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This tasty vegetarian Cobb salad is a delicious healthy dinner recipe for Meatless Monday, featuring chickpeas and coconut bacon.

The other day I came across the quote, “Practice being kind to yourself in small, concrete ways.” (It’s part of a book I’m reading on creative renewal, which I’d highly recommend.) Maybe it’s a tad bit cliche, but it got me thinking. The challenge here is not an excuse to be self-indulgent, simply kind. Are you feeding yourself well? Do you have socks? A new houseplant? Have you committed to daily solitude and reflection?

Even for committed home cooks Alex and me, thoughtful, nutritious meals are the first to go when time gets crunched. There’s something about a thoughtfully-prepared meal that’s comforting. Kind. That’s where this vegetarian Cobb salad comes in! It’s not rocket science, but something about this beautifully composed salad feels like a treat, just looking at it. And that’s before you’ve even tasted the flavors…! Ready to dig in?

What’s in a vegetarian Cobb salad?

The Cobb salad is a well-known main dish salad that’s crisp and filling. Typically it includes chicken, bacon, hard boiled egg, and avocado, served over greens with blue cheese crumbles and a vinaigrette. But since Alex and I eat mostly vegetarian and plant based meals, we wanted to create a vegetarian spin. Luckily, it turned into a fresh, healthy version that we like even better than the original! Here’s what we included in our vegetarian Cobb salad:

Instead of chicken, chickpeas! Of course, chickpeas are similar to chicken only in the first 5 letters of the word! But they’re a great source of plant based protein so included them to keep the salad filling.
Hard boiled eggs. No Cobb salad is complete without the eggs! Here’s our no fail method.
Vegan bacon made of coconut! The star is the coconut bacon: smoky, crispy and rich. If you prefer another type of vegan bacon, try our shiitake bacon or tempeh bacon.
Blue cheese crumbles. It’s traditional in this salad, and adds just the right bold flavor.
Avocado, green onions, and greens. Round it out with avocado and some crisp greens.
Red wine vinaigrette. Over the top, pour a zesty vinaigrette made with red wine vinegar.

Serving Cobb salad!

This salad has a few components to prepare, but if a few are completed in advance, it’s simple to put together and a fantastic combination of flavors. It hardly tastes like a salad, the flavors are so bold and bright–not to mention the colorful visual appeal! It’s perfect as a main dish salad for Meatless Mondays, or any day of the week.

For a little kindness the other night, Alex and I indulged in a Cobb salad and a cool glass of rosé on the porch. It was so worth the extra time and effort. And then instead of my habitual catching up on work in the evening–I read a book. (Take that, workaholic self.)

Read about the history of the Cobb salad.
Make coconut bacon!
Make time to eat right.
Check out The Artist’s Way and tell us what you think.

Looking for more hard boiled egg recipes?

Outside of this two potato salad with honey mustard vinaigrette recipe, here are a few more uses for hard boiled eggs:

This vegetarian Cobb salad recipe is…

Vegetarian and gluten-free.