Whether your brain is craving pizza while your body says eat some vegetables or you’re just looking for the perfect salad to serve alongside pizza, Pizza Salad is here for it. Pizza Salad is an easy Italian chopped salad recipe that makes any night pizza night. 

This salad is pizza in a bowl. It’s the grown-up version of a classic pizzeria salad with all the flavors of pizza – cubed mozzarella, diced sun-dried tomatoes, and thinly sliced pepperoni. Like all chopped salads, one of the best features of pizza salad is that it’s the perfect texture for scooping. Use easy store-bought flatbreads if you’re serving the salad all on its own or use the crusts of your pizza to scoop up every last bite. 

And this easy pizza salad isn’t just for pizza night. The flavors practically shout “pizza” but it gives strong Italian vibes that would fit right in with your next red sauce spaghetti night, alongside a warm slice of Lasagna Bolognese, Chicken Parmesan Pasta, or Spinach and Artichoke Baked Pasta.

To make this pizza salad, we’re combining lots of vegetables and a few tried-and-true pizza toppings. Here’s all that you need:

Ingredients for Pizza Salad

• Mozzarella – I like to use low-moisture whole milk mozzarella in this because it’s a bit easier to slice than fresh. But fresh mozz works well and if you can find those tiny mozzarella pearls, even better. Those don’t have to be chopped at all!
• Baby spinach and radicchio – This combination gives the salad a ton of color and a balance of flavors. The spinach tastes hearty and has tender leaves while the radicchio adds a subtle bitter flavor and crunch. Even though baby spinach leaves are already often small, you’ll want to chop them even further for that true chopped salad feel.
• Cucumbers – Use mini seedless cucumbers here which have lots of crunch and fresh flavor.
• Pepperoncini peppers – Don’t skip these if you can help it. Pepperoncini peppers are sweet and tangy and give this salad a classic pizzeria flavor. Look for them in the grocery store nearly other jarred ingredients like roasted red peppers and capers.
• Sun-Dried Tomatoes – These add rich flavor and give the salad a hint of pizza sauce flavor. A little bit goes a long way. 
• Pepperoni – Feel free to skip these for a vegetarian version, but nothing says pizza like pepperoni.
• Chickpeas – For added texture and protein, these really make for a hearty salad that is a meal on its own. If you’re serving pizza with the salad, you can skip the chickpeas to make it a bit less hearty and filling. 
• Homemade Italian dressing – A great salad dressing really brings this salad together, and I love an oregano-flavored Italian dressing here. If you have Italian seasoning, that can be used in place of the dried oregano. See below for some other vinaigrette options.

Variations

• Add homemade croutons
• Skip the pepperoni for a vegetarian version
• Add other favorite pizza toppings like red onion (I like pickled red onion the best), bell peppers, black olives, mushrooms, artichoke hearts, parmesan cheese…the sky is the limit
• Use a different vinaigrette (anything Italian-inspired works well here, like a red wine vinaigrette or balsamic vinaigrette) and store-bought is, of course, always great for a shortcut

Level up your next Friday night pizza night with this epic salad full of leafy greens, tons of veggies, and delicious pizza toppings too. If you try it, let me know in the comments! I’d love to hear what you think!

FAQs

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