Brown Derby Cobb Salad

This Brown Derby Cobb Salad copycat recipe is a wonderful take on the famous Hollywood Brown Derby Cobb salad. This Cobb Salad ingredients include bacon, avocado, fresh crisp lettuce, chicken, hard-boiled eggs, and a special dressing.

Overhead view of copycat Brown Derby cobb salad.


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Original Hollywood Brown Derby Cobb Salad Recipe

The Cobb salad originated at the Brown Derby restaurant in Hollywood, CA. The owner’s name was Robert Cobb. You can still get this salad at Disney’s Hollywood Studios Brown Derby.

This salad was made with chopped Romaine and iceberg lettuce, crisp bacon, hard-boiled egg, tomato, chives, chicken breast, Roquefort cheese, and avocado. It was topped with an old-fashioned French dressing made at the restaurant.

This salad became known as the Brown Derby Cobb Salad nationwide and beyond.

Difference between Cobb Salad and Chef Salad

There is a slight difference between a traditional cobb salad and a chef salad. Both salads feature lettuce, cheese, bacon, chicken breast, ham, and hard-boiled eggs. But a Cobb Salad also includes Romaine, iceberg lettuce, avocados, and tomatoes.

Cobb Salad Ingredients

What everyone loves about a cobb salad is the ingredients never change.

Here’s what you’ll need:

  • Iceberg Lettuce
  • Romaine Lettuce
  • Curly Endive
  • Watercress
  • Chives
  • Tomatoes
  • Chicken Breast
  • Bacon
  • Avocado
  • Hard-boiled Egg
  • Roquefort Cheese
  • Brown Derby French Dressing
Brown Derby cobb salad ingredients on a tray.

How to Make Brown Derby Cobb Salad

  1. Chop iceberg lettuce, romaine lettuce, watercress, and endive, into small pieces.
  2. Toss the salad greens together in a large bowl.
Chopped lettuce for Brown Derby cobb salad in a bowl.
  1. Divide the greens equally into two salad bowls.
  2. Arrange the chives, tomatoes, chicken, bacon, avocado, eggs, and crumbled Roquefort cheese in rows on top of the greens.
  3. Pour the French dressing over the salad and toss to combine.
Copycat Brown Derby cobb salad in a large white salad bowl.

Cobb Salad Recipe Tips and Notes

  • The chicken can be boiled, roasted, or grilled. Do not use fried chicken because it doesn’t work well in this salad.
  • Roquefort cheese is a must. You can substitute another blue cheese or gorgonzola if you cannot find Roquefort.
  • For a low-carb and keto-friendly version, use blue cheese dressing instead of French dressing.
  • To prepare the salad ahead of time, put it together without the dressing. Cover and refrigerate it until serving. Add the dressing and toss the salad right before you eat it.

What to serve with a Cobb Salad

The classic Hollywood Brown Derby Cobb Salad is quite delicious on its own, but you may want to round out your meal with the following:

How to Store Cobb Salad

If you prepare the ingredients for the salad in advance, the components are best stored individually.

If you think you will have leftover salad, the first suggestion is to store the ingredients separately. The second best option is to assemble the salad and not pour the salad dressing over the salad.

Finally, you could store the salad leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge. This salad will last for a couple of days before it needs to be eaten.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a Cobb Salad?

Cobb salad is a traditional American garden salad made with chopped lettuce, chopped tomato, crispy bacon, cooked chicken breast, hard-boiled eggs, avocado, and Roquefort cheese. Typically this salad is laid out in neat little rows. This combination of ingredients laid out neatly in separate lines makes a cobb salad so distinct.

Why is it called a Cobb Salad?

The answer is so simple. This salad is named after the Chef, Robert Cobb, who created this salad at the Orignal Hollywood Brown Derby Restaurant. After a long evening of service, he put together these leftover ingredients and served them with a salad dressing.

What type of salad dressing is typical for a Cobb Salad?

This was initially served with a vinaigrette made with Dijon, lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce, and more. You can get the original cobb salad dressing recipe. You could use whatever salad dressing you prefer. Blue cheese is the most commonly used dressing for a cobb salad.

Copycat Brown Derby cobb salad in a bowl and a fork on a napkin behind it.

Favorite Salad Recipes

Check out more of my easy salad recipes and the best copycat restaurant recipes here on CopyKat!

What is your favorite type of salad?  Let us know in the comments below or add a salad you would like us to try and make.

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Overhead view of copycat Brown Derby cobb salad.

Original Hollywood Brown Derby Cobb Salad

You can make a Brown Derby Cobb Salad at home with this easy copycat recipe.
5 from 2 votes
Print Pin Rate Add to Collection
Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Brown Derby Cobb Salad, Cobb Salad
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Servings: 2
Calories: 1217kcal

Ingredients

Salad Dressing

  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 3/4 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1/2 clove garlic minced
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil

Salad

  • 1/2 head iceberg lettuce finely chopped
  • 1/2 head romaine lettuce finely chopped
  • 1/2 bunch watercress finely chopped
  • 1 small bunch curly endive finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons minced chives
  • 2 Roma tomatoes seeded and diced
  • 4 ounces chicken breast cooked and shredded
  • 6 slices bacon cooked and diced
  • 1 avocado peeled and diced
  • 3 hard-boiled eggs peeled and diced
  • 1/2 cup Roquefort cheese crumbled

Instructions

  • Combine all the salad dressing ingredients and mix well. Store the dressing in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Shake well before serving.
  • Mix the salad greens together in a large wide bowl.
  • Arrange the chives, tomatoes, chicken, bacon, avocado, eggs, and cheese in rows over the greens.
  • Before serving, pour 1/2 cup of the prepared dressing over the salad and toss to combine.

Notes

The chicken can be boiled, roasted, or even grilled. Do not use fried chicken because it doesn’t work well in this salad.
Roquefort cheese is also a must. There are variations of this salad that use cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese or none at all.
Substitute blue cheese dressing for a low-carb and keto-friendly version.
Like any salad, this salad is best enjoyed right away and all at once. If you want to prepare the salad ahead of time, put it together without the dressing and keep it refrigerated. Put the dressing on right before you eat it.

Nutrition

Calories: 1217kcal | Carbohydrates: 40g | Protein: 52g | Fat: 98g | Saturated Fat: 29g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 22g | Monounsaturated Fat: 35g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 413mg | Sodium: 2276mg | Potassium: 2478mg | Fiber: 19g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 21517IU | Vitamin C: 51mg | Calcium: 672mg | Iron: 7mg

About Stephanie Manley

I recreate your favorite restaurant recipes, so you can prepare these dishes at home. I help you cook dinner, and serve up dishes you know your family will love. You can find most of the ingredients for all of the recipes in your local grocery store.

Stephanie is the author of CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home, and CopyKat.com's Dining Out in the Home 2.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jacquelyn Hall

    In the book, it states Robert Cobb went into kitchen after close of dining hours, looking for something to eat. He noticed leftovers romaine, tomatoes, cucumbers and a few other left from prep. He chopped these and added some leftover chopped chicken, bavon and ham. He mixed it all together in a bowl adding a version of ranch dressing. The lines of topping likely are more visually appealing, but his was all in one bowl. I make it his way in a big salad bowl, using ranch or roquefort dressing.

  2. Enid Chavez

    5 stars
    This is what I read as to the creation of the Cobb Salad. The famous actress Norma Shearer was married to Irving Thalberg who happen to have a sensitive stomach. So, she asked the chef in the Brown Derby if he could create something that a baby could eat. Viola! The Cobb Salad was born.

  3. Patti at Camp Blogaway

    You can actually say the Cobb Salad WAS created by the Hollywood Brown Derby. Several years ago, my PR agency created the Dole Museum of Salad in NYC, and we highlighted the origins of classic salads like Cobb, Caesar, Waldorf. So… Howard Cobb, owner of the Brown Derby was closing up one evening when a group of high-profile customers came in. He went into the kitchen and either he or his chef (debates about credit) took whatever could be found, gave all the ingredients the same size chop to produce this beautiful salads.

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