Portillo’s Chopped Salad with Sweet Italian Dressing
Ingredients
Sweet Italian Dressing:
- ⅓ cup white or regular balsamic vinegar
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
- 2 teaspoons sugar, honey or maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Salad:
- 8 ounces about 1 cup or so uncooked Ditalini pasta (see note)
- 5 cups chopped lettuce, use what you like: romaine, spring mix, iceberg or a combo
- 1 cup chopped red cabbage (see note)
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- 3 green onions, chopped
- ½ - 1 cup cooked and crumbled bacon
- ¼ - ½ cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese
- 2 cups cooked diced chicken (see note)
Instructions
- For the dressing, combine all the ingredients in a blender or jar. Process or shake until well-combined. Add additional salt and pepper to taste, if needed. You can make and refrigerate the dressing a week or two in advance.
- In a pot of salted, boiling water, cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain and rinse quickly with cool water so it doesn't stick together while it cools. Pour a few tablespoons of the dressing over the pasta and stir lightly. Set aside to cool to room temperature (spreading it into a flatter layer - versus mounded in a bowl - will speed up the cooling process).
- In a large bowl, toss together the lettuce, cabbage, tomatoes, and green onions. Add the cooled pasta, bacon, gorgonzola cheese, and chicken.
- To serve, you can toss the salad with the dressing before serving - or, if you anticipate leftovers, add dressing only to the portions of salad served and then store the dressing and salad separately for fabulous leftovers.
Notes
Pasta: ditalini pasta is a tiny tube-shaped pasta. If you can't find it, you can easily sub in another little pasta shape. Even small elbow macaroni would work. You're looking for about 3 cups cooked pasta when it's all said and done.
Lettuce: the lettuce is really customizable here. If you buy bagged lettuce that already has red cabbage or radicchio in it, you could omit or cut down the chopped cabbage. I believe the original Portillo's salad is a combination of iceberg, romaine and red cabbage.
Chicken: for the chicken, a rotisserie chicken works great here, as well as any other kind of leftover cooked/grilled chicken (the more flavorful, the better!). Keep in mind you could leave the chicken out completely for more of a side dish salad.
Cheese: you could sub in another kind of cheese (experiment with varieties you like) if you aren't a fan of the Gorgonzola.
Vinegar: I like the taste and color of white balsamic vinegar here but regular dark balsamic will work, too, just keep in mind that the dressing will color the salad a bit. I think you could easily use red or white wine vinegar, too.
Leftovers: this salad makes the best leftovers. I eat it for days and it makes me so very happy. When I've made it for large group gatherings (entertaining, potlucks, etc), I always toss the entire salad with the dressing, which is ok because there are rarely leftovers. But if it's just for our family, I add dressing to each portion so that I can store the dressing and salad separately (keeps the leftovers fresh and non-soggy).