20-Minute Italian Chopped Salad with Chickpeas

The restaurant-worthy Italian Chopped Salad I can't stop making! We're tossing crisp lettuce, chickpeas, tomatoes, pepperoncini, cheese, and red onion with my bold (not too oily!) homemade Italian dressing. The combo of textures and punchy flavors make this SO fun to eat. She's packed with 12g protein and 6g fiber to keep you full, and that's before meat you mad add. Great for make ahead lunches and guaranteed to impress at potlucks!

Growing up I was always asked to bring the salad. Not because I eat healthy or love to cook, nope. It was because I always chopped everything finely to get every delish ingredient in every bite. Yep, I've been perfecting the chopped salad since my youth!.

There's no bigger let down than being serves a salad with huge pieces, not mixed, with dressing on the side. You're really gonna make me do all that work?!

This chopped Italian salad recipe is everything I want in a salad: lots going on to keep me wanting to shove another forkful in my face, plenty nourishing, satisfying, and done in 20 minutes. You're going to 110% love!!

Behind the scenes of recipe testing

• Why the dressing works: It took some trial and error but my fave Italian dressing recipe has the ideal 2:1 ratio of oil to vinegar, the key to bright and balanced dressing. I loathe a salad that taste like oil; give me big, balanced flavor. It's also got plenty of ACV without being too sharp, Dijon, lots of spices, and honey to make a dressing good enough to drink.
• Keeping this quick: No one wants to spend an hour prepping a salad, preach. While this already comes together pretty quickly, to save time, you could buy bagged pre-washed lettuce and not give it an additional chop. Look for pre-cubed provolone in the deli section or even use a shredded pizza blend in a pinch.
• The soggy dilemma: If you dress this whole salad and don't eat it right away, yes it will get soggy. The iceberg is a non-negotiable in my humble opinion; it's what makes this salad classic and crave-worthy. But it also won't hold up for long covered in dressing. So only dress what you're eating and the rest will stay crisp!
• Cheese and pepperoncini: It was clear in testing that the salty, creamy, acidic combo of these two MAKE the salad. Do not skip them, it will be boring. You can definitely use banana peppers instead.

Let's make it!

Storing leftovers

Otherwise known as how to prevent the salad from becoming a soggy mess.

For a salad that stays perfectly fresh and crisp days later: mix the chickpeas, tomatoes, onion, pepperoncini, and cheese. Place in a big storage container and top with the iceberg and romaine. Tightly cover and refrigerate. Store dressing in a separate container.

When you're ready to eat, add however much of the salad mix you want to a mixing bowl. Toss with a bit of dressing (you can always add more later) and devour.

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