If you were a fan of the shrimp that I shared earlier in the week, then you’re in luck because I’m bringing you yet another super simple and easy-to-make recipe today. These Mini Cobb Salad Bread Bowls come together quickly and practically require no cooking at all, if you take some help from the store. I buy some rotisserie chicken from the deli counter (1 breast will do) and shred it. After that, the only cooking involved is boiling some eggs and crisping up some bacon. It really doesn’t get any easier than that. Did I mention that you take this homemade cobb salad and you fill dinner rolls with it? It’s like a cobb salad slider. And if you’re looking for a buffalo chicken spin on this recipe, don’t forget about these sammies from the archives. Either way, it’s a win win in my book.
Let’s start by making the salad dressing. This is my go-to dressing to make because it’s so tasty, but also it comes together in no time at all! In a mason jar, combine the red wine vinegar, mustard, oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, and a pinch of salt and pepper.
**Tip: The mason jar does all the hard work for you and really makes it easy, but any container with a tight fitting lid will do!**
Screw the lid on tight and give it a vigorous shake until well blended. Give it a taste and adjust seasoning accordingly, adding more salt or pepper as needed. Set aside.
**Tip: Dressing can be made up to three days in advance and kept in the fridge until ready to use. Just allow it to come down to room temperature before using, as the oil might firm up in the fridge.**
The base of this cobb salad is romaine lettuce. The key is to shred it finely since we’ll be filling small bread rolls with it, so the smaller the better.
To make the salad, place the lettuce in a very large bowl. Add in the halved cherry tomatoes, hard boiled eggs, crispy bacon, shredded chicken, diced avocado, and crumbled feta.
**Note: Traditional Cobb salad has blue cheese in it instead, but I’m not the biggest fan of blue cheese so I always swap it out for feta instead. You still get that crumbly salty bite but without the pungent taste of blue cheese. Of course, if you prefer blue cheese use that instead.**
Drizzle in about half of the dressing and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Give it a toss until evenly combined, adding more dressing as you’d like. At this point the salad it great on it’s own, but we’re taking it to the next level.
Cut a little bit off the top of each roll and either press down on the insides to make a bowl or you can scoop out some of the bready bits if you prefer. Then you’re going to jam-pack some salad into each mini bread bowl. As much as you can possible fit in there.
**Note: I’m using whole wheat dinner rolls for this that I lightly toasted in the oven, but any dinner roll would be great. Something heartier and crustier like a French roll would be great. Or a sweet Hawaiian roll is perfect as well!**
I like to garnish the tops of each with a bit of fresh chives for some added flavor and color. You can serve with extra dressing on the side, depending on how you or your guests like your salads.
Serve with chips (I can’t have a sandwich, this is essentially a sandwich, without chips) and some ice cold beer and you got the perfect picnic or weekend lunch.
You can really take this idea and run with it because any salad would be great stuffed inside dinner rolls. Why should soup be the only thing served in a bread vessel? It’s our summer take on that novelty.
The next time you want a light lunch or are looking for that perfect picnic recipe (especially if you’re social distancing with friends at the park), I hope you’ll give these Mini Cobb Salad Bread Bowls a try. They’re so easy to make and hold up well. Let me know what you think below. As always, stay safe out there my friends.
Mini Cobb Salad Bread Bowls
Ingredients
Dressing:
- 1/3 c. red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
- 2/3 c. extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves grated
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- Kosher salt and black pepper
Salad:
- 1 medium head of Romaine lettuce finely shredded
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 hard boiled eggs diced
- 8 slices crispy bacon chopped
- 1 cup shredded cooked chicken
- 1 large avocado diced
- 6 ounces feta crumbled
- Kosher salt and coarse black pepper
- 12 dinner rolls
- 1 tablespoon fresh chives for garnish
Instructions
- In a mason jar, combine the red wine vinegar, mustard, oil, garlic, Italian seasoning, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Screw the lid on tight and give it a vigorous shake until well blended. Give it a taste and adjust seasoning accordingly, adding more salt or pepper as needed. Set aside. Dressing can be made up to three days in advance and kept in the fridge until ready to use.
- To make the salad, place the lettuce in a very large bowl. Add in the tomatoes, eggs, bacon, chicken, avocado, and feta. Drizzle in about half of the dressing and season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Give it a toss until evenly combined, adding more dressing as you'd like.
- Cut the rolls into little bread bowl, by slicing a bit of the top off and then scooping out some of the insides. Fill each with the salad and garnish with chives. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
These are just so clever!!