Chef Salad (with homemade ranch dressing)

Chef salad with homemade ranch dressing is a delicious lunch or low key dinner that is perfect for busy nights.

chef salad with ranch dressing, cucumbers, tomatoes and cheese closeup

I have been making chef salad for myself a ton lately. So I thought I’d share the recipe here. This could totally pass for dinner, especially in the hot summer when nobody feels like cooking in the heat.

Really the only “cooking” this may involve at all is making some hard boiled eggs. I recommend making hard boiled eggs in your Instant Pot if you have one. I often make a batch of 8 to 10 of these ahead of time, and I keep them in the fridge for quick breakfasts or snacks. Or chef salads!😆

hard boiled eggs on cutting board with red towel

What kind of dressing for chef salad?

I love making my own dressings, so I almost always have a jar of homemade ranch dressing or red wine vinaigrette in my fridge. Both happen to taste fantastic on this very salad.👌🏻

If you have a favorite store-bought dressing, you could use that as well. But I dare you to try one of my homemade ones. You may never go back.😎 Just saying!

Choose quality ingredients

The only other work you have to do to throw this together is chop up your ingredients. I like to chop my meat and cheese in long slices, mostly because this is how I have seen it done in restaurants.

chopping deli turkey on a cutting board with eggs, cucumber, cheese, tomato and lettuce

Choose the best ingredients you can find. I am using the no nitrate homestyle deli turkey from Sprouts. Deli ham or roast beef will work too. Or any combination of those three will work too.

If you are opposed to all deli meat, feel free to sub in some diced chicken breast. I have lots of options for you there: Instant Pot chicken breasts, baked chicken breasts, Air Fryer chicken breasts or grill pan chicken breasts would all be yummy.

I love the rainbow baby tomatoes! 😍 So that is what I used here, but any tomatoes work.

And you can use any type of lettuce. Some I would recommend: green leaf, Bibb, butter lettuce or red leaf, which is what I used here.

red leaf lettuce in glass container on white counter

How to assemble chef salad

Start with a bed of lettuce on a plate or in a large bowl. And then just start layering the other ingredients on top. I always put my deli meat in the center, the cheese on either side of the meat, egg slices on the side, and everything else on top.

I usually use one slice of cheese, but I used an extra in these photos – one cheddar jack, and one Havarti. Because I had both, and it looked pretty. All that to say, customize the recipe to your liking. Add more or less of anything you wish.

Finish it off with dressing, and you are all set! Enjoy your chef salad, friends!

hand with a fork digging in to a chef salad

Chef salad recipe

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