Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad
Truly the best Italian chopped salad recipe, with chopped fresh greens and veggies in a simple Italian vinaigrette. This salad is vegetarian (easily vegan).
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
I have a challenge for you (and me) today. I challenge us all to start making a giant fresh salad on Sundays, so we can eat salad all week long.
Starting with this gigantic, colorful, dare-I-say the best Italian chopped salad. This Italian chopped salad recipe is bold, vibrant and truly irresistible. Itโs the perfect accompaniment to your favorite Italian meal, and itโs also a nice hearty salad on its own.
When you have a really great salad in the fridge, you might even reach for it before you grab the bag of chips. Happened to me! Iโve enjoyed four iterations of this salad over the past couple of weeks (especially the final version you see here), and Iโm still craving more.
The motivation behind this salad recipe came when I ordered an Italian chopped salad and a pricy Neapolitan pizza down the street. I requested the chopped salad without the bacon, and it was definitely missing that salty, savory, gimme-more edge without it. Crispy bacon is the only meat I ever missโฆ
The Best Italian Chopped Salad
I set out to create a better meatless Italian chopped salad, and here it is. Youโll find most of the usual ingredients, including crisp lettuce, radicchio, red onion, fresh tomatoes, pepperoncini peppers and provolone cheese. I tried a few other kinds of cheese, but itโs no wonder provolone is the most commonโitโs the tastiest. That said, you could easily skip it for a delicious dairy-free/vegan salad.
Youโll find a few unexpected ingredients here that send this salad over the top. First up, chickpeas, which arenโt uncommon but make this salad more hearty. I also added celery for extra crunch, and sun-dried tomatoes for some extra oomph. The umami flavor in sun-dried tomatoes make up for the umami-rich pork that you usually find in Italian chopped salads.
Toss all of those ingredients in a bold, homemade Italian vinaigrette and you will have a seriously addictive salad. Iโve enjoyed smaller portions as a side or larger portions as a light meal.
Serving Suggestions for Chopped Italian Salad
This vibrant salad is the perfect accompaniment to Italian dishes, such as:
- Baked Ziti with Roasted Vegetables
- Italian Eggplant Parmesan
- Pasta alla Norma
- Pizza of any flavor
- Vegetable Lasagna
Watch How to Make Italian Salad
Please let me know how you like this recipe in the comments! Your feedback is so important to me.
Craving more big chopped salads? Donโt miss my Chopped Greek Salad, Colorful Chopped Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing,ย Mexican Green Salad with Jalapeรฑo-Cilantro Dressing or Fattoush Salad Recipe.
Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad
Truly the best Italian chopped salad recipe, with chopped fresh greens and veggies in a simple Italian vinaigrette. This salad is vegetarian and easily vegan. Recipe yields 6 to 8 side servings or 3 to 4 meal-sized servings (a lot). If you store the salad separately from the vinaigrette, it will keep well for up to 4 days.
Ingredients
Salad
- 10 ounces chopped romaine lettuce* (about 2 medium or 3 small heads, chopped)
- ยฝ medium head of radicchio*, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
- ยฝ medium red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
- โ cup stemmed and thinly sliced pickled pepperoncini peppers
- โ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and roughly chopped
- 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1 ยฝ cups cooked chickpeas
- 1 cup (4 ounces) ยผโณ cubes of provolone cheese (optional)
Italian vinaigrette
- โ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- โ cup red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 2 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 10 twists freshly ground black pepper
- ยผ teaspoon salt, more to taste
- Pinch of red pepper flakes, for heat (optional)
Instructions
- In a large serving bowl, combine the chopped lettuce, radicchio, onion, celery, cherry tomatoes, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas and cheese (if using). Toss the ingredients together and set aside.
- To prepare the dressing, combine all of the ingredients in a liquid measuring cup. Whisk until blended. Taste, and add more salt if the dressing doesnโt knock your socks off (I usually add one to two more pinches of salt).
- If youโll be serving all of the salad at once, go ahead and drizzle enough dressing in to lightly coat the salad and toss to combine. I prefer to store the salad and dressing separately so I can enjoy salad for a few days. Just whisk the dressing again before drizzling (if the olive oil solidifies a bit in the refrigerator, donโt worry, thatโs normalโjust let it warm up for about 5 minutes at room temperature or microwave for 10 to 20 seconds).
Notes
Recipe inspired by the chopped salad at 1889 Pizza and created with reference to Smitten Kitchen and The Kitchn.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Omit the cheese! Itโs still great without it. For a vegan dressing, substitute maple syrup for the honey.
*Romaine and radicchio notes: If you want to make this salad in a hurry, buy two bags of chopped romaine/radicchio mix, and chop it into even smaller, bite-sized pieces. Radicchio is very bitter and can be hard to find, but I thought it added something special to this salad. If you hate it/canโt find it, skip it. If you adore it, feel free to use the whole head.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionistโs advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hello! You mentioned that this will last all week. Do you separate any of your veggies to make it last without getting soggy or mushy?
Hi Erica, If you store the salad separately from the vinaigrette, it will keep well for up to 4 days. If you want to extend that, separating the sun-dried tomatoes and pepperocinis and adding them as you serve should extend the vegetables a bit longer.