Ruth’s Chris Chopped Salad Copycat {Portion Fix/21 Day Fix}

I decided to make a Ruth’s Chris Chopped Salad Copycat because I was treated to a special birthday supper at that restaurant years ago. I remember a wonderful meal but mostly I remember the chopped salad!  A mix of basic chopped salad ingredients was shaped into a tower and topped with crispy onions and surrounded by cherry tomatoes. The tart creamy lemon-basil dressing is the star of the whole salad in my opinion. 

I was always going to “go back” and have it again. Never happened. I made the salad a few times down thru the years using different recipes until I perfected the taste. So I decided it was time to make this copycat version with my usual healthy spin to it. 

What ingredients go into this Ruth’s Chris Chopped Salad Copycat?

The menu actually lists all the ingredients that go in the salad right there on it. 

Julienned (sliced very, very thin) iceberg lettuce, spinach, radicchio are the greens in the salad. I usually use iceberg and spring mix greens for those. Then red onions, mushrooms, green olives, turkey bacon, eggs, hearts of palm, croutons, blue cheese go into the main salad. When you make a chopped salad, you want to make the pieces all about the same size.

Then a creamy lemon-basil dressing gets stirred into it. Cherry tomatoes and crispy onion strings are the last things added as garnishes. I personally like my croutons as garnish and not mixed into the chopped salad like the original recipe. You could do it either way, whatever you prefer. 

At first, I thought that used too many ingredients to really want a copycat recipe for it. But the more I looked at it, the more I realized that I had almost everything needed to make it all the time! A can of Hearts of Palm was all I needed to buy. 

Even the creamy lemon-basil dressing only uses a few ingredients… Greek yogurt, mayo, lemon juice, and fresh basil with spices.

Prep some of the ingredients ahead of time

I have to prep some of the ingredients before it is time to build the salad. Boil the eggs and smash them really fine so that they become part of the dressing/binder holding the salad into a tower. Fry the bacon and crumble it. Also, go ahead and make the dressing so it has time for the flavors to blend.  

I always try to get everything prepped and ready to stir together right before I am ready to serve it. 

The croutons

I make my own whole wheat croutons! The oldest whole wheat bread product in the house usually works just fine. This week it was whole wheat hot dog buns. The buns I use 

Start by toasting your bread in the toaster. Let it cool completely and toast it again.

Cut up toast, spray with olive oil spray, and season toast cubes. 

Toast again in a 350 oven for 5 minutes.

Let cool to room temperature before storing in an air-tight container. 

The crispy onion strings

Another thing that I prep ahead of time is the crispy onion strings. I spray 1 cup of onion rings with olive oil and put them in my air fryer till they start to brown. Are they the same as “french fried onions” 

What can you serve with this Copycat Ruth’s Chris Chopped Salad?

There is nothing better than a perfect steak to go with this salad, after all that is what Ruth’s Chris Steak House specializes in. After all, a healthy lifestyle can include a good lean steak! I have some information about healthy cuts of beef HERE. 

But ANY clean protein would work with the flavor of this salad. I can make a meal out of this salad and some leftover grilled shrimp.

They also have a Grilled Asparagus with Hollandaise Sauce that is YUMMY! My friend Stephanie over at Foodie and the Fix has a wonderful Hollandaise sauce recipe HERE.