Portillo's Inspired Chopped Salad for a Crowd

This chopped salad is perfect for a party! It is part pasta salad, part green salad and all yum! A simple dressing and all of your favorite ingredients will be great for dinner, a potluck or a BBQ!

   This salad is a little bit meaty of the leafy, cheesy, meaty salad we all love and a little bit pasta salad.  All of the flavors come together wonderfully and this salad is sized for a party.  Of course you can cut back and make it for a smaller group easily enough.  I have made it for a few big gatherings at our house.  I usually mix up the dressing the morning of the party.  I also get all of the chopping done a couple of hours in advance.  I leave the dressing off until right before it is time to serve.  Sometimes I'll even only dress half of the salad at a time just in case we don't need it all. Since the rest isn't dressed, it keeps longer and can be my lunches during the week!

    Sometimes I like to make variations on this salad as well.  It is great with a mix of bacon and salami.  It is also great with hard boiled eggs or some smoked chicken, because why not?

 

   It has been a couple of years since I actually had a real Portillo's chopped salad, but this gives me a little taste of it when the craving strikes.  To make it more authentic, you should use the ditalini pasta, some bacon and some chicken.  I can't always find the ditalini pasta at my favorite grocery stores though, and the small shells work as a great substitute.  

    Do you know what I need to do next? Work up a copycat for their poppy seed salad.  It is loaded with fruit, chicken, cheese and a poppy seed dressing that is sooooo good.  They make great Chicago style dogs and Italian beef as well, but I go straight for the salads every time! I actually poked around their website once to see what it would take to get a franchise.  I think it would be really successful here.  But, alas at last check they weren't offering franchises.  Maybe they'll change their minds! 

   Do you have a regional favorite restaurant that you wish you could bring home to your neck of the woods?  What restaurant do you wish you had closer?

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Chopped Salad for a Crowd

by Cooking With Carlee April-9-2015

Ingredients

• 1 lb small pasta, ditalini or small shells cooked according to package directions
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 2-3 cups iceburg lettuce
• 1 cup red cabbage
• 5 roma tomatoes
• 1/2 cup green onions, chopped
• 1/4 cup gorgonzola
• 8 oz hard salami, chicken, bacon or a mix
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp chopped garlic
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions

1. Mix together all dressing ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use. 2. Chop all salad ingredients small. Toss together. If making ahead of time, cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. 3. Toss salad and dressing just before serving.

Details

Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: Total time: 10 mins Yield: serves 12 for dinner, more as a starter