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easy chef salad meal prep with dressing in rectangular glass containers.

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Easy Chef Salad Meal Prep

Recipe by Danielle

This Easy Chef Salad Meal Prep is a make-ahead spin on the classic American salad. This tasty cold lunch is full of crunchy veggies, hard-boiled eggs, deli meat and cheese, and topped with homemade Thousand Island style dressing!

  • Total Time30 minutes
  • Yield4 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

For the dressing:

  • 2/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons ketchup
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons dill pickle relish
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon sweet paprika
  • 1/8 teaspoon granulated sugar
  • 1/8 teaspoon fine sea salt

For the salad:

  • 4 cups packed chopped romaine lettuce or green salad mix
  • 4 large eggs
  • 6 ounces sliced deli ham 
  • 6 ounces sliced deli smoked turkey
  • 2-4 slices cheddar cheese
  • 2-4 slices swiss cheese
  • 1 cup cherry or grape tomatoes
  • 1 small cucumber
  • 1/2 cup jarred sliced pepperoncinis, patted dry
  • optional: homemade croutons, chopped herbs such as parsley and dill

Instructions

  1. Boil the eggs: Hard-boil the eggs using your preferred method, I like to use the 5-5-5 Instant Pot method, or you can use the stovetop for a traditional method. You can make the salad dressing while the eggs are cooking. Once the eggs are finished with their ice bath, peel them, roughly chop, and set aside for later.
  2. Make the dressing: In a small bowl, combine all dressing ingredients, then stir until the dressing is well mixed and no clumps remain. For meal prep, divide the dressing between 4 small cups and then set aside. This dressing tastes better the next day, after all the flavors have melded together for at least 24 hours or so.
  3. Prep salad ingredients: To prep the deli meat, stack slices and cut all the pieces together at once to get roughly chopped squares of meat. Repeat the same process with the cheese, stacking the slices together and roughly chopping into squares. Leave tomatoes whole to reduce moisture. Half peel the cucumber so it appears stripey, then roughly chop into quarter moons. Finish by patting the cucumbers dry with a paper towel to reduce moisture. You can also choose to scrape out the seeds with a spoon before cutting to even further reduce moisture. Finally, ensure your lettuce is washed and dried.  
  4. Meal prep it: Divide the chopped lettuce between 4 meal prep containers, topping each portion with a quarter of the cut deli meat and cheese, and one hard-boiled egg each. Divide the tomatoes, cucumber and pepperoncinis between each of the four containers. Keep the dressing in a separate container ready to pour over the salad just before serving. Put the lids on and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days for best quality.

Equipment

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Notes

Servings: This recipe is easily adaptable for more or less than 4 servings. Each meal prep salad contains: 1 cup packed lettuce, 1 hard boiled egg, 3-4 slices deli meat, 1-2 slices cheese, 1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, 1/3 cup cucumbers, and 2 tablespoons pepperoncini peppers.

Dressing recipe adapted from Thousand Island Dressing from Simply Recipes. Nutrition information estimated with My Fitness Pal.

  • Prep Time: 20 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Category: Lunches
  • Method: No Heat
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 salad bowl
  • Calories: 617
  • Fat: 47g
  • Carbohydrates: 13g
  • Protein: 32g

Find it online: https://projectmealplan.com/easy-chef-salad-meal-prep/