This hunger-busting Cobb Salad is bursting with recent greens and protein-rich hen, hard-boiled eggs, creamy avocado and smoky crumbled bacon. It’s topped off with a easy do-it-yourself Blue Cheese French dressing which has all of the scrumptious taste of a conventional Brown Derby Cobb Salad, however with fewer energy and fewer saturated fats!
Why We Love This Wholesome Cobb Salad Recipe
Please don’t ask me to decide on my favourite salad. But when pressed I must put an excellent Cobb salad on the high of the record.
What’s to not love a couple of massive stunning composed salad with a great deal of satisfying protein, daring blue cheese dressing, and all my favourite veggies? The reply is, not a lot! I actually do love every little thing about Cobb salad. Nicely, besides that the majority cobb salads from eating places are far too high in fat, calories and sodium!
That’s why I set out this month to re-invent a conventional Cobb. My purpose was to make my recipe decrease in energy and saturated fats, however nonetheless satisfying sufficient to maintain me full for hours and with all that scrumptious style of traditional Cobb salad with bacon and blue cheese!
Serve these epic composed salads as an entree for dinner or as a healthy lunch. My household loves these as is, but when your loved ones just isn’t a fan of blue cheese, you’ll be able to select one other one in every of my healthy homemade salad dressings to make use of as a substitute of the blue cheese French dressing. Our Classic Ranch with Greek Yogurt can be nice!
If you’re searching for extra Cobb inspiration, attempt our Grilled Corn and Peach Cobb Salad or this Southwest Kale Cobb Salad for some non-traditional however equally scrumptious entree salads! And don’t miss my basic Garden Salad in case you are a fan of more healthy basic salads.
Key Elements
Hen
Whereas some Cobbs have diced fried hen, we used poached boneless skinless hen breast which is excessive in protein and just about fat-free. You may substitute 2 1/2 cups of cooked leftover diced hen and even use rotisserie hen as a substitute. To make this vegetarian, use cubed baked tofu or sliced Roasted Portobellos as a substitute.
Bacon
Bacon is among the important “goodies” to high off a Cob, however most recipes use far an excessive amount of. It provides pointless fats and sodium. I discovered that utilizing 4 slices (1 per individual) is sufficient to add the flavour with out including in an excessive amount of fats and sodium.
Tip: Prepare dinner your bacon till it’s crispy to render out as a lot fats as potential. This may carve off much more energy.
For a vegetarian substitute make my Vegan Shiitake Bacon as a substitute.
Arduous-Boiled Eggs
Additionally, you will want hard-boiled eggs for these salads. We used only one egg per individual. If you wish to reduce 30 energy per serving, come out and discard the yolks.
Avocado
Cobb is a California-born basic, so in fact, it consists of ripe Avocado in it! Since avocado is excessive in fats it’s also excessive in energy. So we use just one avocado and divide it among the many 4 salads.
Greens
A standard Cobb has a mix of a number of greens together with Romaine watercress and endive. I needed to verify this was simple sufficient to drag collectively for a lunch or weeknight dinner, so I opted to simply mix Romaine with combined salad greens.
Greens
To make this more healthy, I opted for additional veggies. Along with the cherry tomatoes, I added in cucumbers to up the veggie quotient. You can even use a slicing tomato reduce into wedges or diced you probably have them. If in case you have one other seasonal veggie you wish to add in, by all means, try this!
Elements For The Blue Cheese French dressing
Numerous Cobb salads have a complete row of crumbled blue cheese on them. I discover this too highly effective in taste and pointless added saturated fats and energy.
To make this recipe more healthy, I made a Blue Cheese French dressing which is basically a vinaigrette with crimson wine vinegar, olive oil and shallot with the addition of crumbled blue cheese mashed into it. This helps make just a little blue cheese go a great distance!
For the dressing you have to:
- 3 tablespoons crimson wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot, minced
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey or sugar
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup crumbled blue cheese, reminiscent of Roquefort (2 ounces)
- ½ teaspoon salt, elective
Observe: Some blue cheeses are saltier than others. So omit the salt to start, and style the dressing. It’s possible you’ll not want any added salt.
To make this recipe a lot decrease in energy you’ll be able to substitute my Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing which is able to save 211 energy per serving!
How To Make Cobb Salad with Blue Cheese French dressing
Step 1: Poach and Cube Hen
Place hen in a big saucepan and canopy with water. Add a beneficiant pinch of salt. Deliver to a simmer over excessive warmth. Scale back warmth to medium-low and proceed simmering till the hen is no-longer pink within the middle, 12 to 16 minutes (relying on thickness.) Switch to a slicing board and reduce into bite-sized cubes and let cool 10 minutes.
Step 2: Arduous Boil and Chop Eggs
In the meantime, place eggs within the backside of a small saucepan, cowl with chilly water by a number of inches. Deliver to a mild boil over excessive warmth. Boil for 10 minutes. Then take away from the warmth, drain after which run cool working water over the eggs for a number of minutes till cool sufficient to deal with. Peel and cube.
Step 3: Make Dressing
Whisk vinegar, shallot, mustard and honey in a medium bowl. Whisk in olive oil. Stir in cheese and mash barely to include into the dressing. Style and add salt if desired.
Step 4: Prepare Salads
Prepare the salads on 4 massive plates: Layer greens and lettuce onto the plates. Prime with eggs, bacon, cucumber, avocado, hen and cherry tomatoes.
Step 5: Add Dressing
Re-stir the dressing simply earlier than drizzling over the salads, dividing evenly. Season with freshly floor pepper.
FAQs and Skilled Suggestions For Cobb Salad
Cobb salad was invented on the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant in Los Angeles California within the late Thirties. It’s named so after the restaurant proprietor Robert Howard Cobb. It’s mentioned that Cobb created the dish utilizing leftovers from the restaurant kitchen for a late-night meal.
The greens in an genuine Cobb are romaine, watercress, endive and chopped iceberg lettuce. On high are rows or sections of fried hen (or turkey), bacon, hard-boiled eggs, scallions or chives, tomatoes, avocado and Roquefort cheese. The dressing is usually a basic French-style crimson wine French dressing with Dijon mustard and minced shallot. Some variations additionally embody cheddar cheese.
There are a number of methods to chop the energy on this dish. As written every serving has 575 energy which continues to be decrease than the common cobb by greater than 50 energy. Moreover, we opted for heart-healthy mono-unsaturated fat by slicing again on a number of the saturated fat and utilizing olive oil within the dressing. However if you wish to make this decrease in energy nonetheless, the best method to take action is to make use of my Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing as a substitute of the French dressing. Whereas a creamy dressing just isn’t genuine, it should save 211 energy per serving! You can even take away the egg yolk to avoid wasting a further 30 energy every. With each of those adjustments, your salad will probably be 334 energy.
Many Cobb salads are too excessive in fats, energy and sodium to be thought of wholesome. These with fried hen, additional cheese and bacon can have loads of unhealthy trans fat and saturated fats. Nonetheless, all Cobb salads are excessive in fiber, protein and Vitamin A. (This one has 129% of your DV for Vitamin A!) Utilizing extra greens and fewer bacon and cheese helps to maintain them on the wholesome aspect. You can even use low-sodium bacon and omit added salt to drop the sodium ranges. This model which incorporates no breading on the hen is low in carbs at solely 12 grams internet carbs per serving.
These salads are superior for meal prep. Merely compose the salad in an air-tight re-sealable container and retailer a portion of the dressing in a jar. You can even compose them on the plate and preserve them wrapped as much as 2 days prematurely.
Extra Wholesome Salad Recipes To Strive
And there are such a lot of extra Healthy Salad Recipes to discover in our archives!
Thanks a lot for studying. If you’re new right here, you might have considered trying to enroll in my free weekly email newsletter the place I share weeknight meal plans delivered proper to your inbox. Or observe me on Instagram. For those who make this recipe, please come again and depart a star ranking and overview! It is extremely appreciated. Pleased Cooking! ~Katie
Description
This hunger-busting Cobb Salad is bursting with recent greens and protein-rich hen, hard-boiled eggs, creamy avocado and smoky crumbled bacon. It’s topped off with a easy do-it-yourself Blue Cheese French dressing which has all of the scrumptious taste of a conventional Brown Derby Cobb Salad, however with fewer energy and fewer saturated fats!
Scale
Elements
- ½ pound boneless skinless hen breast
- 4 massive eggs
- 3 tablespoons crimson wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon minced shallot, minced
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey or sugar
- ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ½ cup crumbled blue cheese, reminiscent of Roquefort
- ½ teaspoon salt, elective
- 8 cups combined child greens and chopped Romaine lettuce* See observe
- 4 slices crisp cooked bacon, see tip
- 1 cucumber, reduce in half and sliced
- 1 ripe avocado, diced
- 2 cups chopped tomatoes or halved cherry tomatoes
- Freshly floor pepper to style
Directions
- Place hen in a big saucepan and canopy with water. Add a beneficiant pinch of salt. Deliver to a simmer over excessive warmth. Scale back warmth to medium-low and proceed simmering till the hen is no-longer pink within the middle, 12 to 16 minutes (relying on thickness.) Switch to a slicing board and reduce into bite-sized cubes and let cool 10 minutes.
- In the meantime, place eggs within the backside of a small saucepan, cowl with chilly water by a number of inches. Deliver to a mild boil over excessive warmth. Boil for 10 minutes. Then take away from the warmth, drain after which run cool working water over the eggs for a number of minutes till cool sufficient to deal with. Peel and cube.
- Whisk vinegar, shallot, mustard and honey in a medium bowl. Whisk in olive oil. Stir in cheese and mash barely to include into the dressing. Style and add salt if desired.
- Prepare the salads on 4 massive plates: Layer greens and lettuce onto the plates. Prime with eggs, bacon, cucumber, avocado, hen and cherry tomatoes.
- Re-stir the dressing simply earlier than drizzling over the salads, dividing evenly. Season with freshly floor pepper.
Notes
Ingredient Observe:
Conventional Cobb salads are made with a mix of lettuces together with watercress and endive. Although it’s not strictly genuine, we discover it simpler to purchase a bag of combined child greens and blend it with chopped hearts of Romaine.
To cook dinner the bacon:
Layer the bacon between 4 sheets of paper towels on a big microwave-safe plate. Microwave for 3 to 4 minutes.
How To Make Decrease In Energy
Whereas a creamy dressing just isn’t genuine in the event you swap our Greek Yogurt Blue Cheese Dressing in for the French dressing dressing you’ll save 211 energy per serving! You can even take away the egg yolk to avoid wasting a further 30 energy every. With each of those adjustments, your salad will probably be 334 energy.
A Observe On Sodium
Some blue cheeses are saltier than others. So omit the salt to start, and style the dressing. It’s possible you’ll not want any added salt. The vitamin information are proven with out the added salt.
Diet
- Serving Dimension: 1 salad
- Energy: 575
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 578 mg
- Fats: 45 g
- Saturated Fats: 10 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Fiber: 6 g
- Protein: 25 g
