Chef Salad
992kcal61.1g protein74.1g fat22.5g carbs*Estimates computed from the ingredient list; cost uses average US supermarket prices. Not a substitute for packaging measurements or your receipt.
Contains dairy, egg · sometimes contains soy — check the label · only in an optional ingredient: gluten
Restrictions
Containsdairy · eggIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.
Sometimes contains — check the labelsoy (dressing, thousand island)Some brands have it, some do not. The recipe cannot tell, so this is the one you check yourself.
Only if you add itgluten (bread)Leave that ingredient out and the dish does not have it.
Diets
No alcohol
Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.
Ingredients
Servings:
| 8 cup | romaine and iceberg lettuce (torn, washed, dried thoroughly) |
| 4 oz | ham (thick-cut, julienned) |
| 4 oz | turkey breast (thick-cut, julienned) |
| 4 oz | swiss cheese (julienned) |
| 4 unit | eggs (hard-cooked, quartered) |
| 2 unit | tomato (cut in wedges) |
| 1 unit | cucumber (halved and sliced) |
| ¼ cup | red onion (sliced paper-thin) |
| 6 tbsp | olive oil |
| 2 tbsp | red wine vinegar |
| 1 tsp | mustard (dijon-style) |
| ½ tsp | salt |
| ¼ tsp | black pepper (freshly ground) |
Optional
Not counted above. The dish works without them.
| 4 oz | roast beef (julienned) |
| 3 slice | bacon (cooked, crumbled) |
| 4 oz | cheddar cheese (julienned) |
| 1 unit | avocado (sliced) |
| 4 unit | radish (thinly sliced) |
| 2 slice | bread (cubed, toasted into croutons) |
| ¾ cup | ranch dressing |
| ¾ cup | thousand island dressing |
| 2 oz | blue cheese (crumbled into the dressing) |
Steps
- boil12 mingentle boil, then ice batheggs lowered into already-boiling water for 10 minutes, then chilled hard in ice water — the ice bath stops the yolk short of chalky grey and contracts the white away from the shell so the quarters peel clean and hold their shape on the plate
- prep5 mincold, bone drylettuce washed in cold water, then spun or towel-blotted until no water beads on the leaves — surface water is the single biggest failure point in a composed salad: it dilutes the dressing, refuses to let it cling, and turns the bottom of the bowl into broth within minutes
- slice8 minuniform, fork-friendlyham + turkey + swiss cut into matchsticks of the same thickness, cucumber halved and sliced, tomato in wedges, onion shaved paper-thin — uniform cuts are not decoration, they are what lets one forkful carry greens, meat, cheese and vegetable at once instead of a single dominating chunk; thick onion slices are the usual offender that takes over the bite
- whisk2 minemulsifiedred wine vinegar + mustard + salt + pepper whisked first, then olive oil added in a thin stream — the mustard holds the emulsion together so the acid distributes evenly instead of hitting a few leaves as raw vinegar = vinaigrette
- season1 mingreens only, lightlylettuce tossed with about a third of the vinaigrette in the serving bowl and tasted — seasoning the greens themselves, before the toppings land, is why a chef salad reads as a dish rather than cold cuts on a bed of leaves
- top3 mincold, composeddressed greens + rows or spokes of ham, turkey and swiss + egg quarters, tomato wedges, cucumber and onion arranged in the gaps, remaining vinaigrette served on the side — serve within a few minutes of assembly; the salt already on the greens starts pulling water out of the lettuce and tomato, so a salad that waits on the counter goes limp even if the greens were dried perfectly