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This Side Salad is loaded with crisp veggies, crispy bacon, and tossed with a creamy, flavorful homemade ranch dressing. It’s fresh and easy and the perfect side salad for any meal.
While I can make any salad a meal, this side salad is great for serving as a first course. It’s the perfect copycat steakhouse salad, just like you’d get at your favorite restaurant.
Why We Love This Side Salad Recipe
- Easy Homemade Ranch – Tangy buttermilk and fresh herbs make the homemade ranch super flavorful.Â
- Chopped Salad – Because the ingredients are chopped up into bite-sized pieces, you can get a little bit in each bite!
- All Of The Best Salad Mix-ins – You’ve got crisp veggies, crunchy croutons, and crispy bacon!
- Customizable – Just use the ingredients you love or customize with your favorite veggies, cheeses, and other mix-ins.
recipe walkthrough
Ingredients
For the Salad:Â Romain lettuce, torn or chopped into bite-sized pieces, cherry tomatoes or diced Roma tomatoes, shredded carrots, cooked and chopped bacon, sliced cucumber, shredded cheddar cheese, sliced green or red onions, and croutons.
For the Ranch dressing: Mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk, fresh dill, fresh parsley, fresh chives, minced garlic, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
How To Make A Chopped Side Salad
See the recipe card below for full, detailed instructions
This Chopped Salad is quick to make and you can even prep it in advance!
Make the Dressing – Make the homemade ranch by whisking all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Store in the fridge for up to a week until ready to use.
Assemble Salad – Add the lettuce and other salad ingredients to a large bowl and toss to combine.
Add Dressing – When ready to serve, toss the salad with the dressing. Alternatively, you can serve the dressing on the side and let guests dress their own salads.
Serving Suggestions
You can’t beat a big salad to start a meal. I love following this recipe with main courses like an air fryer steak, oven baked chicken, or hamburgers.
Variations
- Store-Bought Dressing – If you’re tight on time, you can use a store-bought ranch dressing but this homemade is seriously SO GOOD.
- Add Protein – For a complete meal, try topping this salad with some sliced chicken, steak, shrimp, or salmon.
Storage Tips
The Best Way to Store Leftovers
Dressing: The homemade dressing can be stored in the fridge for up to 1 week. If you don’t plan on eating the entire salad, I recommend not adding dressing to the entire thing. Salad that is already tossed in the dressing doesn’t store well.
Salad: Without the dressing, you can store the salad in the fridge for up to 3 days. For best results, transfer to an airtight container or resealable plastic bag and place a paper towel inside to catch any excess moisture.
Recipe Tips
- Make Dressing in Advance – You can make the ranch dressing up to one week in advance so it’s ready to go!
- Chop Everything Up Small and Evenly – This is the key to a great chopped salad! You want everything to be the same small size so you can easily get everything in one big bite.
More Salad Recipes
- Butter Lettuce Salad
- Easy Copycat Olive Garden Salad
- Panera Green Goddess Salad with Chicken
- Bacon Avocado Chicken Salad
- Ramen Chinese Chicken Salad
- Caesar Salad
Bacon Ranch Chopped Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 3 Romaine hearts about 1 pound, trimmed and chopped into bite-size pieces
- 1 cup Cherry tomatoes halved
- ½ cup Shredded carrots
- 6 Bacon slices cooked crisp and chopped
- ¾ cup Thinly sliced cucumber
- ½ cup Shredded cheddar cheese
- ¼ cup Thinly sliced green onions
- Croutons optional
Ranch Dressing
- 1/2 cup Mayonnaise
- 1/2 cup Sour cream
- 1/2 cup Buttermilk or regular milk
- 1 tablespoon Fresh dill chopped
- 3 tablespoons Fresh chopped parsley
- 2 tablespoons Fresh chopped chives
- 1 Garlic clove minced
- 1-2 teaspoons Lemon juice freshly squeezed
- Kosher salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small bowl until well combined. Refrigerate until ready to use; and up to 1 week.
- Wash lettuce and dry with a salad spinner. Add to a large salad bowl.
- Top with tomatoes, carrots, bacon, cucumber, cheddar cheese and green onions. Toss.
- If you know you’ll be eating the entire salad, you can toss with the dressing, otherwise, serve salad on plates or in bowls and let each person add their own dressing and croutons.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of “Yellow Bliss Road” is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.
