This crisp Cobb salad with tuna is refreshing, crunchy, and filling. Perfect for a quick lunch or dinner or served as a side dish at your next party!

Cobb Salad with Tuna in a bowl with spoon

Nothing is quite as refreshing as a Cobb salad with tender tuna. I love packing them away for takeaway lunches or serving a huge bowl family-style for BBQs or dinner parties. There’s just something so satisfying about how the hard-boiled eggs, juicy tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, and salty tuna complement one another.

Whether you’re a die-hard Cobb salad fan or just looking to nosh on something light and healthy, this salad comes together so quickly and requires little legwork. What’s better? It’s filling enough to be eaten as a meal all on its own on a hectic weeknight, much like our tuna melts!

Ingredients for Cobb Salad with Tuna

How to Make Cobb Salad with Tuna

Making a Cobb salad with tuna only requires a little chopping and assembling. It’s so easy, you can hardly even call it a recipe. Below, find a brief rundown of the recipe before you get to it.

  • Hard Boil the Eggs: In a saucepan full of boiling water, hard boil the eggs for 10-12 minutes.
  • Chop the Veggies: Using a sharp knife, dice the veggies and eggs into even-sized pieces.
  • Assemble the Salad: Place the lettuce at the bottom of a serving bowl or atop a large platter and top it with all the fixings. Toss the salad with the dressing and serve right away.

Cobb Salad Dressing

While there is no set-in-stone rules as to which salad pairs best with a Cobb, there are a couple of tried and true options. Light ranch dressing, blue cheese dressing, olive oil and vinegar, or just about any red wine vinaigrette (try this beet salad dressing if you’re looking for a bit of tang) work wonderfully.

Tips & Tricks

Here you’ll find a couple of tips and tricks to help you make the most delicious Cobb salad with tuna.

  • Chop the veggies into similar sizes. Chopping the veggies into similar sizes will bring consistency to each bite and make for better forkfuls.
  • Toss the salad only before you plan to serve it. There’s nothing worse than a soggy salad. Prevent this by holding off on dressing the salad until right before you’re ready to eat.
  • Use a salad spinner to clean your lettuce. Wet lettuce can not only make your salad soggy, but it can also water down your dressing. If you have one, use a salad spinner to wick off any excess moisture.

Other Ingredients to Add

The awesome thing about Cobb salad is how much you can tweak it to fit your particular palate. Below, find a couple of suggestions and variations.

  • Veggies: Red onion, avocado, artichoke hearts, red bell peppers, and pickled beets
  • Protein: Crispy bacon bits, air fryer salmon, chicken breast, rotisserie chicken, and air fryer shrimp
  • Herbs: Dill, parsley, basil, chopped green onions, and chives
  • Cheese: Sharp cheddar cheese, blue cheese crumbles, crumbled goat cheese, and feta
Cobb Salad with Tuna with dressing tossed in the salad

Serving a Cobb

This Cobb salad with tuna is filling enough to be eaten all on its own for lunch or dinner. However, if you’re in the market for a more well-rounded meal, serve it alongside a fresh baguette or some tender air fryer baked potatoes. You can also pair it with a piping hot bowl of tomato basil soup. Don’t forget to top it with a few cracks of black pepper. Yum!

Storing TIps

If your salad is already tossed with dressing, you’ll want to eat it within a couple of hours to prevent it from turning soggy. If you need to store the salad for a couple of hours before serving, make sure to keep the salad and the dressing separate. Additionally, make sure to cover the chopped veggies in a bowl with plastic wrap to ensure the veggies don’t wilt and turn limp.

FAQ

What makes a Cobb salad a Cobb salad?

Typically, a Cobb salad is made with chopped veggies, hard-boiled eggs, protein, and creamy dressing. That being said, there are no hard-line rules on what makes a Cobb a Cobb.

What’s the difference between a chef salad and a Cobb salad?

A chef salad tends to have sliced deli meats, cheese, veggies, and romaine lettuce. On the other hand, a Cobb salad typically has chopped veggies, chicken or fish, and hard-boiled eggs.

How did the Cobb salad get its name?

The origin of why the Cobb salad got its name is heavily debated. The most popular story is that the owner of the Hollywood Brown Derby restaurant, Robert Cobb, threw together a bunch of leftover salad ingredients into a bowl on a whim one night in 1937. Supposedly, he loved the salad so much it became a regular item on the menu. The rest is history!

What is Cobb salad dressing made of?

There is no specific dressing associated with Cobb salad. The most typical dressings include ranch dressing, bleu cheese dressing, or vinaigrette.

Can I make Cobb salad ahead of time?

Yes, you can make Cobb salad ahead of time. Just make sure to keep the dressing and salad separate until just before you are ready to serve.

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About Author

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Natalya Drozhzhin

Natalya founded Momsdish to demonstrate that placing a homemade meal on the table is not hard at all. Natalya makes cooking easier and approachable, by simplifying the ingredients, while still producing the same great taste.