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This Steakhouse Chopped 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.
Table of Contents
Why We Love This Side Salad Recipe
- Easy Homemade Ranch – Tangy buttermilk and fresh herbs make the homemade ranch super flavorful.
- Chopped Salad – Because the ingredients are chopped up, 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.
Ingredients
For the Salad:
- Romaine Hearts – torn or chopped into bite-sized pieces.For a chopped salad, cut the lettuce thinner, into strips, while for a side salad you can simply chop it up into bigger pieces.
- Cherry Tomatoes
- Shredded Carrots
- Cooked Bacon – Cook it so it’s crispy then chop it up.
- Sliced Cucumber
- Shredded Cheddar Cheese – freshly grated will taste better, but you can take a shortcut and use the pre-shredded here if you like.
- Sliced Green Onions
- Croutons – These are optional but I love the crunch!
For the Homemade Ranch Dressing:
- Mayonnaise
- Sour Cream
- Buttermilk – You can use regular milk or make your own buttermilk.
- Fresh Herbs – Dill, Parsley, Chives
- Minced Garlic – Fresh is best, but you can use the kind in a jar too.
- Lemon Juice
- Salt and Pepper
How To Make A Chopped Salad
See recipe card below for ingredient quantities and full instructions.
This Bacon Chopped Salad is quick to make and you can even prep it in advance!
- Make Dressing – Make the homemade ranch by whisking all the ingredients together in a small bowl. Store in the fridge 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.
FAQs
A chopped salad gets its name because all of the ingredients have been chopped up to a small, uniform size.
Since the salad ingredients are all chopped up to the same small size, it’s easier to get a little bit in each bite.
While you can swap in store-bought ranch dressing for this recipe, I really recommend you try out making it from scratch! In homemade ranch you can taste the fresh herbs and tangy buttermilk – it just tastes so much fresher and flavorful than store-bought.
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
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.
Pro 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 with Lemon Vinaigrette
- 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 slices bacon 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.
