Italian Chopped Salad AKA The Salad of The Summer

This is like the salad for when you’re on the fence of whether or not you even want a salad or not. It’s jam packed with so much goodness that it will make all other salads seems boring — in fact, other salads ARE boring in comparison.

This salad was inspired by one we had at Pizzeria Ruby during our trip to Bentonville, Arkansas. After we had biked 18 miles in the heat of the day to get to this little pizza shop, all I wanted was their refreshing chopped salad. Don’t worry, we also got a pizza (and some gelato), but I might risk saying that the salad was the star of the show. It was full of olives, pepperonchinis, pickled onions, provolone, and salami (I’ve opted for pepperoni here, but to each their own). It was the perfect salad to fuel the remaining 18 miles of our journey and inspire a summers worth of lunches and dinner.

If you’re still skeptical that a salad can actually be that delicious, I challenge you to give this one a try. I can guarantee you’re gonna make it once and then have it on repeat all summer long.

Italian Chopped Salad

Makes 6 servings

For the Italian dressing:

• ⅓ cup olive oil

• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

• 1 teaspoons honey or maple syrup

• 1 clove garlic, finely minced

• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard

• 1 teaspoon italian seasoning

• ½ teaspoon salt

  For the salad:

• 1 large head of romaine lettuce, chopped

• 1 (15 ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

• 6 oz thinly sliced pepperoni, chopped

• 1 ½ cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

• ½ cup pitted sliced kalamata olives

• ¼ cup sliced pepperoncinis

• 4 ounces pickled red onions

• ½ cup cubed provolone cheese

• ¼ cup shredded parmesan

  Make the dressing: in a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, red wine vinegar, sugar/honey, garlic, dijon, italian seasoning, salt and pepper.

  Chop and prep all your other ingredients.

  Assemble the salad: Next add in the chickpeas, pepperoni, tomatoes, olives, pepperoncinis, red onion, provolone cheese, + parmesan. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Serve immediately. To make this ahead of time keep the dressing separate until ready to serve.