This Southern Cobb Salad recipe includes crispy chicken tenders (frozen!) and romaine lettuce, salty bacon, boiled eggs, fresh grape tomatoes and avocados, pecans, and cornbread croutons. The herby green goddess dressing brings all of the ingredients together.
If Cobb salads are about as American as apple pie, then this Southern Cobb Salad is...I don't even know what. Fried chicken? Salty pecans? Crunchy cornbread croutons? And then don't forget about all the typical Cobb salad ingredients.The amount of prep is worth it -- especially when you make it last two meals. All of the things that need to go into the oven, like the chicken tenders, cornbread croutons, and bacon can all go into the oven at the same time. That's a huge bonus in my book.
Let's make this Southern Cobb Salad no matter the season!
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email below, and I'll send it to you. Plus, you'll get delicious new recipes from me!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Worn Slap Out
Why This Southern Cobb Salad
- Uses all fresh, whole ingredients - Talk about a nutrient AND flavor-packed meal.
- Cook once, eat twice - This is my motto for all meals that are a bit prep intensive. Double the recipe so you will have leftovers for another dinner or lunches for the week.
- Easily customizable - While cobb salads typically contain the same basic ingredients, this one has a Southern flair. You do you though and use whatever you like.
- The green goddess dressing you'll want to drink straight from the jar - It's true. It's herby and healthy, and I could slurp this for breakfast.
- An entire meal-type-of-salad - I love a good entree salad that feels healthy yet filling. This fits the bill.
Another goodie in our arsenal is the Cosi signature salad, the copycat sweetgreen harvest bowl salad or another sweetgreen copycat of their chicken pesto parm salad (can you tell we each at sweetgreen a lot?). These three are in the regular rotation in our house year-round.
Jump to:
Ingredients & Salad Directions
There's a few ingredients, but the only things you really need to make are the chicken tenders (made from frozen chicken tenders -- YES! The ones you buy for your kids!), bacon (could also cheat here!), hard-boiled eggs (easy to make whiel you've got other stuff going on), and the cornbread croutons. The rest either requires light chopping or taking it out of the bag.
For the Salad:
- Romaine lettuce - Buy the pre-cut lettuce if you want to save time. Washing and drying lettuce is the pits in my book.
- Fried chicken tenders - Okay, this is absolutely a must to pop frozen chicken tenders into the oven that are already pre-cooked. Cut them up and no one will know you used Tyson's to complete your meal. If you prefer to make your own, try these baked buttermilk chicken tenders.
- Hard-boiled eggs - Place hard boiled eggs in a medium pan submerged in water. Place over medium-high heat. When the water begins to boil, set the timer for 10 minutes. Then rinse your eggs with cold water until cooled off. Peel and they're ready to go. I love making extras to eat for breakfast, too.
- Grape tomatoes - You could certainly use fresh summer tomatoes instead of the little grape tomatoes.
- Avocado - There's nothing I won't put avocados in these days, except dessert.
- Bacon - You can cheat and use bacon bits if you don't want to mess with making bacon. I always make lazy girl bacon in the oven so it's mess free.
- Pecans - What's a Southern version of a Cobb salad without pecans?
- Cornbread croutons - DO NOT PASS UP ON THE CORNBREAD CROUTONS. I repeat. Do not pass up on them. They add more crunch to the salad and make it feel...just special. The croutons really make this salad stand out.
For the Dressing
Don't let this list of ingredients scare you. You're basically getting a ton of fresh herbs and putting it all in a food processor.
- Greek yogurt - I prefer 0% fat because it's less thick than the other stuff
- Fresh herbs - This is where you can customize to your liking. Your goal is to get around a cup and a half of your favorite fresh herbs. I use a combination of cilantro, parsley, tarragon, mint, and dill. This is a lot but the flavor combination is unbelievable.
- Garlic - adds some zip to the dressing. Definitely don't skip!
- Lemon - Makes the dressing zesty and fresh.
- Salt + pepper - to taste
- Olive oil
How to Make Green Goddess Dressing
You've already wiped out all of the herbs in the produce section at your grocery store. Now it's time to combine everything in a food processor and make this bad boy! Isn't it the most beautiful green color?
- Step 1: Combine all of the ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor. Process until everything is chopped into tiny pieces.
- Step 2: Slowly add olive oil until you've reached your desired level of consistency.
If you can't find all the herbs, that's okay. Find whatever you can as long as you have about a cup and a half.
Wanna Make it Healthier?
There's not much that's unhealthy per se, but feel free to make some adjustments if you want to give your salad an extra healthy boost:
- Use turkey bacon instead of pork bacon - Turkey bacon is so much leaner than pork bacon. If you're trying to eat healthier, I highly recommend turkey bacon. It's quite a delicious substitute.
- Use grilled, baked or pan-seared chicken - I love my pan-seared chicken recipe for so many dinners. It's a great one to use if you don't want to use fried chicken. These buttermilk chicken tenders are also out of this world.
Storage
I recommend storing the salad ingredients separately in a airtight container or plastic bag. The ingredients tend to get soggy, especially the cornbread croutons. The avocado you'll also want to cut fresh for the next time.
More Salads & Soups
These salads and soups are also delicious for you to add to your repertoire!
Southern Favorites
If you loved the Southern twist to this Cobb salad, try these other Southern favorites of mine.
Southern Cobb Salad with Green Goddess Dressing
Ingredients
For the salad:
- Romaine lettuce
- fried chicken tenders your favorite frozen tenders will be perfect!
- ½ pound bacon cooked and chopped
- 4 eggs hard-boiled and chopped
- 1 cup grape tomatoes halved
- 1 avocado cut into ½" pieces
- ¼ cup pecans roughly chopped
- 2 cups cornbread croutons*
For the green goddess dressing:
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt I prefer 0% fat
- 1 ½ cups combination of fresh herbs like dill, parsley, cilantro, tarragon, mint, scallions
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- ½ lemon juiced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- fresh cracked black pepper
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or more depending on desired consistency
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375˚F. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil. Set aside.
- Add bacon to one baking tray and divide the second baking sheet for both the frozen chicken tenders and cornbread pieces. Cook chicken tenders according to the package directions but it should be around the same time as the cornbread croutons. Cook bacon for about 12 minutes, flip, then cook for another 12 until bacon is fully cooked and crispy. Allow bacon to cool.
- Meanwhile, in a medium pot, place eggs submerged under water. When the water starts boiling, set a timer for 10 minutes. Run eggs under cold water to cool off eggs. When they're cool, peel and chop.
- Cut avocado, grape tomatoes, pecans, bacon, and romaine lettuce.
For the dressing:
- Add all of the ingredients except for the olive oil to a food processsor. Process on high until the ingredients are finely chopped.
- Slowly add in the oil to your desired level of thickness. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Assemble all of the ingredients in the salad. Toss with the dressing or serve on the side. Enjoy!
Let Me Know What You Think!