I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve gone out for lunch just because I was craving this salad. Inspired by my deep love for the simple house chop served at Harvest Pizza, it was way past time for me to figure out how to make their salad at home.
Crunchy greens, tangy pepperoncini, and hearty chickpeas are tossed with a sweet Italian dressing and then sprinkled with crumbles of creamy cheese to recreate Harvest’s House Chop Salad.
The base flavor for this salad is the sweet Italian dressing. It’s a smooth, sweet cousin to the zesty Italian dressing that is a staple in my kitchen. It’s bright, sweet, and tangy with lemon, Dijon, and garlic flavors in each bite and just a tiny hint of heat from the red pepper.
I’m thrilled to tell you that this salad is a spot-on match for the salad we enjoy so much at Harvest Pizza. And I’m able to make it every day at home now. It feels a bit like my salad-loving heart has found an early Christmas present.
The idea behind the popular chopped salads is that each bite will include a little bit of everything, with no need to cut anything further while eating. The key to a great chopped salad is to cut, slice, or chop every ingredient roughly the same size. The greens are usually cut to approximately the same size as the other ingredients.
In this particular salad’s case, the greens aren’t cut quite as small as the chickpeas, but they’re cut small enough to be bite-sized and easily combined with the other ingredients in a simple forkful.
My family goes a bit crazy over chopped salads, and when I serve one, they often comment on how great it is to have a bit of each flavor in every bite. One of my boys insists on eating his chopped salads with a spoon, and seeing him do so never fails to make me laugh.
I’m willing to bet that after your first bite, you’ll agree that it is well worth the few minutes of extra effort to chop things small for this salad. And if you want a shortcut to salad happiness, check out this salad chopping bowl. I rarely pick up single-task kitchen tools, but this salad chopper has been making me grin for a few weeks now.
Before tasting this salad a few years ago, I’d never even heard of ricotta salata. I actually googled it as one of the salad ingredients when I first saw it on the menu. I had no idea then, just how much I’d grow to love this particular cheese.
While regular ricotta is a soft, spreadable cheese, ricotta salata has a crumbly, sliceable texture and a slightly sharper, salty flavor. It has a clean, creamy taste, somewhere in between feta and Parmesan, but much more subtle and delicate. I absolutely love this new-to-me cheese, and I top all of my salads with it whenever it’s in the house.
Unfortunately, this less-than-common cheese can be a bit tricky to find. I’ve had the best luck simply asking for it, repeatedly, at different stores. It’s almost always available at Whole Foods, though, so I’ll run in just to pick up a bit of the cheese when we are nearby.
If you can’t find ricotta salata, don’t stress it too much. I’ve also made this salad with crumbled goat cheese and with crumbled feta, and it was a hit with both cheeses. It would also be great with freshly shredded Parmesan if that is your easiest option.
When making this salad in advance (and you know how much I love having salads on hand for easy lunches), I prep and store the lettuce and cabbage (or radicchio) in an airtight bag or container with a paper towel. The greens will stay fresh this way for several days.
The marinated chickpeas will keep nicely in the fridge for up to a week. Just add them to the salad along with a bit of the dressing from the jar when ready to serve.
If you find radicchio a little too bitter for your taste, red cabbage makes a great substitute. Red cabbage offers a similar crunch and beautiful color, with a milder, slightly sweet flavor that works well in salads. It’s an easy swap that keeps the look and texture of your dish.
Radicchio has a bold, distinctive flavor that’s both sharply bitter and slightly spicy, with a hint of nuttiness. Radicchio can really wake up a dish with its punchy flavor, but if you are leery of it, red cabbage is a terrific choice in its place. My boys aren’t the biggest fans of radicchio, so I usually make this with red cabbage for my family.
The ultimate Chopped Salad combines crunchy bacon, garlicky shrimp, ripe avocado, juicy tomatoes, sweet corn, and creamy cheese, along with a generous handful of fresh parsley to brighten all of the flavors.
It isn’t often that a salad manages to qualify as a full meal for my crew, but this Italian chopped salad checks all the boxes for us, with plenty of meat and cheese, crunchy fresh vegetables, tangy olives and pepperoncini, tossed in a zesty Italian dressing.
As soon as I tasted an Italian Grinder Sandwich, I knew that a grinder-inspired salad needed to happen. The tangy slaw mixture topping the sandwiches was my favorite part, so I wanted to make the most of that flavor combination in a loaded salad. Luckily, I had plenty of extra ingredients on hand, so I was able to make this Italian Grinder Salad the very next day. The whole family gave it two thumbs up
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