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
Equipment
- Small blender
- Medium pan or electric griddle
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)
- 1-1/2 cups chopped red cabbage
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved or quartered
- 1 cup thinly sliced green onions
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
Creamy Balsamic Dressing
- 1/2 cup honey-vanilla Greek yogurt I recommend Greek Gods
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup maple syrup not pancake syrup
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Place all dressing ingredients in a small blender. Blend until combined, creamy, and emulsified. Transfer dressing to a mason jar and store in the fridge until ready to eat. Shake the dressing before dressing the salad.
- Cook pasta according to package directions to al dente. Generously salt the water; this is what will season the pasta! I add 1 teaspoon salt to every 4 cups water. Drain and cool; run under cold water and shake off to dry. When dry, toss with a few tablespoons of the prepared dressing.
- Cook bacon in a pan or on an electric griddle. Remove, let cool slightly, and chop coarsely. Chop a rotisserie chicken (or leftover grilled chicken) into bite-sized pieces.
- In a large bowl, combine lettuce, red cabbage, halved or quartered tomatoes, and thinly sliced green onions. Add cooled pasta, chopped bacon, and chopped chicken. Add gorgonzola cheese. If not eating all the salad, only dress what will be eaten; this salad doesn’t sit well with the dressing. If eating all the salad, add dressing to desired preference (you may not use it all—see note 1) and toss to combine.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can the dressing be frozen?
I haven’t tried freezing it, but I don’t think it’ll freeze well. If you try let me know! Thanks Peggi! 🙂
Forgot to rate it would give it more stars if I could! Delish!!!
Made this tonight and OMG it was AHMAZING!!! I always have the Italian Beef Sandwich when I go to Portillos so can’t compare the taste but will definitely be making this again and again!! That dressing WOW I could eat that by the spoonfuls!
I am so happy to hear this! Thank you so much Peggi! 🙂
Excellent salad. I will use this dressing on everything. I used agave to make it more diabetic friendly!
Yay! I’m so happy to hear this! Thanks Geri! 🙂
Can I use sour cream in place of the honey vanilla greek yougut? Or, just plain yogurt?
You could try either; I haven’t personally so can’t really say how it would turn out!
Made this today- SO GOOD!! I love your recipes! This is a new favorite and is great for meal prep for the week!
Thank you so much! I am thrilled to hear this! 🙂
This is the second time I made this. My friend is recovering from surgery and requested this again as one of the best tasting things she had during her recovery. So good!!
I am thrilled to hear this! Thanks so much Cindy! 🙂
Have made this twice for a daughter who is a vegetarian. Just left out the bacon and chicken. Its wonderful
I’m so happy you guys have enjoyed this and have been able to make it work with dietary preferences! 🙂 Thanks for your comment!
I’ll be making this the same for my daughter, for Christmas. Also trying Cheesy Monkey Bread. We’ll have ham and I hope, share the salad.
I hope you guys love it! 🙂
Excellent for meal prep while I’m training for a fitness competition. Easy to make, stores well, filling, and hits my macros! Oh AND it’s delicious! Saw the recipe on Facebook and so glad I tried it! It’s my lunch for at least the next 7 weeks!
I am so thrilled to hear this! Thanks Whitney! 🙂
This salad looks delicious. Is it possible to substitute the maple syrup for honey?
I don’t think the two would exchange particularly well in this recipe because honey is such a strong flavor and maple syrup is much more subtle.
We made this for dinner it was amazing! Two of my people don’t like blue cheese so I took their portions out and added it in after. So good
That’s perfect!! Thanks so much for the comment Joan 🙂
Absolutely fabulous! Did half the amount of syrup and plenty sweet. Added 1/2 English Cuke bc I needed to use it. Otherwise, exactly as written. Family gave it 5/5
So thrilled this salad was a hit! Thanks for the comment Betsy 🙂