Cobb salad

Name: Cobb salad
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 50 min
Yield: 4 plates
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 0.5 piece Iceberg lettuce, finely chopped; 1 piece Lettuce, romaine heart, finely chopped; 1 bunch Watercress, tough stems removed, chopped; 450 g Chicken, boneless skinless breasts; 6 piece Bacon, rashers of smoked streaky bacon; 3 piece Egg; 2 piece Avocado, ripe, diced at the last minute; 2 medium Tomato, seeded and diced; 100 g Gorgonzola, or Roquefort, crumbled; 2 tbsp Chives, finely chopped; 60 ml Red wine vinegar; 1 tbsp Lemon juice; 1 tsp Dijon mustard; 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce; 1 clove Garlic, finely grated; 0.5 tsp Sugar; 1 tsp Salt, plus more for the chicken water; 0.5 tsp Black pepper; 120 ml Olive oil, or half neutral oil

Chopped lettuce and watercress laid out in rows with chicken, bacon, egg, avocado, tomato and blue cheese, dressed in a sharp red wine vinaigrette.

Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen.

Start cooking

Prep: 30 min
Cook: 20 min
Rest: None
Total: 50 min
Difficulty: Easy
Spice: No chilli
Cost: A bit special$16–28 USD · indicative, not a store price

Know it before you cook it

Image coming soon

About

A Cobb is a chopped salad laid out in stripes. Iceberg, romaine and watercress are chopped fine and spread over a wide platter, then covered in neat rows of diced chicken, crisp bacon, hard-boiled egg, avocado, tomato and crumbled blue cheese, with chives on top. It goes to the table looking like a flag and gets tossed there with a red wine vinaigrette sharpened with lemon, mustard and Worcestershire. Everything is chopped small, about 1 cm, so each forkful gets a little of all of it. The work is all knife work and timing: cook the chicken, eggs and bacon first and let them cool.

What you'll need

19 ingredients. Tap each one once it's out on the bench.

0 of 19 ready

4 servings

Salad
Dressing

Ingredients

Servings

Salad

Iceberg lettuce, finely chopped½
Lettuce, romaine heart, finely chopped1
Watercress, tough stems removed, chopped1 bunch
Chicken, boneless skinless breasts450 g
Bacon, rashers of smoked streaky bacon6
Egg3
Avocado, ripe, diced at the last minute2
Tomato, seeded and diced2 medium
Gorgonzola, or Roquefort, crumbled100 g
Chives, finely chopped30 ml

Dressing

Red wine vinegar60 ml
Lemon juice15 ml
Dijon mustard4.9 ml
Worcestershire sauce4.9 ml
Garlic, finely grated1 clove
Sugar2½ ml
Salt, plus more for the chicken water4.9 ml
Black pepper2½ ml
Olive oil, or half neutral oil120 ml

Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.

Steps

Step 1
Put the chicken in a saucepan, cover with cold salted water and bring to a bare simmer. Cook 12 to 15 minutes, until the thickest part reaches 74°C, then cool it in the liquid for ten minutes and dice it to 1 cm.
25 min
Step 2
Meanwhile, lower the eggs into boiling water for ten minutes, then into cold water; peel and chop them. Fry the bacon in a dry frying pan until crisp, drain on paper and crumble.
12 min
Step 3
Whisk the vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, Worcestershire, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper together, then whisk in the oil, or shake everything in a jar.
3 min
Step 4
Toss the chopped iceberg, romaine and watercress with a few spoons of dressing and spread them over a wide platter. Dice the tomato and, last of all, the avocado.
8 min
Step 5
Lay the chicken, bacon, egg, avocado, tomato and blue cheese in tight rows over the greens and scatter the chives on top. Take it to the table like that, then toss it with the rest of the dressing and serve.
5 min

Nutrition

Per serving · estimate

Calories: 876 kcal
Protein: 61 g
Carbs: 21.1 g
Fat: 62 g
Saturated fat: 15 g
Fibre: 8 g
Sugar: 5.3 g
Sodium: 1017 mg

Calculated from canonical ingredient data (USDA FoodData Central averages and equivalent published tables). Estimates only.

Allergens

Informational only. Not a medical guarantee. Cross-contamination happens in real kitchens.

Eggs
Milk
Fish

Nut-free

Adapt this recipe

The original recipe stays as it is. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are simple maths.

Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 12 November.

Substitutions

Blue cheese → Crumbled feta or sharp cheddar
For people who will not eat blue cheese. Less of a Cobb, still a good salad.
Poached chicken breast → Leftover roast chicken or turkey
More flavour and no cooking. Use the same weight.

Tips

Squeeze a little lemon over the avocado as soon as it is diced, or it browns before the salad reaches the table.
Everything except the avocado can be cooked and chopped a day ahead and kept in separate boxes in the fridge.
Use roughly the same volume of each topping so the rows come out even.

History & culture

It is a sit-down lunch salad, the kind ordered in hotel dining rooms, steakhouses and department store cafés, often by people who want something substantial without calling it a sandwich. Restaurants still bring it out arranged and toss it at the table. At home it is a good use of leftover roast chicken.

The Cobb is named for Robert Cobb, who ran the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood. The story goes that one night in the late 1930s he went through the kitchen fridge, chopped up what he found, and shared it with Sid Grauman of Grauman's Chinese Theatre, who came back the next day asking for a Cobb salad. It went on the menu, and the film crowd did the rest.

Traditional — The Brown Derby chopped everything very fine and dressed it with what it called old-fashioned French dressing, which is a vinaigrette, not the orange bottled kind. Roquefort was the original blue. Worcestershire sauce contains anchovy.

Provenance: Editorial adaptation.

Questions about this recipe

Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips.

How long does Cobb salad take?

50 min all in — 30 min prep, 20 min cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.

How many does it serve?

The recipe is written for 4 plates. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.

How hard is it?

Easy.

How spicy is it?

No chilli.

What allergens should I watch?

This recipe is labelled for Eggs, Milk, Fish. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.

Does it fit a diet?

The published recipe is labelled Nut-free.

8 more questions

What does it cost to cook?

A bit special — about $16–28 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.

What equipment do I need?

Saucepan, Frying pan, Chef's knife, Cutting board, Mixing bowl.

How much salt do I put in?

The recipe lists Salt at 1 tsp (plus more for the chicken water).

How much sugar?

½ tsp of Sugar.

What can I use instead?

Blue cheese → Crumbled feta or sharp cheddar. For people who will not eat blue cheese. Less of a Cobb, still a good salad. Poached chicken breast → Leftover roast chicken or turkey. More flavour and no cooking. Use the same weight.

Any tips from this recipe?

Squeeze a little lemon over the avocado as soon as it is diced, or it browns before the salad reaches the table. Everything except the avocado can be cooked and chopped a day ahead and kept in separate boxes in the fridge. Use roughly the same volume of each topping so the rows come out even.

Can I prepare this ahead?

Everything except the avocado can be cooked and chopped a day ahead and kept in separate boxes in the fridge.

Can I use an air fryer?

This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.