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With crunchy lettuce, sweet tomato, juicy chicken, crispy bacon, tender pasta, savory gorgonzola cheese, and a flavor-packed creamy Italian house dressing, this easy copycat Portillo’s chopped salad will become a summer favorite at your house!
If you’re not familiar with Portillo’s, it’s a Chicago institution like Anchor Bar (the birthplace of wings!) in Buffalo or Starbucks in Seattle. Portillo’s is a “fast casual” restaurant that serves classic Chicago style food, such as Italian beef sandwiches and Chicago dogs.
They have a variety of side dishes available, including the usual suspects like fries and onion rings. There are also a few soups and salads, including a pretty fabulous chopped salad with a cult-like following!
With a combination of chicken, bacon, and pasta, this filling salad works well as a side dish or full meal. And it’s a great summertime option to bring to a BBQ, potluck, or picnic. Everyone loves it, and you can easily make a double batch to feed a crowd!
What’s in Portillo’s Chopped Salad?
This is what Portillo’s says about their chopped salad:
A fan favorite, the Chopped salad is a perfect mix of flavor and crunch, packed with romaine and iceberg lettuce mix, ditalini pasta, diced chicken, crispy bacon, tomatoes, gorgonzola cheese, green onion, red cabbage and tossed with our famous, homemade House dressing.
Portillo’s
Ingredients
Breaking It Down
Ingredients Explained
In this section I explain the ingredients and give substitution ideas where applicable. For the full recipe (including the ingredient amounts), see the recipe card below.
Copycat Portillo’s Salad Dressing Ingredients
- Extra-virgin olive oil – Or light olive oil, avocado oil, or vegetable oil.
- Mayo – For rich flavor and creamy texture. You can swap out up to half of the mayo with Greek yogurt or sour cream if you want.
- White wine vinegar – Adds tangy flavor and helps create balance.
- Fresh, finely-grated Parmesan cheese – For the best flavor, use freshly-grated Parmesan cheese (although the powdered stuff will work in a pinch).
- Sugar – Sugar adds sweetness and helps create a balanced flavor profile. Use regular granulated white sugar (or your favorite granulated keto sweetener). If you prefer a natural sweetener, you can use 2 teaspoons of honey instead of 1 tablespoon sugar.
- Dried Italian herb seasoning – Adds herby depth of flavor.
- Salt and black pepper – These pantry-staple seasonings make sure this dressing isn’t bland.
- Garlic – Use a small clove of fresh garlic; this is the secret ingredient that takes this quick and easy creamy salad dressing over the top!
Copycat Portillo’s Chopped Salad Ingredients
- Ditalini pasta – Ditalini pasta works well here because of its small size. However, you can use any small shape of pasta you like, such as elbow, bow tie, etc.
- Beef bacon – Or use whatever your favorite kind of bacon is.
- Romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, and red cabbage – These leafy veggies are classic components in Portillo’s chopped salad.
- Scallion – For mild onion flavor.
- Cherry tomatoes – Or you can use regular tomatoes and chop them into bite-sized pieces. After chopping the tomatoes, drain off the excess liquid if there’s a lot of it.
- Cooked chopped chicken – You can use poached chicken, leftover roast chicken, rotisserie chicken, or whatever you have on hand.
- Gorgonzola cheese – Or crumbled blue cheese. Gorgonzola is the classic cheese used in Portillo’s iconic salad, but if gorgonzola or blue cheese isn’t your thing, of course feel free to swap it out for what you like.
Instructions
1. Make the Creamy Italian House Dressing
- Add all ingredients to a bowl.
- Whisk to combine. (TIP: If you want it super smooth, puree it in a blender or food processor.)
2. Make the Salad
Arrange all ingredients in a salad serving bowl. Toss the salad with the dressing and serve immediately.
Make Ahead and Storage
- Dressing – You can store this dressing covered in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 1 week. Give it a vigorous shake or a stir before using.
- Salad – You can prep this salad up to 3 days ahead of time. Store everything in separate containers in the fridge and then assemble the salad right before serving.
- Meal prep – Layer the ingredients in a large glass jar in the following order: salad dressing (on the bottom), pasta, tomatoes, red cabbage, Romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, scallion, chicken, bacon, and cheese. Cover the jar and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days; don’t shake the jar until right before serving.
Tips For the Best Homemade Portillo’s Chopped Salad
- To make a lower carb version of this salad, you’ll need to make 2 changes: 1) omit the pasta or use keto pasta, and 2) use a keto sugar-free sweetener (such as stevia, allulose, monk fruit, etc.) instead of sugar in the dressing. If you omit the pasta in the salad and use a sugar-free sweetener in the dressing, this salad is low-carb and keto-friendly.
- If you’re in a time crunch, use store-bought salad dressing, pre-cooked bacon, and rotisserie chicken.
Frequently Asked Questions
In a chopped salad, the vegetables and other components are chopped about the same size. Chopped salads are easy to eat because as we all know, salads with leafy greens can be hard to get on the fork, lol! To keep everything approximately the same size, ditalini pasta works well here.
According to Portillo’s, their chopped salad has 800 calories. However, if you make this copycat version at home, each serving only has 447 calories.
For the gluten free version of this classic chopped salad, simply use gluten free pasta. If you can’t find gluten free ditalini, you can use any small shape of gluten free pasta you like.
Another way to make this salad gluten free is to simply omit the pasta! If you want to cut the carbs and make a healthy version of Portillo’s chopped salad, this is the best way to go.
More Hearty, Satisfying Salad Recipes
- Mediterranean Bean Salad Recipe
- Ramen Noodle Salad
- BLT Pasta Salad
- Cold Peanut Noodle Salad
- Roasted Vegetable Quinoa Salad
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Copycat Portillo’s Chopped Salad Recipe
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Ingredients
Dressing:
- 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (or light olive oil, avocado oil, or vegetable oil)
- 6 tablespoons mayo
- 3 tablespoons white wine vinegar
- 1/3 cup finely-grated parmesan cheese (preferably freshly-grated, but you can use the powdered stuff in a pinch)
- 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon dried Italian herb seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 small clove garlic (grated or crushed)
Salad:
- 1 cup ditalini pasta (cooked according to the package directions, rinsed, drained, and cooled)
- 8 ounces beef bacon (cooked until crispy, cooled, and chopped; or any type of bacon you like)
- 3 cups finely chopped Romaine lettuce
- 3 cups chopped iceberg lettuce
- 2 cups thinly sliced red cabbage
- 1 cup thinly sliced scallion (green and white parts)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes (halved)
- 2 cups cooked chopped chicken (you can use poached chicken, rotisserie chicken, or whatever you have on hand)
- 1/4 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
Instructions
For the Dressing:
- Add all ingredients to a bowl and whisk to combine. (TIP: If you want it super smooth, puree it in a blender or food processor.)
For the Salad:
- Arrange all ingredients in a salad serving bowl.
- Toss the salad with the dressing and serve immediately.
Notes
- Recipe Yield and Nutritional Information: This recipe serves 8 as a side dish, or 4 as a main course. The nutritional information given is based on 8 side-dish-sized servings.
- Dressing Storage: You can store this dressing covered in a glass jar in the fridge for up to 1 week. Give it a vigorous shake or a stir before using.
- Salad Storage: You can prep this salad up to 3 days ahead of time. Store everything in separate containers in the fridge and then assemble the salad right before serving.
- Meal Prep: Layer the ingredients in a large glass jar in the following order: salad dressing (on the bottom), pasta, tomatoes, red cabbage, Romaine lettuce, iceberg lettuce, scallion, chicken, bacon, and cheese. Cover the jar and store it in the fridge for up to 3 days; don’t shake the jar until right before serving.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is automatically calculated and should be used as an approximate.
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This post was first published on An Edible Mosaic on June 4, 2023 and updated on June 22, 2026.
I’m the writer, recipe developer, photographer, and food stylist behind this blog. I love finding the human connection through something we all do every day: eat! Food is a common ground that we can all relate to, and our tables tell a story. It’s my goal to inspire you to get in the kitchen, try something new, and find a favorite you didn’t know you had.
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