Cobb Salad
American salad in neat rows with chicken, bacon, egg, avocado and blue cheese.
- Preparation
- 30 min
- Cook/bake time
- 20 min
- Total
- 50 min
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Calories
- 826 kcal
- Servings
- 4
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cooking & baking
- 20 min
American salad in neat rows with chicken, bacon, egg, avocado and blue cheese. The striped arrangement is part of the recipe and not just decoration, because everyone should be able to put together the components themselves. A salad that passes as a full meal.
Why this works
When rendering bacon, two things remain in the pan: liquid fat and the dark roasted particles created during browning. Both are pure flavor carriers, and since flavor compounds are predominantly fat-soluble, this transfers directly to the chicken. The row arrangement has a practical reason. Each component has its own texture, and if mixed, the avocado and blue cheese would coat everything else within minutes.
Step-by-step instructions
- 1
Boil the eggs
Boil the eggs for eight minutes, rinse them in cold water and peel them. Eight minutes yields a firm egg white with a still slightly creamy yolk center, which provides additional binding when mixed with the dressing. Completely hard-boiled yolks, on the other hand, become mealy and dry.
- 2
Bacon and chicken
Fry the bacon in a pan until crispy and let it drain on paper towels. Season the chicken breast with salt and pepper and fry it in the rendered bacon fat for six minutes per side until cooked through. Let it rest for five minutes and only then cut it into strips.
- 3
Shake the dressing
Put the red wine vinegar, mustard, garlic, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper in a screw-top jar and shake everything vigorously. Then add the olive oil and shake again for twenty seconds until the dressing visibly emulsifies into a creamy consistency. This works much better in a jar than in a bowl.
- 4
Arrange the salad
Spread the lettuce strips as a bed on a large flat platter. Arrange the chicken, bacon, quartered eggs, avocado, tomatoes and blue cheese on top in clearly separated, parallel strips. This arrangement is part of the identity of the Cobb Salad and makes it a visual eye-catcher.
- 5
Serve
Scatter the scallions over everything and serve the dressing separately in a small jug. This keeps the salad on the platter crisp and each guest can dose as they please. Everything is only mixed at the table, then it is no longer a striped picture, but a meal.
Our best tips
- Fry the chicken in the bacon fat. This costs nothing extra and brings significantly more flavor.
- Serve the dressing separately, then the salad will remain crisp even as leftovers the next day.
- Strips instead of a mixed salad. This is not styling for the Cobb Salad, but the classic way of serving.
Tasty variations
Without blue cheese
Replace with feta or grated cheddar if blue cheese is too strong.
With shrimp
Use 400 g of fried shrimp instead of chicken, this makes the salad lighter.
Nutrition facts
| Calories | 826 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 53 g |
| Carbohydrates | 7 g |
| – of which sugar | 4 g |
| Fat | 63 g |
| Fiber | 8 g |
Where the 826 kcal come from
per serving
Calculated from the ingredients – how we do it
We add up reference values for every ingredient and divide by the number of servings. These assumptions are baked in:
- Reference values per 100 g – for the raw ingredient, exactly as listed.
- Tinned goods count at drained weight, bone-in meat at purchase weight: you eat about 70 per cent of a chicken thigh and leave the rest.
- Water evaporates as you cook. The energy stays in the pot, the weight does not – so the figure is per serving, not per 100 g of finished dish.
- Anything listed without a quantity – “salt and pepper” – is not counted.
A guide value, not a lab measurement: no two onions weigh the same, and fat content varies from pack to pack.
Frequently asked questions
Where does the name come from?
The salad was invented in the 1930s at the Brown Derby in Hollywood, supposedly by owner Robert Cobb from leftovers.
Can I prepare it in advance?
All components yes, up to two days separately in the refrigerator. Only dice the avocado shortly before serving and drizzle with lemon.
What is the classic dressing?
A robust red wine vinaigrette, not the creamy ranch dressing that many restaurants now use.
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