My Favorite Salads Are Modeled After Hearty Sandwiches

I don’t want to hate on green salads, but for me, they're a tough sell. It’s not the vegetable aspect that’s unattractive to me, but just how unsatisfying a dish of 90% loose leaves can be. If I’m going to make a salad at all, it must be full of chunky and interesting components where leaves serve as the hype man. I usually make one of two types of salads—hearty grain salads (like this warm rice salad that I love), or what I call a "sandwich salad."

The inspiration came from an Italian sandwich I was fantasizing about when I was running errands. It’s from a shop in the financial district called Pisillo Italian Panini—a chicken sandwich with roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts, arugula, and provolone on a thick, chewy roll. And I deserved to have it. However, I was nowhere near the deli. 

I settled on buying the ingredients so I could make it at home. It’s never quite the same as having somebody else make you a sandwich, but needs must. Knowing I had some good bread and chicken waiting for me, all I needed were some jarred artichokes and a pepper I could quickly air fry at home. 

I don't know if everyone experiences this, but whenever I know I have something at home and I'm looking forward to eating it, inevitably someone has already done so. My chewy sandwich rolls were gone. Without bread, and stubbornly refusing to backtrack when I had just returned from running errands—because absolutely not!—I threw the sandwich parts into a bowl instead.

That salad completely scratched the itch of my missing sandwich. It had all of the major players anyway, and by the time I put down my fork I was completely stuffed. My first sandwich salad was born; the trailblazer for all of my future sandwich salads. 

How to make a sandwich salad

A sandwich salad is any three to eight(ish) ingredients you’d normally fill a roll with, tossed in a bowl with anything you’d dress that sandwich with. They're filling, supremely flavorful (there's no bread diluting the ingredients), and they never get boring. Just like most sandwiches can taste great if you swap out the protein (chicken for turkey, prosciutto for salami), you can do the same with the salad.

The only slight modification I recommend is if the sandwich naturally doesn’t include lettuce—like a bacon, egg, and cheese, for example—then I’ll usually drop in a handful of something leafy just to break it up and add some texture. Not too much, just enough to complement the rest of the bowl.

Some other sandwich salads I enjoy are:

• Pan bagnat salad. Toss a can of tuna in oil in a bowl with chopped black olives, chopped green beans, sliced red bell pepper, chopped anchovies, chopped hard boiled eggs, and drizzle it all with a mustard and oil dressing. Optional: add a handful of arugula and a flurry of lemon zest.

• Cubano salad. Combine torn roast pork, chopped ham, cubed swiss, and oblique cut dill pickle in a bowl. Dress with mustard that’s been thinned out with a splash of vinegar and a drizzle of olive oil. Optional twist: add some spritzy kimchi instead of the mustard dressing.

• Muffuletta salad. It practically makes itself. Chop assorted Italian meats, like salami, capicola, and mortadella, and toss them together thoroughly in a bowl. Add a heap of jarred olive salad (along with the oil it’s packed in) and cubed provolone cheese. Here’s my recipe for the sandwich if you ever miss the bread. Optional: add hot banana peppers, pepperoncini, or a handful of salted pistachios. 

If your dressing is normally mayo on a particular sandwich, thin it for a less gloppy consistency before adding it to your salad components. I recommend using components that already exist in the dressing, so for mayonnaise that would be a good squeeze of lemon juice and a drizzle of olive oil. If you’d normally use mustard, then a spoonful of oil and vinegar will do the trick. If I'm using a marinated or jarred ingredient, like artichoke hearts or olives, I'll let some of the liquid splash it as a flavorsome helper to any other dressing components.

Chicken Sandwich Salad Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken breast, sliced thinly (or replace with any lunch meat)

• 1 to 2 ounces chopped provolone cheese

• 3 to 5 jarred roasted red pepper strips

• 4 to 8 marinated quartered artichoke hearts

• 1 handful of baby arugula

• A squeeze of fresh lemon juice

• Olive oil for drizzling

• Salt and pepper

1. Add all of the ingredients to a bowl and toss. For extra dressing, add a splash of the marinade from the artichoke jar.