Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad
Truly the best Italian chopped salad recipe, with chopped fresh greens and veggies in a simple Italian vinaigrette. This salad is vegetarian (easily vegan).
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
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I have a challenge for you (and me) today. I challenge us all to start making a giant fresh salad on Sundays, so we can eat salad all week long.
Starting with this gigantic, colorful, dare-I-say the best Italian chopped salad. This Italian chopped salad recipe is bold, vibrant and truly irresistible. It’s the perfect accompaniment to your favorite Italian meal, and it’s also a nice hearty salad on its own.
When you have a really great salad in the fridge, you might even reach for it before you grab the bag of chips. Happened to me! I’ve enjoyed four iterations of this salad over the past couple of weeks (especially the final version you see here), and I’m still craving more.
The motivation behind this salad recipe came when I ordered an Italian chopped salad and a pricy Neapolitan pizza down the street. I requested the chopped salad without the bacon, and it was definitely missing that salty, savory, gimme-more edge without it. Crispy bacon is the only meat I ever miss…
The Best Italian Chopped Salad
I set out to create a better meatless Italian chopped salad, and here it is. You’ll find most of the usual ingredients, including crisp lettuce, radicchio, red onion, fresh tomatoes, pepperoncini peppers and provolone cheese. I tried a few other kinds of cheese, but it’s no wonder provolone is the most common—it’s the tastiest. That said, you could easily skip it for a delicious dairy-free/vegan salad.
You’ll find a few unexpected ingredients here that send this salad over the top. First up, chickpeas, which aren’t uncommon but make this salad more hearty. I also added celery for extra crunch, and sun-dried tomatoes for some extra oomph. The umami flavor in sun-dried tomatoes make up for the umami-rich pork that you usually find in Italian chopped salads.
Toss all of those ingredients in a bold, homemade Italian vinaigrette and you will have a seriously addictive salad. I’ve enjoyed smaller portions as a side or larger portions as a light meal.
Serving Suggestions for Chopped Italian Salad
This vibrant salad is the perfect accompaniment to Italian dishes, such as:
- Baked Ziti with Roasted Vegetables
- Italian Eggplant Parmesan
- Pasta alla Norma
- Pizza of any flavor
- Vegetable Lasagna
Watch How to Make Italian Salad
Please let me know how you like this recipe in the comments! Your feedback is so important to me.
Craving more big chopped salads? Don’t miss my Chopped Greek Salad, Colorful Chopped Salad with Carrot Ginger Dressing, Mexican Green Salad with Jalapeño-Cilantro Dressing or Fattoush Salad Recipe.
Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad
Truly the best Italian chopped salad recipe, with chopped fresh greens and veggies in a simple Italian vinaigrette. This salad is vegetarian and easily vegan. Recipe yields 6 to 8 side servings or 3 to 4 meal-sized servings (a lot). If you store the salad separately from the vinaigrette, it will keep well for up to 4 days.
Ingredients
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
- In a large serving bowl, combine the chopped lettuce, radicchio, onion, celery, cherry tomatoes, peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, chickpeas and cheese (if using). Toss the ingredients together and set aside.
- To prepare the dressing, combine all of the ingredients in a liquid measuring cup. Whisk until blended. Taste, and add more salt if the dressing doesn’t knock your socks off (I usually add one to two more pinches of salt).
- If you’ll be serving all of the salad at once, go ahead and drizzle enough dressing in to lightly coat the salad and toss to combine. I prefer to store the salad and dressing separately so I can enjoy salad for a few days. Just whisk the dressing again before drizzling (if the olive oil solidifies a bit in the refrigerator, don’t worry, that’s normal—just let it warm up for about 5 minutes at room temperature or microwave for 10 to 20 seconds).
Notes
Recipe inspired by the chopped salad at 1889 Pizza and created with reference to Smitten Kitchen and The Kitchn.
Make it dairy free/vegan: Omit the cheese! It’s still great without it. For a vegan dressing, substitute maple syrup for the honey.
*Romaine and radicchio notes: If you want to make this salad in a hurry, just buy two bags of chopped romaine/radicchio mix, and chop it into even smaller, bite-sized pieces. Radicchio is very bitter and can be hard to find, but I thought it added something special to this salad. If you hate it/can’t find it, skip it. If you adore it, feel free to use the whole head.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Kate. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. I did omit the garbanzo beans only bc we don’t care for the texture; added marinated artichokes & kalamata olives & swapped green leaf lettuce for the romaine (we don’t buy romaine any more because of all the recalls) & green leaf holds up to the dressing better. Our entire family lives the salad. Oh plus, instead of oregano in the dressing, I omit the salt & add 1 tsp of Good Seasons Dry Ital Dressing Mix. It adds zest & lasts in the ref a week! Love your site & your recipes!
You’re welcome! I’m glad you loved it.
Nice
This was very good and easy to make. Since I didn’t have red wine vinaigrette, I subbed it for balsamic vinaigrette which was just as good. Thank you for this delicious recipe.
You’re welcome, India!
Kate,
I love all the recipes I’ve tried of yours ..which is a lot of them! I make this salad often now, we can’t stop, and we never get tired of it. I love your baked ziti with roasted vegetables and your southwestern corn chowder just off the top of my head, oh and the granola bars with almonds and chocolate chips!! We’ve switched to a mainly plant based diet within the past few years and it has been fun and exciting to learn so many new recipes! I was so inspired I bought your cookbook for my daughters and my sister in law, they all love it!
Thanks!
I love that, Paula! Thank you for your review. I’m happy you are enjoying so many recipes.
Hello Kate,
My next salad that I prepared was the Vegetarian Italian Chopped Salad. It was my first time that I used radicchio. I loved it a lot especially the dressing along with it.
I truly love your recipes.
Thank you.
Take care.
Maby
Thank you, Maby! I’m glad to hear that.
THIS IS SO GOOD! We make this all the time at my house.
Wonderful to hear! Thank you for your review.
This was so good! A breeze to put together and as always the mix of your ingredients and dressings balanced so well. I found myself in a boring vegetarian meal rut a couple months ago and have been making an effort to try new recipes. I have been primarily relying on yours, and they consistently blow me away- healthy but tasty, and my meateater husband agrees. He just yelled from the living room “the salad’s really good!” It’s very apparent how much care you put into your recipes. Just wanted to drop a line and express my appreciation.
That’s fantastic! Thank you for sharing, Lyndsey.
Love your fresh, tasty and delish recipes! Can I omit the honey and still have dressing taste good?
Hi! The sweetness helps to balance out some of the tangy and bitterness. You can use maple syrup if you want.
Thank you for saving lunch! This has become our go to lunch option. Keeps beautifully in the fridge for 4-5 days. We add sliced mushrooms and red bell peppers. I’m vegetarian, but if I add a sliced grilled chicken breast my husband is perfectly happy. Seasoned croutons are a great addition.
I love that! Thank you for sharing your variation, Carol.
I made this salad tonight, with only one head of Romaine. Together with the dressing, it gave me renewed salad inspiration! I love salads packed with color and texture, and this is that kind of salad. It is such a big salad, even with one head, that I just packed it for lunch and we’ll have it again as part of dinner tomorrow. I’ve been making your recipes for a few years, always privately thanking you for your easy and delicious vegetarian meals-so today I am making it public: Thank you, Kate!
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Kerstin! Thank you for your review.
THis is a great recipe, especially the dressing. Our new go-to company salad!
I love that! Thank you for sharing, Tom.
This salad was a HUGE hit! I think I chopped everything too small but no one complained. One of our guests doesn’t usually like salad with dressing already on it and he went back twice! It was the perfect side dish to hubbies ham.
Its taste really good and easy to make
Thank you Kate
I’m happy you enjoyed it, Alma. I appreciate your review.
I purchased your cook book 2 weeks ago and have been making the recipes one after another. I love every single one of them. That just doesn’t happen in cookbooks. Your recipes are simple, with not a lot of ingredients that aren’t common and most of all….taste delicious!
I am going to make this salad and do make my own dressing because I am allergic to mustard. Do you have any suggestions on what to substitute for the mustard in the dressing? I have learned it’s an emulsifier so it won’t bind it together
Thanks!
I love that! Thank you for your support and excited you are enjoying it so much already. For mustard, I don’t have a great alternative without changing the recipe some. You could try mayo, as it does offer some tang and creaminess. Let me know what you think!
This sounds wonderful, but as a meat eater, I’d love to incorporate bacon. What would you recommend I take out (if anything) to add bacon? Thanks!
Thank you for this recipe. I made this salad for a graduation party luncheon. It tasted so very good. Easy to put together and lovely to look at. I omitted the honey and cheese to make it vegan-friendly. Just now made it again to enjoy for my own lunch!
Hi. I made this before and loved it. I just was curious what you thought of roasting the chickpeas? I love them both ways so just curious
I think that could give a nice texture to it! Let me know what you think, Cindy.
Delicious! It does take a lot of time to prep all of the ingredients, but it’s well worth it.
I’m happy you find that it’s worth it! Thank you for your review.
The family gobbled this up! We especially liked the dressing, but something about the combination of veggies moved this salad up to being worth all the chopping. (I’m usually a one or two ingredient ‘salad’ because I’m in a hurry or too hungry to wait.) I figure it will be requested for holiday meals.
Making it tonight for the fam and serving w garlic bread!
We make this all the time. The whole family loves it!!!
This was incredibly flavorful and so delicious!!! It was perfect for our dinner party! This is a saved recipe to make over and over again! I made it exactly as you published! Thank you! ⭐️ ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
You’re welcome, Rach! Thank you for your review.
Came across this entirely by accident. The combination of ingredients and the dressing are both winners. Yum! Thanks.
This salad is fantastic! I made it exactly as the recipe stated and added a bit more salt to the dressing, as suggested. The dressing is excellent…such good flavor. I will make it again but this time will try it without making a chopped salad since a certain member of my household likes a salad to be leafy: thin red onion rings, halved cherry tomatoes, sliced celery, etc. Thank you, Kate! Am craving this again already.
I’m glad you enjoyed this salad as is, JJ. I appreciate you sharing how you made it.
Hi Kate, I made this salad again as a regular tossed salad rather than chopping most ingredients and my husband loved it. For this recipe, I prefer chopped, he prefers bigger ingredients. Go figure! Anyway, it was again delicious and I am happy to have portioned out 4 more servings for more tasty lunches this week. I’ve made many of your recipes, all excellent. Our dinner tonight is your Thai Red Curry with Vegetables, third time we’ve enjoyed it. Thank you so much for your recipes and your inspiration! Sincerely, your fan JJ
I’m glad you bot enjoyed it! I appreciate your review, JJ.
I agree with everyone else – this is a wonderful recipe! It’s not complicated, but I wouldn’t have thought about making a vegetarian chopped salad … and it was so tasty! I especially liked the red wine vinaigrette recipe. The only change I made was skipping the radicchio and red onion and adding more pepperoncini peppers. This is definitely going in our lunch rotation and I love that you can make it in advance and just put the dressing on later – thank you for posting!
Thank you, Carolynn! I’m excited you enjoyed it.
I make this every Christmas Eve for my family and serve it with Lasagna. This is one of the few salads my husband really likes. I don’t add the chickpeas (not a fan) and if I don’t have provolone cheese I use fresh mozzarella. I sometimes have trouble finding Radicchio, so I use red cabbage. Not quite the same but it works okay. The dressing is perfect for this salad.
I love to have some left so I can have it again the next day.
That sounds like a delicious combination! Thanks for sharing, Janie.
I’m just here to say that this dressing is just amazing! The salad is good, I did leave a few things out that I don’t love, but the dressing is my favorite part!
I’m delighted you loved it, Jamie! I appreciate your review.
Such a great salad! The addition of the sun dried tomatoes really makes it fantastic! I have eaten this salad 3 dinners in a row – that is how much I like it! And that dressing!!! OMG! Thank you so much!!
You’re welcome, Patricia! I appreciate your review.
This is my dream salad! I make it all the time. Great for weekly meal prep. I sometimes add leftover chicken to it. Full of yummy goodness – crunchy, chewy, salty, sweet…..and the dressing is perfection! Thank you Kate (& Cookie!) for this incredible recipe :)
I’m glad you love it, Debbie! Thank you for sharing.
Adore this salad!
Great to hear, Lizzie!
This was absolutely delicious!!! Lots of chopping but it makes a ton and I am so excited to have this for a couple of days!
Great to hear, Kathy!
This makes a bounty of a salad. I think I need a new salad serving bowl for it…. perfect salad. Again, another yummy one :D
A fantastic and versatile salad. This makes A LOT of salad. I will be serving it at a party this evening and feel like it will easily serve 12 people as a side item on a potluck plate.
Ingredient changes: added bell pepper and artichoke hearts, omitted chickpeas based on what I had on hand. Think the original ingredients would be amazing as well.
Dressing: Phenomenal! I added some fresh dill and basil because I needed to get through it and touch more sugar.
After a lifetime of whisking salad dressings I used an immersion blender, which really brought this together. I am excited and proud to bring this to my event this evening. It really is a spectacular salad.
It does make a lot of salad! Thank you for sharing how you made this. I appreciate your review!
Really delicious! I added pepperoni for my husband and that made him happy. The dressing was great, too. I served them separately so we could have leftovers another day.
I keep forgetting to leave a comment, but I just have to say: WOW. I’m not a huge salad person but I eat this pretty much every single week (sometimes twice in one!). My entire family loves it — super customizable and the dressing is simply delicious. Thank you for sharing!
Love to hear that, Ida! Thank you for your review.
Love it! One of my favorite salads to make for company when I’m having something Italian. I’m an olive lover so I always throw them in- green and black. And depending on what else I’m serving or who the company is, I will add some choppped salami but it’s absolutely delicious without meat.
Another delicious recipe! Love the addition of the radicchio and the bit of heat from the thinly sliced peppers. You are my go-to when I need a recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Just finished making this for the third time and still have plenty of dressing left over.
It’s my new favorite salad. Thank you for another delicious recipe!
I’m glad you loved it, Stacey!
I just made the chopped italian salad for a pot luck. It was a hit! I loved the dressing too.
I have been looking for a vegetarian cookbook and yours is the one for me. I just ordered it. It comes tomorrow. Yay!
My friend came to the pot luck and I just found out she got her quinoa salad from cookie and Kate recipe on line. It was delicious.
I also like reading the comments and how people ad or subtract things
Thank you!
Thank you for sharing, Leslie!
I love so many of your reciepies. Thanks so much for your creativity.
With regards to salad dressings…I the look of the dressing for the vegetarian Italian chop salad.
Question though…I am not a fan of dijon mustard (although I love a prepared mustard on a sandwich). Have never got my head around dijon. Would you just leave it out of the recipe or would you substitute with something else?
You could leave it out, although I find it provides a great flavor and doesn’t taste too mustardy.
I made this salad yesterday for a 4th of July gathering and received many compliments. The dressing is amazing. I blended and it Turned out very creamy. My son loved it. Thank you so much for so many delicious recipes.
That’s great to hear, Ysabel! Thank you for your review.
Love your recipes and beautiful cookbook!
Thoughts about substituting cannellini or northern beans for the chickpeas?
Thanks!
You could try it! Let me know what you think.
Another great Cookie and Kate recipe! This has amazing flavor and you could easily eat this as a dinner on its own. Not hard to make and a lot of the ingredients are things we had on hand already.
Made it, loved it! I’m not a vegetarian so I added some real bacon bits. I loved the dressing as well and feel great I can make a homemade dressing!! It’s going to be my “go to”.