Cobb Salad With Crispy Chicken

Crispy Chicken Cobb Salad arranged with groupings of sliced crispy chicken, sliced avocados, sliced hard boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, bacon, and blue cheese on a bed of romaine lettuce.

5 from 1 vote

Cobb Salad With Crispy Chicken

This Crispy Chicken Cobb Salad is a classic Cobb salad with the addition of the crispiest, most flavorful chicken, great for meal prep and leftovers.

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Total Time1 15

Course: Main Course, Salad

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 910kcal

Author: Lauren Skardal

Ingredients

Cobb Salad

6 eggs to be hard-boiled
8 strips bacon 10 oz
1 large head Romaine lettuce, diced 14-16 oz
1 cup cherry tomatoes sliced in half
2 avocados thinly sliced
4 oz blue cheese, goat cheese, or feta cheese
handful chives minced (optional)

Dressing

½ shallot minced
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon bacon drippings optional
1 tablespoon honey
¼ teaspoon salt

Crispy Chicken

2 cups panko
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
½ teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 lb chicken breast
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus more as needed

Instructions

Hard Boiled Eggs

Fill a saucepan with water and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add the eggs. Boil for 13 minutes. Use a fine mesh strainer or slotted spatula to carefully remove the eggs and plunge them in a bowl of ice water. Once cool, peel the eggs, and slice into quarters.

Bacon

Cook the bacon in a large sauté pan at medium heat until crispy, flipping once, about 8-10 minutes. Set aside to cool, then crumble into pieces. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the bacon drippings and discard the rest.

Dressing

In a medium bowl, add the minced shallot, red wine vinegar, extra virgin olive oil, Dijon mustard, honey, salt, and reserved bacon drippings. Whisk to combine.

Crispy Chicken

In a medium flat bottom dish, like a square casserole dish, add the panko, grated parmesan cheese, and salt and toss to combine. In a separate dish or bowl, whisk the eggs.
Cut the chicken in half horizontally so that you have two thin cutlets. Cut each thin cutlet in half to create 4 smaller cutlets.
Place each chicken cutlet on a cutting board, covered with a sheet of wax or parchment paper, working in batches as needed.
Pound the chicken very thin with a meat hammer so that each cutlet is about 1.5x the original surface area.
Bring a large sauté pan to medium heat (or just under medium heat at a setting of #4 out of 10). Add two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
Dip each chicken cutlet first in the egg, then in the panko mixture, pressing the panko firmly into both sides of the chicken.
Place the chicken in the pan with the olive oil and cook undisturbed until medium golden brown and crispy, about 2-4 minutes. The chicken should release easily from the pan when ready.
Flip the chicken over and cook for another 1-3 minutes. The chicken should be a medium golden brown on both sides.
Set the chicken aside on a wire rack with a sheet of paper towels underneath to catch any olive oil that drips off.

Assemble the Salad

To assemble the salad, add the diced romaine lettuce to a large serving bowl.
Arrange the crispy chicken, sliced hard boiled eggs, crumbled bacon, halved tomatoes, sliced avocados, and blue cheese on top, either in neat rows or arranged in groupings.
Sprinkle with minced chives. Serve with the dressing on the side.

Notes

Tenderize the Chicken: This makes such a difference in the taste and texture of the chicken.
Press the Panko: Press extra panko breadcrumb mixture into both sides of the chicken. This makes it crispier.
Set up Your Workstation: To ensure success and low stress, set up a workstation in the following order:
- Cut and tenderized chicken
- Egg mixture
- Panko mixture
- Stove and sauté pan
Use Extra Virgin Olive Oil: The panko soaks up and pan-fries in the oil. Using a good quality extra virgin olive oil goes a long way in adding flavor to the chicken.
Pan Temperature: On an electric stove, aim for a temperature that is roughly a "4" on a scale of "1-10". Anything higher than that and your bread-crumb coating is more likely to burn. It will also help to prevent the olive oil from smoking. If the olive oil is smoking, you know that the pan is too hot.
Don't Overcrowd the Pan: To ensure crispy chicken, don't overcrowd the pan, which creates a steaming rather than a crisping effect.
Use a Cookie Drying Rack: You spent a lot of effort making crispy chicken. Don't let it get soggy by putting it on a plate or stacking the chicken on top of each other. This will soften the crispy breadcrumbs. Place the chicken in a single layer on a cookie drying rack as you cook the rest of the chicken and until serving.
Romaine: Ensure that the romaine lettuce has been washed and patted dry. Lettuce that is wet is hard to coat in dressing and wilts faster.
Dressing the Salad: I recommend serving the dressing on the side. Serving the dressing on the side makes it easier to prep this salad ahead and gives each person the chance to add as much or as little dressing as they like. Alternatively, you could dress the romaine lettuce only and layer the toppings on top.

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