Grinder Salad Recipe

If you want a salad that will WOW your family and friends, look no further! Grinder Salad Recipe is just what you’re looking for!

Loaded with everything you love about an Italian hoagie, this hearty, flavorful salad is guaranteed to become a family favorite.

Packed with Genoa salami, capicola, and aged provolone cheese, mixed with zesty pepperoncini peppers, red onions, and tomatoes, our Grinder Salad has everything you’d expect to find on an Italian grinder sandwich (aka hoagie), except for the hoagie roll.

Toss this all together with crisp iceberg lettuce and our zesty homemade creamy Italian dressing, and you’ve got a salad that will convert the salad haters in your family.

A Grinder Salad is popular in New England, but we have our own version in the Philadelphia area. We know this colorful salad as an Italian chopped salad or hoagie salad. But whatever you call it, I’m sure you’ll be calling it one of your favorite salads.

If you enjoy making and eating hearty salads, try our 7-Layer Salad and Blackened Chicken Salad recipes. Add our Tomato Bisque and Parker House Rolls for a meal to remember!

Table of Contents:

Ingredients for Grinder Salad

Gather the ingredients to prepare our Italian Grinder Salad recipe. Culinary professionals call this the “Mise en Place,” which means “everything in its Place.”

Setting up your ingredients not only helps speed up the cooking process but also ensures you have all the necessary ingredients on hand to make the recipe.

Can I change up the Ingredients?

Of course you can. Our salad is based on the ingredients of an Italian sub, but there is no reason you can’t make adjustments to suit your taste preferences.

Meats: Our choice of Italian meats includes Genoa salami and capicola (Italian ham), but you can add other Italian meats, such as soppressata, prosciutto, and pepperoni. You can also use different meats to make it more like a chef’s salad, by using deli ham, deli turkey, or roast beef.

Cheese: Aged sharp provolone adds tons of flavor to the salad, but you can use regular provolone if you prefer. You could also use any of your favorite cheeses in the recipe. Gorgonzola or blue cheese will add a little zing to the recipe, but you could also add Swiss or cheddar cheese if you prefer.

Veggies: This recipe typically uses iceberg lettuce, but you can also use romaine lettuce or add any of your favorite greens to the mixture. I love sweet grape tomatoes, but you can use cherry tomatoes or chopped plum tomatoes.

If you’re not a fan of pepperoncini peppers, you can use banana peppers, roasted red peppers, or bell peppers. You can also substitute sweet onions for the red onions. Other additions to the salad could be green olives, kalamata olives,

Dressing: Nothing beats a creamy Italian dressing, but if you’re not a fan of mayonnaise-based dressings, you can go with a balsamic vinaigrette to make it more of a low-carb salad. To kick up the flavor of our creamy dressing, add a little Dijon mustard, spicy deli mustard, or add a little of the juice from the pepperoncini jar.

How to Make a Grinder Salad

Follow along with my simple step-by-step instructions to learn how to make a grinder salad in your home kitchen.

Rinse and dry the iceberg lettuce. Then place it on a cutting board and cut it into small ribbons, aka shredded lettuce.
Chop the Italian meats and cheese into small pieces.
Slice the pepperoncini peppers.
Cut the grape tomatoes in half and chop or slice the onions.

Collage showing how to start the recipe.

Add the mayonnaise, tangy red wine vinegar, grated parmesan cheese, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, Italian seasoning, and minced garlic to a medium bowl.
Whisk to combine the ingredients for the grinder salad dressing and refrigerate until needed.
Add the shredded lettuce to a large mixing bowl.
Add the salami, capicola ham, and sharp provolone cheese to the bowl.

*You can add red pepper flakes to the delicious creamy dressing for a zestier flavor.

Collage showing how to finish the recipe.

Add the red onion, sliced pepperoncini peppers, and grape tomatoes to the bowl.
Toss to combine the ingredients.
Pour the salad dressing over the lettuce mixture.
Gently toss until all of the salad ingredients are well-coated.

To make this hearty salad the day before, build the salad, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate. Keep the tangy dressing refrigerated in another container, covered with plastic wrap or a mason jar. When you’re ready to serve, combine the two, toss to coat the ingredients with the delicious creamy dressing, and serve.

When you can make a salad that has all of your favorite sandwich ingredients, that’s a win in my book. After one taste, I’m sure you’ll agree there’s a good reason our Grinder Salad is one of my favorite salads!

Store any leftovers refrigerated in an airtight container for 1-2 days.

Recipe FAQs

What is a grinder?

The grinder name originated in New England. It generally refers to a hearty sandwich made with a hot filling. It can also be made with cold cuts, which is how the Italian grinder got its name. Locals tell us the name came from the crusty bread that was used to make the submarine sandwich. It was hard to chew and required grinding of the teeth,

Is a grinder salad the same as an antipasto salad?

Although they contain some of the same ingredients, they are not the same. A grinder salad is more of a chopped-style salad inspired by an Italian sub. An antipasto salad is a mix of meats, cheeses, and marinated vegetables tossed with a vinaigrette dressing.

Can I make this into grinder salad sandwiches?

Absolutely. You may want to cut back on the lettuce a little since, in salad form, there would be more lettuce than meat.

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