Cobb salad recipe with bacon & chicken

May 19, 1:36 AMProvidence Food ExaminerDonna Diegel

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Cobb Salad with Bacon & Chicken

Classic Cobb Salad with bacon, chicken, hard boiled eggs & lettuce, all arranged in neat & tidy colorful rows. Perfect make-ahead salad for picnics, cookouts and lazy summer suppers!

The Original Cobb Salad

According to Wikipedia, "In 1937, Brown Derby owner Robert H. Cobb went into the restaurant's kitchen to fix a late-night snack for Sid Grauman, operator of Grauman's Chinese Theater. He browsed the refrigerator for ingredients, and chopped them up finely. Thus, the Cobb salad was born."

My Cobb Salad

I made my Cobb Salad with the same inspiration as Robert Cobb. I went to the fridge, and this is what I pulled out. I found some lettuce, an avocado, some fresh dill, a few tomatoes, some Parmesan, a couple eggs that I hard boiled, some frozen bacon, and a baggie of left over chicken from the night before. I wanted something beautiful and totally Feng Shui, so I knew I had to have an eye for color, and be neat with my rows. This is what I came up with! Hope you like it!

Be creative! Use what you have in your fridge, what you bought at the farmers' market, what's growing in your garden. Your Cobb Salad doesn't have to be in rows. You can pile the meat and veggies in concentric layers on a round plate, building on each other, leaving a little of the bottom layer showing all the way to the top. Arrange it on a platter in order of color preference. Do whatever makes you smile!

Cobb Salad Recipe

• 2 cups boneless chicken breast, marinated, cooked and diced
• 1/2 pound bacon, cooked, drained and crumbled
• 2 hard boiled eggs, peeled
• 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1 head butterhead lettuce, chopped
• 1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
• 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

How To Make a Cobb Salad

• Note: The following steps can all be done earlier in the day, saving you time in the kitchen!
• Marinate the chicken (see above) for at least 60 minutes. Saute or grill until cooked through. Let cool and cut into chunks. (Use leftover chicken from whatever you cooked the night before!)
• Cook the bacon until crisp. Drain on paper towels and crumble when cool. Not too small though!
• Hard boil the eggs, cool, peel and dice. Or, separate the yolks from the whites and dice separately.

Assembling the Cobb Salad

• Toss the two lettuces together with the fresh dill and place evenly in the bottom of a nice serving dish. I use a two quart baking dish and it's just the right size for my salad.
• Arrange the ingredients (see the creative steps above) on top of the lettuce mix in your own wild and crazy pattern!
• Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over the top.
• Refrigerate, covered until ready to serve.
• Serve with your favorite dressing, or click here for the Original Cobb Salad Dressing along with an interesting story on how the Cobb Salad and the Brown Derby Restaurant got its name.
• Serves 4-6.