Sub Salad

I’ve been on a giant salad making kick over the past month or so, aiming to finally photograph all of our favourite salad recipes to share with you.

This post?

This is the salad that sees the MOST use in our house - we make it several times a week.

It a fantastic salad with a ton of great flavours and textures, basically like a giant Italian sub in a bowl.

Not only that, it has an element that none of our other salads have - at least not to the same extent:

Batch processing ahead of time, dump and go to assemble.

Sure, we can make one or two at a time, from scratch... but because we make it so often, I’ll do up all the toppings - the cheese, meats, and pickles - up in little packets on grocery day.

I’ll lay out 6 or 8 squares of plastic wrap, and cut up all the chicken for that many salads, dividing it between the plastic wrap pieces.

Then the other meats, then the cheeses, so forth.

Once I’ve cut and divided all the topping ingredients, each packet gets wrapped up.

I make a big batch of the dressing in a pint jar, and stick it in the fridge.

It’s not much more work than making an individual salad, but it DOES mean that when we want one of those salads, it takes like 2 minutes.

Pull the base salad and a packet out of the fridge. Dump the packet on the salad, shake the jar of dressing, and pour it on.

SUPER easy.

Anyway, whether you batch process them or make them individually, this is a fantastic salad, and sure to become a family favorite for you, too!

Ingredients

This hearty salad is a SUPER simple recipe, and you’ll definitely be able to find all the ingredients in almost any grocery store.

I tend to look at this in 3 parts - the base salad, the toppings, and the vinaigrette. Some notes for you:

Base Salad

I like to meal prep several days worth of salad base bowls on grocery day - some sort of fresh greens, along with some fairly neutral fresh vegetables - Usually shredded broccoli stems, carrot, green onions, cucumber, and radish.

1 batch makes 10 salads, so we’ve got a few days worth of base salads to adorn all kinds of different ways. (They tend to last 6-7 days in the fridge.

It’s a pretty slick way to get a lot of vegetables into our diet, and feels like SO much less work than making full salads individually.

See my Salad Meal Prep post for full details on how I do it.

Want to make this salad as a standalone thing?

You can use a base of salad greens, spring mix, baby spinach, and/or romaine lettuce. I’d add some cucumber and green onions in, for good measure.

Italian Sub Toppings

Generally speaking, I like to make this salad with 3 meats, 2 cheeses, and some sort of pickles, etc.

Meats

As with the sandwich, I like to use a variety of cured Italian meats. (Well, usually Italian, anyway!)

When I have some available, I like to use mortadella, capicola, ham (or prosciutto)... but usually I don’t have any on hand when I want this salad, or I’m not feeling bougie enough to put prosciutto on a salad.

So, I end up using deli chicken, salami (usually Genoa salami), and pepperoni - usually pepperoni sticks, cut into chunks.

Sometimes I’ll use summer sausage in place of the salami. Really, you can use whatever you like to have on a sandwich!

Cheeses

I usually aim for 2-3 cheeses, and have them in either different colours, or different forms.

As shown, that ended up as shredded yellow cheddar cheese, and mini bocconcini - tiny fresh mozzarella balls.

Sometimes I’ll cube up some Provolone cheese instead of the bocconcini.

This is a very casual salad, don’t overthink it!

Pickles

Just as I like pickles on a sub, I like them in my sub salad.

I’ll usually chop up 1 pickle per salad.

My husband likes to slice up some pepperoncini on his, and sometimes we’ll toss some olives - Jumbo Green Olives and/or Pitted Black Olives, usually - on there.

Quartered Artichoke Hearts and/or Roasted Red Peppers are other nice options.

It’s all good!

Sub Sauce Vinaigrette

This salad is topped off with a quick vinaigrette that ties it all together with more great “sub sauce” flavours. While the toppings may change a bit from ady to day, this dressing is a constant.

You will need:

Red Wine Vinegar
Olive Oil
Dijon Mustard
Dried Oregano
Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper, to taste.

The mustard helps this emulsify into a thick, rich dressing - I recommend using a stick blender or Milk Frother to do so.

How to Make Italian Sub Salad

The full recipe is in the recipe card at the end of this post. Here is the pictorial walk through, with some more detailed information where necessary.

Sub Sauce Vinaigrette

In a small bowl, mini food processor, or the cup of a stick blender, blend everything except the salt and pepper, until well combined and emulsified.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Salad Assembly

Uncover and fluff 2 base salads, or divide salad greens between 2 bowls.

Roll each slice of deli chicken, then slice into pieces.

Arrange all salad topping ingredients over the base salads, serve immediately with the dressing.

Note: This makes more dressing than you’ll need for 2 servings, but the nutritional info reflects the entire amount called for.

More Keto Main Dish Salad Recipes

Looking for more low carb salad recipes that are substantial enough to serve as a meal? Look no further!

Buffalo Chicken Salad
Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad
Cobb Salad
Keto Mediterranean Orzo Salad with Chicken
Keto Taco Salad
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Salad Meal Prep
Seafood Cobb Salad
Seared Tuna Salad
Sesame Ginger Chicken Salad
Shawarma Chicken Salad
Steak Salad with Creamy Wasabi Dressing
Thai Pesto Salmon Salad

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