You’ll love every bite of this Italian chopped salad! It’s abundant with crunchy vegetables, spicy pepperoncini peppers, chickpeas, and bites of salami. For drizzling over the top, I use homemade Italian vinaigrette made with fresh basil and Parmigiano Reggiano, which makes all the ingredients sing with flavor!
We love a good chopped Italian salad! Growing up, going out for pizza was a big part of my life. While my family and I waited for our pie, we would all share a massive chopped salad like this! My favorite part as a kid was the spicy peppers and antipasto ingredients, so we added those to this salad too.
What sets a chopped salad apart is that all the ingredients (including the lettuce) are chopped small. Honestly, that is how I love my salads! It’s a simple way to transform boring vegetables into an exciting texture-filled salad!
And the flavors have a little bit of everything. You get sweetness from the tomatoes, tang from the marinated artichokes, spiciness from the pepperoncini peppers, and saltiness from the cheese and salami! It’s the kind of salad you’ll want to eat again and again.
Ingredients
See the recipe card below for the complete list of ingredients and measurements.
Greens. For a crunchy base, use romaine lettuce! You could also use iceberg lettuce or a combination of both.
Veggie toppings. You’ll need cucumber for some crunch, cherry tomatoes for juiciness, bell peppers for more crunch, chickpeas, and red onion.
Antipasto toppings. To add an Italian flare and complete your chopped salad, you’ll need salami, cheese (parmesan, provolone, or mozzarella), marinated artichokes, black olives, and pepperoncini peppers for some spiciness.
The Dressing
I drizzled this salad with our homemade Italian vinaigrette to combine all the flavors! It’s made with fresh basil, dried oregano, red wine, and a little Parmigiano Reggiano cheese for richness.
More Italian Salads to Try
If you’re craving more Italian salads, check out our Tuscan Artichoke Salad, Panzanella salad, or this Italian Pasta Salad!
Italian Chopped Salad
Ingredients
- 1 large (or two small) heads of romaine lettuce, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups English cucumber, diced
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 large red bell pepper, cored and diced
- 1/2 red onion, diced
- 1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, rinsed and drained
- 1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, halved
- 7 pepperoncini peppers, sliced
- 1/2 cup salami, cubed, cut into thin sticks, or slices of salami cut into pieces
- 1 cup black olives, halved
- 1 healthy pinch of dried oregano
- 1 Italian Vinaigrette
- *optional freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano, see notes for other cheese options
Instructions
- Prepare the salad: After making the dressing, prepare a large shallow bowl with a bed of finely chopped romaine lettuce. Top with all the salad toppings. When ready to serve, drizzle a generous amount of the Italian vinaigrette over top and a pinch of dried oregano over the salad. Top with freshly shredded Parmigiano Reggiano and serve!
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