Description
A fresh and flavorful Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad featuring romaine, radicchio, chickpeas, sun-dried tomatoes, and provolone cheese, tossed in a zesty homemade Italian vinaigrette. Perfect as a side dish for any meal and easy to customize for vegan diets.
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 Vegetables: Wash and chop the romaine lettuce and radicchio into bite-sized pieces. Finely chop the radicchio, chop the red onion and celery, and thinly slice the cherry tomatoes and pickled pepperoncini peppers.
- Rinse and Drain Chickpeas: Rinse the canned chickpeas thoroughly under cold water and drain well to remove excess liquid.
- Prepare Sun-dried Tomatoes: Rinse the oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes to remove excess oil and roughly chop them into smaller pieces.
- Make the Italian Vinaigrette: In a small bowl, whisk together the extra-virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, dried oregano, honey, pressed garlic, black pepper, salt, and optional red pepper flakes until emulsified.
- Combine Salad Ingredients: In a large salad bowl, combine the chopped romaine, radicchio, red onion, celery, cherry tomatoes, pepperoncini peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas, and provolone cheese cubes if using.
- Toss Salad with Dressing: Pour the Italian vinaigrette over the salad and toss gently but thoroughly to ensure all ingredients are well coated with the dressing.
- Serve: Serve immediately as a side salad or refrigerate briefly to allow flavors to meld before serving.
Notes
- To make the salad vegan and dairy-free, omit the provolone cheese and substitute maple syrup for the honey in the dressing.
- If short on time, use a pre-packaged romaine and radicchio mix and chop it into smaller pieces for faster prep.
- Radicchio adds a slightly bitter flavor that enhances the salad; if unavailable or disliked, it can be omitted.
- Adjust salt and spice levels in the dressing to taste, especially if using pepperoncini peppers.
- For extra protein, use cooked chickpeas if preferred over canned.
Nutrition
- Calories: 345 kcal
- Sugar: 6 g
- Sodium: 450 mg
- Fat: 25 g
- Saturated Fat: 5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 18 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 25 g
- Fiber: 6 g
- Protein: 10 g
- Cholesterol: 5 mg
