BLT Chopped Salad with Avocado and Aged Cheddar

This dish should really be called BLT Chopped Salad with Avocado, Aged Cheddar, Snap Peas, Carrots, Peppers, and Caesar dressing. Buuuut I thought that was a teensy bit obnoxious. So I shortened it to a slightly less obnoxious length. You’re welcome.

BLT Chopped Salad with Avocado and Cheddar

Ahem.

You know those days when you eat breakfast…then you eat a big lunch (that may or may not include waffles)…then you snack on queso, eat a couple chocolate eggs, make yourself a sandwich of leftover ham, then somehow find yourself back in the kitchen a few hours later with an English muffin and a Peep?

Yeah, that was my Easter.

By 9 o’clock Sunday I needed an elastic waist band and some Tums.

And by Monday, I was craving veggies. Like whoa.

I needed green, colorful, crunchy veggies.

And in my mind, there’s no better delivery system for vegetables than the chopped salad.

Fact 1: Tiny squares of vegetables taste a gatibblin times better than whole vegetables.

Fact 2: Chopped salads are a bashillion times more awesome than plain old boring salads.

You know why?

Me neither.

They’re just amazing. Food magic.

For this version, I threw about every veggie I had in the fridge onto the cutting board–snap peas, grape tomatoes, carrots, avocado, and peppers.

BLT Chopped Salad with Avocado and Cheddar

And some bacon…and a little extra sharp cheddar…and maybe a hard boiled egg or two.

Okay, okay, so it wasn’t ALL veggies, but it was close.

Then I put some big beautiful romaine lettuce leaves on top.

And went to work with the knife.

BLT Chopped Salad with Avocado and Cheddar

Chop, chop, chop! This is the fun part!

Keep chopping until you’ve got small pieces.

Then, stick everything in a giant bowl, add your dressing (I like a creamy caesar) and mix it up!

Yum.

BLT Chopped Salad with Avocado and Cheddar

Every bite is a crunchy taste explosion! Sweet from the snap peas, savory from the bacon and cheese, crisp and refreshing from the lettuce and carrots. It’s a BLT chopped salad…with snap peas, peppers, carrots, avocado, and aged cheddar.

Did we already talk about how that was obnoxious?

My bad.

BLT Chopped Salad with Avocado and Cheddar

BLT Chopped Salad with Avocado and Aged Cheddar

Yield: 2
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 strips bacon
  • 1 head romaine lettuce
  • 4 oz. grape tomatoes
  • 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into strips
  • 4 mini sweet bell peppers (or 1/2 a large red pepper)
  • Handful sugar snap peas
  • 1/2 ripe avocado, scooped out of its skin
  • 2 hard boiled eggs**
  • 2 green onions, chopped
  • 2 oz. aged cheddar, diced (I recommend Kerrygold's Aged Cheddar or Dubliner)
  • 3 Tablespoons dressing of your choice (We used Caesar, I recommend something creamy)

Instructions

  • In a skillet over medium heat, fry bacon until crispy. Let bacon strips drain on a paper towel lined plate, then crumble.
  • Grab a big giant cutting board and put the grape tomatoes, carrots, bell peppers, snap peas, avocado, and eggs (or whatever lovely assortment of veggies you prefer) on the board. Place the romaine lettuce leaves on top. Using a large chef knife, chop through all the ingredients, staying in parallel lines in one direction. Rotate your cutting board 90 degrees then chop again in parallel lines in the same direction as before. Repeat until all the ingredients are in small pieces.
  • Place chopped mixture in a large bowl along with aged cheddar cubes, green onions, and crumbled bacon. Add dressing of your choice and toss to combine. Serve immediately with some crusty bread.
  • ***My favorite way to cook hard boiled eggs is to put them in a pot, cover them with cold water (1 to 2 inches above the surface of the eggs), bring to a boil for 1 minute, then remove the pot from heat, cover, and allow to cook for 10-12 minutes. I find this method is easy, dependable, and doesn't result in the green alien ring that comes from overcooking. Happy chopping!
  • Did you make this recipe?

    Leave a review, or head over to Instagram and share a photo! Tag your projects with #neighborfoodies!

    ย Recipe by Neighborfood

    This BLT Chopped Salad is loaded with bacon, tomatoes, snap peas, peppers and a creamy Caesar dressing.

    4 Comments

    Leave a Reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.