Portillo’s Chopped Salad is brimming with lettuce, cabbage, tender pasta, vegetables, and plenty of bacon, all coated in a delectable creamy balsamic dressing, with a perfect finishing touch of gorgonzola cheese!
Loving pasta in your salad? Give this BLT Pasta Salad, Asian Pasta Salad, or this Mexican Street Corn Pasta Salad a try!
Portillo’s Chopped Salad
Portillo’s, a well-known spot with locations across the U.S. (Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Florida, Arizona, and California), has a famous chopped salad that’s been a hit since 1990. I finally tried it after seeing it all over the internet and knew I had to recreate it. Let me tell you, it’s even better than I expected!
This salad is a delicious mix of sweet and savory flavors with a ton of textures, making it a quick family favorite. It’s perfect for potlucks and BBQs. While my “copycat” version is a bit different from the original, me and taste teseters actually prefer it—especially the dressing. Portillo’s Chopped Salad uses a sweet Italian dressing, but I went with a Creamy Balsamic Dressing, my current favorite, which I’ve been dying to try in a pasta salad.
Ingredients In Portillo’s Chopped Salad
Chopped Salad:
- Ditalini pasta: Salt the water when cooking.
- Cooked and crumbled bacon: Adds a smoky, crispy crunch. Cook the bacon until crispy.
- Pre-cooked chicken: Grab a rotisserie chicken or use some leftover grilled chicken, diced up for a quick assembly.
- Chopped lettuce (half romaine, half iceberg): It’s delicious with two different lettuce varieties. I use half romaine and half iceberg, but in a pinch, either one will work.
- Chopped red cabbage: Chop finely for even texture.
- Cherry tomatoes: Adds juicy sweetness, halve or quarter each tomato to keep everything in the salad a similar size.
- Thinly sliced green onions: Use both green and white parts of the onion.
- Crumbled gorgonzola cheese: Feta or goat cheese are a great substitute if you’re not a fan of gorgonzola.
Creamy Balsamic Dressing: Blend everything together until smooth and creamy. Store in a jar in the fridge and shake before using.
How To Make Portillo’s Chopped Salad
- Dressing: Blend all dressing ingredients until creamy and emulsified. Transfer the dressing to a mason jar and refrigerate. Shake the dressing before using.
- Cook Pasta: Cook pasta until al dente, generously salting the water. Drain, cool, and toss with a few tablespoons of dressing.
- Bacon and Chicken: Cook bacon, then chop it coarsely. Dice rotisserie or grilled chicken into small pieces.
- Salad Assembly: In a large bowl, combine lettuce, red cabbage, tomatoes, and green onions. Add pasta, chopped bacon, chopped chicken, and gorgonzola cheese. Dress with the prepared dressing (add to taste) and toss.
Variations
You can swap out Gorgonzola cheese with options like blue cheese, feta, goat cheese, cream cheese, or mozzarella, depending on what you like. Just pick the one that fits your taste, and adjust the amount to match the flavor and creaminess you want in your recipe.
Storage
Salad Storage
- Portillo’s Chopped Salad doesn’t store well when dressed; the dressing wilts the lettuce and makes the bacon soggy.
- To make the salad in advance, store the salad, bacon, cheese, and dressing separately. Combine them just before serving and dress only what will be eaten immediately.
- If you make the dressing in advance and it clumps or separates in the fridge, shake it until smooth. Let it stand at room temperature for 15-20 minutes if it’s still clumpy, then shake again.
More Delicious Salad Recipes
- Honey Mustard Salad Dressing with a chicken salad
- Steak Salad Recipe with a citrus vinaigrette
- Greek Pasta Salad with a Greek-inspired dressing
- Broccoli Grape Pasta Salad with a creamy dressing
- Italian Pasta Salad with an Italian-inspired vinaigrette
Portillo's Chopped Salad
Ingredients
Chopped Salad
- 1 cup uncooked ditalini pasta
- 1/2 cup cooked and crumbled bacon (7 slices)
- 2 cups rotisserie chicken (or leftover grilled chicken), diced
- 5 cups chopped lettuce (I like to use half romaine (2-1/2 cups; 100g) and half iceberg lettuce (2-1/2 cups; 150g )
- 1 and 1/2 cups chopped red cabbage
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
- 1 cup thinly sliced green onions
- 1/4- 1/2 (27-57g) cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
Creamy Balsamic Dressing
- 1/2 cup honey-vanilla Greek yogurt (I recommend Greek Gods)
- 1/4 cup of EACH: balsamic vinegar (54g), pure maple syrup (73g) (not pancake syrup!), olive oil (45g)
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon EACH: finely minced garlic, fine sea salt, freshly cracked pepper
Instructions
- DRESSING: Place all the dressing ingredients in a small blender jar. Blend until combined, creamy, and emulsified. Transfer dressing to a mason jar and store in the fridge until ready to eat. Shake up the dressing before dressing the salad.
- COOK PASTA: Cook the pasta according to package directions to al dente. Make sure to generously salt the water; this is what will actually season the pasta! I add 1 teaspoon salt to every 4 cups of water. Drain and cool; run under cold water and shake off to dry. When dry, toss with a few tablespoons of the prepared dressing.
- BACON AND CHICKEN: Cook bacon in a skillet or on an electric griddle. Remove, let cool slightly, and then chop coarsley. Chop a rotisserie chicken (or leftover grilled chicken) into small bite-sized pieces.
- SALAD ASSEMBLY: In a large bowl, combine the lettuce, red cabbage, halved or quartered tomatoes, and thinly sliced green onions. Add in the cooled pasta, chopped bacon, and chopped chicken. Add gorgonzola cheese. If eating all of this salad, add dressing to desired preference (you may not use it all -- See Note 1) and toss to combine. If not, only dress what will be eaten; this salad doesn't sit well with the dressing.
- SALAD STORAGE: The salad can be made in advance as long as the salad, bacon, cheese, and dressing is stored separately. Combine right before eating.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Missed the mark on the dressing. It tasted
good alone, but not when I mixed it in the
salad. I think a good store bought italian
dressing would be better. I will try again with
Olive Garden dressing.
Shoot sorry you didn’t love this Linda!