Italian Chopped Salad (CPK Copycat)

 Italian Chopped Salad is a copycat of the famous California Pizza Kitchen salad. This Italian Chopped Salad is loaded with ham, salami, chickpeas, tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh basil, and lettuce. It’s tossed in an easy lemon, Dijon, and herb vinaigrette.

California Pizza Kitchen Copycat!

Several months ago I went to Vegas with some girlfriends. There is a California Pizza Kitchen® in the hotel where we stayed and we had lunch there a few times. For one of the lunches, I grabbed this salad and knew I had to create a copycat recipe. And, I’m pretty excited about this recipe, because I like it even better!

It’s chock full of delicious ingredients and the best part about making a chopped salad is you can leave out or swap in all kinds of ingredients. I’ve listed our preferences, which are heavy on chickpeas and tomatoes, but you can play around with the quantities you like best. This salad is very forgiving as long as overall proportions remain fairly consistent. 

The Dressing

The lemon, Dijon, and herb vinaigrette is very tangy with a hint of sweetness. It complements the veggies and meat in this Italian Chopped Salad perfectly. It’s also very quick to whip up; simply add all the ingredients to a covered container and shake vigorously to emulsify. A few dressing notes:

• If you want less tanginess, I’d recommend reducing the Dijon mustard and/or adding a few additional teaspoons of sugar.
• The better the olive oil used, the richer and more robust the dressing will taste. I recommend using extra virgin olive oil in this salad.
• I recommend making the dressing in advance and storing it in the fridge so it can intensify in flavor and be cold when added to the salad.
• If the dressing separates or forms clumps, don’t be alarmed. It’s just the olive oil solidifying, which it does at cold temps. Take the vinaigrette out of the fridge about 20-30 minutes or so before you need it, then shake it up to remix.
• Add dressing slowly, since you may or may not want it all on the salad. We love dressing so we typically add most of it, but you may not want that much. Add to preference or set it out separate from the salad and allow guests to add their own.

Salad Tips

• Roll the romaine lettuce into thin cigars and thinly slice. Chop the thin slices to get thin and short ribbons of lettuce. This gives the lettuce more surface area for the dressing to coat and integrate better with all the other chopped ingredients.
• Wash lettuce and make sure to dry thoroughly. There’s nothing that ruins a salad quicker than wet lettuce! Use a salad spinner if you have one or a few paper towels to ensure the lettuce is 100% dry before adding anything else.
• The best thing about a chopped salad is getting all the flavors of the salad in one bite. To get everything in one bite, the ingredients do need to be chopped fairly small and evenly. Also, the dressing integrates even better and more evenly when the pieces are small. The more evenly everything is chopped, the better this salad tastes. 
•  If you want to tame the flavor of raw red onion, soak the thinly sliced onions in ice-cold water (with a pinch of salt) for 10 minutes. Drain thoroughly before adding to this salad.

Italian Chopped Salad Variations

The California Pizza Kitchen’s version of this salad uses chopped turkey, which can be used in place of the ham.

Swap out chickpeas for drained and rinsed white beans.

Add another type of cheese: Add in small cubes of Provolone or a finely grated Parmesan cheese in addition to the mozzarella pearls.

Instead of just using romaine lettuce, use a mix of two different lettuces like iceberg and romaine. 

Storing Italian Chopped Salad 

Once dressed, this Italian Chopped Salad doesn’t store well. The dressing makes the ingredients wet and soggy. I’d recommend only dressing what you will enjoy the same day. Store dressing and salad separately to enjoy later. 

Make Ahead

The components for this salad can all be prepared ahead of time and then assembled at serving time. Store the dressing in a covered container in the fridge and shake for a minute before tossing it with the salad.