Description
A vibrant and flavorful Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad featuring a mix of chopped romaine, radicchio, chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, and provolone cheese, tossed with a tangy Italian vinaigrette.
Ingredients
Scale
Salad:
- 10 ounces chopped romaine lettuce (about 2 medium or 3 small heads, chopped)
- ½ medium head of radicchio, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
- ½ medium red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced
- ⅓ cup stemmed and thinly sliced pickled pepperoncini peppers
- ⅓ cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, rinsed and roughly chopped
- 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, rinsed and drained, or 1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas
- 1 cup (4 ounces) ¼″ cubes of provolone cheese (optional)
Italian vinaigrette:
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- ⅓ 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
- ¼ teaspoon salt, more to taste
- Pinch of red pepper flakes, for heat (optional)
Instructions
- Prepare the Salad Ingredients: Chop the romaine lettuce, radicchio, red onion, and celery into bite-sized pieces. Thinly slice the cherry tomatoes, pepperoncini peppers, and rinse and roughly chop the sun-dried tomatoes. Drain and rinse the chickpeas if using canned. Cube the provolone cheese into ¼ inch pieces if using.
- Make the Italian Vinaigrette: In a small bowl or jar, whisk together the extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, dried oregano, honey, pressed or minced garlic, freshly ground black pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes if using. Adjust seasoning to taste.
- Toss the Salad: In a large bowl, combine chopped romaine, radicchio, red onion, celery, cherry tomatoes, pepperoncini, sun-dried tomatoes, and chickpeas. Pour the Italian vinaigrette over the salad and toss well to evenly coat.
- Add Cheese and Serve: Gently fold in the provolone cheese cubes if using. Serve the salad immediately as a side dish or chilled for enhanced flavors.
Notes
- Make it dairy free/vegan by omitting the cheese and substituting maple syrup for honey in the vinaigrette.
- If short on time, use a pre-chopped romaine and radicchio mix and chop further into bite-sized pieces.
- Radicchio adds a slightly bitter note, so if unavailable or disliked, feel free to omit it.
- The salad is inspired by 1889 Pizza and adapted with influences from Smitten Kitchen and The Kitchn.
