Unlike a traditional Cobb salad, this recipe has no bacon, eggs, or cheese. It does, however, have flavor-packed grilled, lean chicken breasts for added protein. There is no mayonnaise in the creamy ranch dressing. And it’s packed with delicious, healthy, fresh summer produce like sweet corn and cherry tomatoes. OK… maybe it’s not technically a “Cobb salad” without the eggs, bacon, and cheese. But today, I didn’t want a salad that would weigh me down, especially for lunch after a great workout. This combination was PERFECT. The healthy fats from the avocado and the lean protein of the chicken breasts, along with tons of fresh veggies, created a hearty salad combo that was filling but not too heavy.

And the DRESSING! For the Fourth of July, I made cold potato salad with buttermilk dill dressing. If you’ve ever purchased buttermilk before, you know that more often than not you’ll have some leftover. I needed to use it up somehow, so I made this ranch dressing. Tangy sour cream and buttermilk make up the base of the dressing- making it thick and creamy but still pourable. It’s packed with fresh dill and parsley, as well as some garlic, giving it tons of flavor. It’s simple and mayo-free, making it lower in fat than other ranch recipes.

This salad features my favorite summer produce: sweet corn fresh off the cob, and perfectly ripe cherry tomatoes. You can use frozen corn if you like, but at 25 cents an ear, I couldn’t pass up the delicious taste of fresh! To cut the kernels off, I don’t do anything fancy: I just lay it down flat on a cutting board and use a chef’s knife to slice off the edges, turning as I go.

If you’re in a more traditional (or hungrier) mood, go ahead and add some chopped fresh bacon, crumbled bleu cheese, and chopped hard boiled eggs to the salad mix. This is a great salad to make in advance for lunches all week- just mix everything up, divide into individual containers, and pack the dressing separately to add right before you eat (otherwise it will be soggy). One final thing: you can use any cooked chicken you want with this. I grilled up some chicken breasts the night before for dinner (marinated in a chili garlic honey lime sauce…YUM). I used the leftovers for this salad. If you’re in a hurry or don’t feel like cooking the chicken yourself, I recommend using store-bought rotisserie chicken meat. Here’s the printable recipe for Lightened-up Cobb Salad with Buttermilk Ranch Dressing!  

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