Build Your Own Italian Chopped Salad Bar
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Make a build your own Italian Chopped Salad Bar perfect for a fun pizza night. Great for meal prep and quick snacking.
The family will love this BYO Italian Chopped Salad Bar. It’s easy to prepare and kid-friendly. The best part is the leftovers are great for quick snack or to build custom meal prep salads. Best of all it adds fun to any pizza night. Check out the recipe card for my favorite chopped salad.
Pizza night recipes to serve with Italian chopped salad
Try a delicious Chicago Style Deep Dish Pizza or make own your creations using my New York Style Pizza Dough with either Pantry Pizza Sauce or Parmesan Garlic White Pizza Sauce.
Italian salad bar options
Romain lettuce
Spring mix
Baby spinach
Fresh basil
Fresh parsley
Green beans
Mushrooms
Red peppers
Yellow peppers
Salami
Pepperoni
Prosciutto
Marinated mozzarella
Provolone cheese
Roasted red peppers
Marinated artichoke hearts
White beans
Chickpeas
Black olives
Green olives
Croutons
Almonds
The perfect salad is a balanced mix of leafy greens, crunchy veggies, protein, in some cases whole grain, and fat. What’s great about build your own salad bar is that offerings are totally up to the cook and everyone gets to choose what they like. I’ve listed suggestions of Italian themed options that you can choose from but feel free to use any not listed. A good rule of thumb is to have at least two from each category.
Tips for creating a build your own salad bar
- Start by selecting your offerings and chopping them into bites sized pieces.
- Serve the choices in separate bowls; preferably storage containers with lids.
- Offer several types of dressing.
My favorite Italian chopped salad recipe
This is our favorite salad combo. It’s simple and familiar enough to get the kids to choose more than one veggie. And to it makes a great no-cook meal own it’s own.
Italian salad mix
Tomato
Cucumber
Red onion
Yellow or orange pepper
Black olives
Marinated artichoke hearts
Pepperoncini peppers
Marinated mozzarella
Parmesan cheese
Garlic croutons– Try my Air Fryer Garlic Croutons!
Serve the choices in separate bowls. Allow everyone to build their own salad. Store the leftovers in storage containers with lids.
Salad dressing recipes to serve with chopped salad
Creamy Italian Salad Dressing
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Blue Cheese Dressing
LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF THE RECIPE. SUGGESTIONS AND HONEST OPINIONS ALWAYS APPRECIATED. LEAVE A REVIEW IN THE COMMENTS, RATE THE RECIPE, AND SAVE IT FOR LATER!
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Italian Chopped Salad Bar
Ingredients
- 12 oz bag Italian salad mix roughly chopped
- 1 orange pepper diced
- 4 plum tomatoes diced
- 1 cucumber peeled and diced
- 1/2 red onion diced
- 1/2 c black olives sliced
- 1/2 c marinated artichokes chopped
- 6 oz marinated mozzarella
- 4 oz parmesan cheese shaved
- 10 pepperoncini peppers
- 2 c garlic croutons
- Creamy Italian salad dressing
Instructions
- Serve the choices in separate bowls. Allow everyone to build their own salad. Store the leftovers in storage containers with lids.
Oh, this is such a fun idea! I agree that it would be a great addition to pizza night, but I can also totally see it on a buffet at a party – the kind of dish that gets people chatting and meeting each other as everyone debates how to build their plate!
That’s the best part; community!
This looks so delicious and such a great idea! Friday nights are always pizza night for us! Can’t wait to spice it up some!
This recipe is such a great way to use up all the veggies with an Italian flare!
This is such a great idea! Helps that everyone can customize their own salads and make it their own.
This is so fun! Love the idea of mushrooms which made me remember the marinated mushrooms we’d always have on our appetizer spreads during the holidays growing up!