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Add a little zip to your Cobb salad with zucchini noodles (zoodles) and a tangy buttermilk dressing.
Getting kids to not only eat, but enjoy, vegetables can be a tricky thing. I’ve never subscribed to the theory that you should dupe your kids into eating them (a la broccoli brownies), instead I believe in cooking or serving them in ways that make them appealing without masking their flavor. And by the way, let’s be honest. These same preparations aren’t kid-exclusive. It can be just as challenging, sometimes even more so, to get grown-ups to eat their vegetables.
Plenty of us were turned off to certain vegetables as kids because a pile of canned mushy, peas were plopped onto our sectioned school lunch trays pretending to be healthy and don’t even get me started on those tasteless vegetable medleys that ended up being slyly stuffed into my napkin instead of my belly. But we’ve come a long way baby.
Vegetables are still the foundation of delicious salads and sides, but they’re also stepping up and taking their turn on the main stage. We’re grilling cauliflower steaks, filling raviolis with squash, and piling zucchini ribbons on pizza. And oh by the way, a little bacon can be a great partner to a plateful of veg, adding just the right amount of salty crunch.
What is a Cobb salad?
A Cobb salad is a classic way to turn vegetables into a protein-packed main dish. It’s served as a composed salad, simply meaning that the components are arranged separately on a plate or platter, instead of being tossed together. A Cobb salad usually includes the following:
- Greens (we’re swapping out the greens for fun zucchini noodles aka zoodles)
- Chopped tomatoes (I love little grape or cherry tomatoes)
- Sliced avocado
- Hard-boiled eggs
- Sliced chicken breast
- Blue cheese, crumbled
- Chives
- Bacon (yay!)
- Dressing or vinaigrette (this buttermilk dressing really takes it to the next level)
Once you know the basics of this classic salad, it’s fun to play around with the components to suit your tastes. For me, I grabbed my trusty spiralizer to turn zucchini into fun zoodles that would appeal to my family. Between the zoodles and crumbled bacon, there’s no way my kids could say no to this plate of veggies!
Add a little zip to your Cobb salad with zucchini noodles (zoodles) and a tangy buttermilk dressing.
- 3 medium zucchini
- 2 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts, grilled or sautéed
- 4 large eggs, hardboiled
- 8 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 6 oz cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 avocado, pitted and sliced
- 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
- 2 Tbsp fresh chives, minced
- 2 Tbsp mayonaise
- 1½ Tbsp stone ground mustard
- 2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ½ tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ cup buttermilk
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Trim the ends of the zucchinis and shred into noodles (zoodles) with a spiralizer according to the equipment instructions. Place the zoodles on paper towels and squeeze lightly to drain.
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Thinly slice the chicken breasts and halve the hard boiled eggs length-wise.
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Arrange the ingredients as a large composed salad or divide onto four servings plates. Arrange each ingredient on its own rather than tossing them together. Serve with buttermilk dressing on the side.
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Whisk together all the ingredients except the buttermilk. Add the buttermilk in a slow, steady stream while continually whisking.
*special equipment: spiralizer
Tessa says
Looks delish. Btw, the Cobb was invented many moons ago at the restaurant that is today called Messhall here in our hood in LA.
Cathy says
i love when you drop knowledge Tesser!