Chef Salad with Creamy French Dressing makes for the perfect meal prep lunch or salad for dinner.
To me, a salad isn't a salad if there aren't a lot of components. I love piling on all the things, and this salad has all of the things.
Four protein sources: sliced creamy hard-boiled eggs, rolled and sliced savory ham and turkey lunchmeat, and shredded mozzarella cheese. A variety of vegetables: I like to use romaine lettuce, sliced cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and often chopped green bell pepper. Then, add to that a handful of homemade Gluten Free Croutons and a drizzle of Homemade Creamy French Dressing and you're ready to enjoy one of my favorite salad experiences.
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How To Make Gluten Free Croutons to pair with Chef Salad:
Gluten-Free Croutons use ingredients you most likely have in your pantry already. Not only that, but they are so delicious you'll be cursing yourself for not having made them sooner. Before making these, I hadn't eaten croutons in the entire five years I had been gluten-free.
I make croutons from Canyon Bakehouse's bread because their loaves are corn-free. However, if you have a recipe for homemade bread, you are more than welcome to try using that. Allow it to become stale for 24-48 hours or so and then follow my recipe as written.
How to Make Homemade Creamy French Dressing:
If you haven't made homemade French dressing before, believe me when I say it is a whole lot easier than you'd think. I strongly encourage you to make my homemade dressing, it tastes SO much better than store-bought. I will never go back.
Homemade salad dressings are always a win because;
- They are inexpensive. Skip paying $3-6 for a bottle of salad dressing and whip up some homemade using what you most likely already have at home.
- They taste so much better.
- They are of a higher quality because you control what goes in them. Store-bought French dressings often contain soybean oil instead of EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil), caramel color, preservatives, and strange thickening agents.
Tip: You can make the ingredients as healthy as you'd like. Try using Avocado oil instead of EVOO or an avocado-based or organic mayo. I always use organic ketchup because it's free of high-fructose corn syrup, as well as organic apple cider vinegar.
To Make:
- Roughly chop a small yellow onion.
- Add onion and the rest of the ingredients to a blender. Blend until smooth.
- Store in a mason jar in the refrigerator, for up to 3-4 days.
Notes on Chef Salad:
- For meal prep; hard boil the eggs at the same time as preparing the croutons. Then, whip up the dressing. From there, all you have to do is chop up the salad ingredients and fill your meal prep containers. Put all of the salad ingredients in the same container, except for the croutons and salad dressing. I like to put the croutons in a sandwich bag so they stay fresh and don't get soggy. I fill separate sauce containers with the dressing.
- If making it as a dinner salad; prepare the hard-boiled eggs, croutons, and salad dressing in the morning so all you have to do at dinner time is assemble the salads.
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Chef Salad with Homemade Creamy French Dressing
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Ingredients
For the Chef Salad:
- 3 hearts of romaine lettuce chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes
- 1 cucumber sliced thinly and then quartered
- 1 green bell pepper chopped
- 8 hard boiled eggs sliced
- 16 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1 lb oven-roasted turkey lunchmeat
- 1 lb ham lunchmeat (I typically use Black Forest or Honey Ham)
- batch of homemade croutons
For the Creamy French Dressing:
- ½ cup mayo (try organic or avocado oil-based mayo for added health)
- ½ cup organic ketchup
- ½ cup mild olive oil
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 small yellow onion roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
For the Creamy French Dressing:
- Roughly chop the onion. Add all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Store in a mason jar in the refrigerator until ready to be used.
For the Chef Salad:
- Prep: Hard boil eggs. Optional: Make Gluten Free Seasoned Croutons.
- Rinse and chop the romaine lettuce, cucumber, and green bell pepper. Roll up lunchmeat and slice. Slice hard-boiled eggs.
- To assemble salads: Lay a bed of romaine lettuce on a large plate. Then, lay rows of cherry tomatoes, cucumber, green bell pepper, sliced lunchmeat, sliced hard-boiled eggs, and shredded mozzarella cheese. Top with a handful of croutons. Drizzle with Homemade Creamy French Dressing.
- Enjoy!
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