This tasty low carb chicken cobb salad with chipotle ranch dressing has all the flavours from the classic cobb salad but with a little kick from the sweet and smoky chipotle flavours.
We first make the chicken with a chipotle seasoning and then add the chipotle ranch dressing to give this hearty salad a little heat.
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This salad is loaded with all things low carb like chicken, bacon, blue cheese, avocado, hard boiled eggs and tomatoes. With only 2g net carbs per serving this will be you go to salad from now on.
This salad was inspired by my Low Carb Panzanella Salad and can be finished off with this amazing Low Carb Strawberry Pound Cake. You might also enjoy this Low Carb Green Bean Salad with Feta.
🥘 Chicken Cobb Salad Ingredients
This salad is a low carb lovers dream salad with big chunks of avocado, crispy bacon, hard boiled eggs and a perfectly seasoned chicken breast.
- Chicken Breast: seasoned with salt, pepper, paprika and smoked chipotle seasoning to give this salad a lot of flavour. Quickly pan fried on the stove because who has time for grilling.
- Crispy Bacon: I used a thick cut bacon for this salad because I love how it holds more flavour of bacon and doesn't dry out like regular thin bacon does.
- Blue Cheese: this is one of those cheeses that you like or do not like. Of course it's optional but I do love the sharp and salty flavours of this moldy cheese.
- Avocado: Bringing that nutty, salty and mild grassy flavour heightens this salad to a new level that is incomparable to anything else.
- Tomatoes: for that sweet, tart and tangy flavour plus the juice from the tomatoes add to the flavours of the chipotle ranch dressing.
- Chipotle Ranch Dressing: made with ranch dressing, sour cream and chipotle seasoning this simple yet super tasty dressing gives this salad an extra umph!
👨🏻🍳 Steps by step instructions
How to make the Low Carb Chicken Cobb Salad
STEP 1: Season the chicken breast and cook in a frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil until golden brown on both sides and cooked through. Once cooked cut chicken into ½ inch slices and set aside.
STEP 2: Slice bacon and pan fry until cooked, set aside.
- STEP 3: make the dressing in a small bowl by mixing together the ranch dressing, sour cream, chipotle seasoning and the optional Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce.
STEP 4: Cut and wash the romaine lettuce and lay out evenly onto a large dish or platter.
STEP 5: Lay out the remaining ingredients in rows on top of the bed of lettuce. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and drizzle the chipotle ranch dressing on top.
🍴 More diabetic friendly recipes
📋 Substitutions
The substitutions are endless for this recipe and you can swap out many of the ingredients to make it exactly how you prefer. Here are a few substitutions.
- Vegetarian - swap out the chicken and bacon with some fried tofu or tempeh and pecans.
- Cheese - if you are not a fan of blue cheese, make it with feta cheese instead.
- Dairy free - leave out the cheese and swap the dressing for a balsamic vinaigrette
🥣 Equipment
I used my favourite Ninja Foodie Neverstick Frying Pan for cooking the chicken and bacon. I use this frying pan everyday, it is a sturdy nonstick that has not given me any hassle. I've had mine for over a year now and it still looks and works like it's brand new.
♨️ Storage
This salad would be ok if kept in a container overnight in the fridge for the next day. However, if you want to store it for a couple more days I would avoid adding the dressing until you are ready to consume it.
👨🏻🍳 Top tips
Don't overcook the chicken as it will turn out very dry. Cooking it with a lid on it after flipping helps to keep in the moisture and should be juicy and tender.
If you have remaining chipotle ranch dressing you can use it for dipping veggies or they would be amazing as a dip with my Keto Chicken Nuggets recipe.
💭 Frequently asked questions
A Cobb Salad is an American dish made similar to this recipe but is traditionally served with a red-wine vinaigrette.
This salad can definitely be considered keto at only 2g net carbs per serving it would most likely fit into a ketogenic diet. It is also low carb and diabetic friendly.
A chef salad is typically made the same but uses more traditional salad ingredients like cucumber, carrots and tomatoes then with meats like chicken and bacon.
Chipotle are peppers that are basically ripened jalapeño chiles that have been smoked and dried.
You can use almost any meat in this recipe instead of chicken. Turkey, pork tenderloin, salmon or ground beef would go well.
Please comment, rate or review my recipe below!
Recipe Card
Low Carb Chicken Cobb Salad with Chipotle Ranch Dressing
Recipe Video
Ingredients
Seasoned Chicken
- 1 medium chicken breast cooked
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- ⅛ teaspoon paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon chipotle powder
Chipotle Ranch Dressing
- 2 tablespoon ranch dressing
- 2 teaspoon sour cream
- 1 tablespoon chipotle powder
- 1 teaspoon Franks Red Hot Buffalo Wing Sauce (optional)
Salad
- 6 slices thick cut bacon cooked and crumbled
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 1 avocado
- 3 hard boiled eggs sliced in half
- 1 cup sliced cherry tomatoes
- 2 oz blue cheese
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Watch the instructional video to see how I cooked the chicken and assembled the salad.
Seasoned Chicken
- Season the chicken with the salt, pepper, paprika and chipotle powder on both side. Heat up 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a medium frying pan on medium/high heat. Saute chicken for 5 minutes and then flip, cover and saute for another 5 minutes until golden and fully cooked through. Set aside
Chipotle Ranch Dressing
- Combine all ingredients together in a medium bowl and set aside.
Salad
- Cut, wash and dry the romaine lettuce and lay out evenly onto a large dish or platter.
- Assemble salad by laying the ingredients in rows. Start with the chicken and then assemble the remaining ingredients. Alternatively you can throw everything in a bowl and mix if you don't want to take those insta pictures first.
- Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste and pour the chipotle ranch dressing over top of the salad and enjoy. You might have extra dressing remaining that you can use as a dip for veggies or my low carb chicken nuggets.
- (Refer to the video instructions below if further clarification is needed)
Notes
Important Information
For more information, tips and variations please review the recipe video and content above and below the recipe card.
Updates and Revisions
If the video and recipe card differ, follow the recipe card for the latest ingredients and instructions.
Nutritional Information
Nutrition info is estimated and varies by ingredients, measurements, and portions.
Nutrition
🌡️ Food safety
- Cook to a minimum temperature of 165 °F (74 °C)
- Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
- Wash hands after touching raw meat
- Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods
- Never leave cooking food unattended
- Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds
- Always have good ventilation when using a gas stove
See more food guidelines
Jennifer says
I just found this recipe. Is it really just 1 chicken breast for 6 main dish servings?
Oscar Chimenti says
If you're serving it as a main dish you may want to add more chicken but if it's served as a side salad one chicken breast is enough as there is a lot of other protein in the salad with the bacon and eggs.
Natalie says
I'm on low-carb diet. This is the perfect salad to make for lunch. Thanks for the idea. I'm so making this! Yum!
Dolly says
Sign me up for this!!!! Looks so amazing! I am totally drooling over here.
Jeri says
I loved this salad! Great flavor and the dressing was so tasty! It was so easy to make too, perfect for busy weeknights!