Our Favorite Salad Recipe, All Dressed Up For Spring!
We took everything we love about Cobb salads—basically, the idea that they’re super hearty, and totally brimming with delicious things—and swapped some of the more classic Cobb salad ingredients for springtime counterparts. Cobb salad usually has avocado, tomatoes, blue cheese, chicken and a super creamy dressing—in our version, it’s a homemade buttermilk ranch. While we adore a Cobb salad, in the early days of spring, we also want to celebrate all of the produce that’s really good right now! And as we assembled all of that beautiful produce into a spring Cobb salad, we also felt like all that freshness and lightness demanded a lighter salad dressing! One that would enhance everything, but not risk overpowering these tender first vegetables of the growing season. The result? An absolute rainbow of a composed salad, that makes a stunning centerpiece for any meal—whether you’re celebrating or just having Tuesday dinner.
What Makes This Cobb Salad Recipe a Spring Cobb?
In short, some carefully selected Cobb salad ingredient swaps! A pass through the springtime farmers market was all the inspiration we needed. Some things are the same—a big bed of lettuce, hard-cooked eggs, avocado—because it is still worthy of the name “Cobb” after all. But other than that, here are the most notable swaps:
Instead of chicken, ALL the spring veggies! Asparagus, snap peas and radishes.
Instead of blue cheese, fresh goat cheese!
Instead of bacon, pancetta! Not all that different, but a little step up.
Instead of a heavy, creamy dressing, a fresh, light, honey-Dijon vinaigrette.
An Herby Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette, You Say?
Why yes we do say! We went a little nuts with this Cobb salad dressing recipe. Some people actually reach for a vinaigrette when dressing their classic Cobb salads, and while (as you know) we prefer ranch for a traditional Cobb, for this springtime salad recipe, we felt that something spritely was in order. Thanks to the goat cheese, pancetta, and eggs, the salad itself has enough heartiness to count as a good meal, and this light, herby dressing seems to just enhance and unify all of the elements. It really pulls the whole salad together, if you catch our drift. All you’ll do is blend this heavenly combination of ingredients together:
Olive oil
White balsamic
Lemon juice
Garlic clove
Dijon mustard
Basil
Mint
Honey
How To Make A Perfect Springy Cobb Salad
Because the ingredients are cold, and many of them raw, a composed salad is the absolute ideal make-ahead dinner. When it’s time to eat, just assemble and serve! Here’s how to make this springy Cobb salad recipe:
Make some hard-boiled eggs. They’ll keep in the fridge for up to seven days, so you can do this way ahead of time if you’d like!
Whip up a batch of dressing! It can be made up to two weeks ahead of time, too.
Fry the pancetta, then sauté the asparagus in the pancetta fat. After all, every dinner salad needs a little bit of indulgence to really satisfy!
Prep all the other veggies. Rinse the snap peas, crumble the goat cheese, slice the radishes and so on.
Assemble! Lay out a bed of lettuce, and top it with all of your gorgeous goodies and produce. Dress and serve.
Tools You’ll Need
More Dinner Salad Recipes to Try
Springtime Has Sprung!
And along with it, so many of our favorite vegetables! We hope you adore this seasonal Cobb salad recipe as much as we do. When you make it, let us know! Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!
