is such a big salad, even with one head, that I just packed it for lunch and we’ll have it again as part of dinner tomorrow. I’ve been making your recipes for a few years, always privately thanking you for your easy and delicious vegetarian meals-so today I am making it public: Thank you, Kate!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Kerstin! Thank you for your review.
TomN
THis is a great recipe, especially the dressing. Our new go-to company salad!
★★★★★
Kate
I love that! Thank you for sharing, Tom.
Kelly G
This salad was a HUGE hit! I think I chopped everything too small but no one complained. One of our guests doesn’t usually like salad with dressing already on it and he went back twice! It was the perfect side dish to hubbies ham.
★★★★★
Alma
Its taste really good and easy to make
Thank you Kate
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Alma. I appreciate your review.