Grilled Cobb Salad
Why stop at Cobb?
Cobb salad is generally characterized by throwing in a ton of fresh veggies, cheese, ham and chicken and a boiled egg… this isn’t far off! If you like a feast in one plate, you’ll love a good Cobb Salad. With a couple of minor substitutions and changes and you’ve got an amazing grilled cobb salad for the win!
Jump to RecipeThe kitchen sink of salads
Traditionally, the cobb salad is a chopped salad featuring a base of lettuce, tomato, bell peppers and red onion. Topped with chicken, bacon, avocado and hard-boiled egg and blue cheese, this is the mother of all beast salads. Next, a red wine or balsamic vinaigrette dressing add some tang and, finally, salt and pepper round it out with a light topper of green onion or parsley to garnish.
I love the concept of adding [whatever you want] (partially why I cook so many stir-frys (try this one!) when cooking Asian-style) and this Grilled Cobb Salad creation is no exception.
Easy additions and modifications
Not only did I grill almost everything (even including carrots), I subbed out cucumber for grilled zucchini (same look, different feel!) and grill some leeks in lieu of green onion.
This was a spur of the moment creation one summer Friday night and I’ve made it several times since.
Here’s a quick breakdown
Grilled:
- Chicken breast
- Zucchini
- Bell Pepper (yellow and red)
- Red Onion
- Cremini Mushroom
- Jalapeno
- Leeks
- Shredded carrots
- Cheddar chips
- Grilled Avocado
Stove:
- Bacon
- Boiled Egg
Fresh:
- Olives
- Green Lettuce
- Cheese
- Shredded perilla leaves
But…. grill whatever you like! Add whatever you like! Take whatever you like! As long as you love it, you’ll love it.
Grilled Cobb Salad
Equipment
- Fire Grill/BBQ
Ingredients
Grilled
- Chicken breast
- Zucchini
- Bell Pepper (yellow and red) wrapped
- Red Onion
- Jalapeno
- Leeks
- Shredded carrots wrapped
- Grilled Avocado
- White or brown mushroom sliced, wrapped
- Cheddar chips shredded cheese, melted to crisp on grill
- Tomato steaks fresh or grilled
Stovetop
- Bacon
- Boiled Egg
Fresh
- Olives Green, Black, Kalamata
- Lettuce
- Tomato grilled or fresh
- Cheese usually blue cheese, I used shredded cheddar
- Shredded perilla or basil leaves
Dressing
- 1 tbsp Olive oil
- 1 tbsp vinegar balsamic, red-wine, apple cider (whichever you prefer)
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- ¼ tsp garlic powder (optional)
- ¼ tsp cayenne (optional)
Instructions
On the Grill
- Preheat and clean your grill.
- Wrap mushroom and bell peppers (together or separately). Any other grilled ingredients can be done directly on the grill.
- Each ingredient will have slightly different cook time, so keep a close eye on things and remove when required. Ultimately, you'll likely be serving this salad cold, so don't worry about if the ingredients are sitting around after pulling them off the grill.
Stovetop
- Cook crisp bacon. This can be done well beforehand.
- Boil egg to desired cook level. For a hard boiled egg, cook time will range from 9-12 minutes.
Assembly
- On a bed of lettuce and other fresh ingredients, prepare salad with desired presentation. Artsy it up if you want to, or just dump it in.
- Mix or drizzle dressing over salad ingredients.
- Top with sliced boiled egg, sliced chicken, crunchy bacon bits and cheese.
ENJOY!
It’s not magic…it’s cooking!
Here’s the thing. I made this up on day, so there’s no magic to this! I hear so often, many of my friends, saying that they can’t cook some dish because they don’t have the exact right ingredients. We’re all grown-ups… use your brain! I mean, you can’t make tomato pasta sauce without tomato, but you can make pasta with a non-tomato, right? So, use this on salad! And that’s the beauty of salad… it’s whatever you want it to be. So play with with one!
Other hints:
Cook time – each ingredient on the grill will have slightly different cook time, so keep a close eye on things and remove when required. Ultimately, you’ll likely be serving this salad cold, so don’t worry about if the ingredients are sitting around after pulling them off the grill.
Serve it cold – chicken and other grilled veg aren’t bad in cold salad, but of course you’re not likely to have the hot stuff placed directly onto your fresh lettuce – that will wilt everything and if you want it to look like a restaurant dish, you gotta believe it will be a restaurant dish!
Let us know how this turns out for you!
Any family secrets? Any stories?
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Looking forward to your comments on how you make this at home too.
Have an awesome grilling day!
Enjoy food; enjoy life. – HCF