DIY Chopped Salad

DIY Chopped Salad- Inspired by the grocery store chopped salad kits, this homemade version is much cheaper and doesn’t require hours and hours of chopping.

June 24, 2025 by Nicole Collins

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Today, we’re making DIY Chopped Salad!

Ok so here’s the thing…it’s no secret that ya girl loves a leafy green. I actually love any veggie that’s not orange, and I love it even more if it’s raw. I’ve never been one that’ll turn my nose up at a salad.

But here’s the other thing, there are some days when even chopping lettuce feels like too much. It feels like the push over the cliff. So even if I really may want or even be craving a salad, if there’s any effort involved, I’m out.

That’s where those grocery store chopped salad kits come in. I absolutely LOVE them. And, they’re great to keep on hand. But, if you really stop and think about the 2 servings you’re getting, they’re a little pricey. I can buy 2 heads of lettuce for the price of one chopped salad kit. Now, you have to factor in the variety of veggies and dressing and topping you’re getting, but I knew there had to be a better way.

And guess what, there is!

There’s something that just hits different about a finely chopped salad. It could be the same veggies but a totally different vibe when it’s all chip chopped. But, who has that kind of time to finely mince all the veggies. Not me…I can’t even rough chop veggies after a long day. But you know who can handle that kind of job? The food processor!

That’s right, we’re going to let the food processor do all the heavy lifting for us to help us get the most perfectly fine chopped veggies. But, there is a method here. Things can go from chopped to puree quickly, so let me show you the way.

First, I like to start with the “hard veggies”. Typically for me, I use broccoli, cauliflower, and matchstick carrots. These three items are veggies that I always have on hand for multiple reasons…one being, they have a pretty long shelf life as far as veggies go. The other is that I love eating roasted broccoli as a side dish and raw cauliflower as a snack. My point being, I’m going to have these veggies lying around whether I’m making chopped salad or not, so it doesn’t feel like an extra expense to me. Another possible option to throw in here would be some chopped cabbage, red or green.

So, we’ll get our harder veggies into the food processor, making sure not to have it filled to the tippy top. The veg need space to FLY! Then, we’re going to do three QUICK pulses of the food processor. We don’t want to overwork these veggies, and every time I’ve done this, three was the magic number. Quick quick QUICK pulses, and those veggies will be perfectly chopped. From there, we’ll transfer round one of our veggies to a zip top baggie.

Next, we’re going to chop our leafy greens. A couple things to note. First, we’re going to use the same food processor bowl. No need to clean it after round one. In fact, it’s better not to clean it, because we don’t want to risk any water droplets being left behind in the bowl. Moisture is the enemy of our chopped salad mix. Which brings me to point two, we need to use a leafy green with low water content. This is not the time for iceberg or even romaine, because both are pretty hydrated as far as greens go. We want to use something like red or green leaf lettuce, kale, spinach, arugula…any one or combo of those works great.

We’ll give the leafy greens a pre-chop so they don’t have to spend any unnecessary time in the food processor. Then, our greens get 2-3 even shorter, even quicker pulses. When I say short and quick, I mean we’re barely touching the button the pulse is so light. These greens are delicate and we definitely don’t want to turn them into pesto.

Once the greens are chopped, we’ll add them to the baggie with the harder veggies, and give it all a good shake to combine. When you’re ready to serve, you can top the salad with WHATEVER dressing and crunchy topping your heart desires. Feeling basic, top with some French fried onions and my homemade ranch. Feeling Asian vibes, top it with a sesame dressing, cashews, and/or wonton strips. Want something a little lighter, top with vinaigrette and breadcrumbs. The possibilities are truly endless on how to dress up this salad.

And the best part, this salad will keep in the fridge for up to 5 days. And even better, when the first batch is used up, you’ll already have most of the veggies on hand to make another batch. Or even even better, this is a great option to serve at a party or bbq because it’s fun, interesting, customizable, and EASY!

Since I’ve cracked the code to using the food processor to chop salads, I’ve pretty much had this salad mix in my fridge at all times. It’s been absolutely amazing. I may never go back to those store bought kits!

OK, everyone! Let me know what you’re putting on your salads when you make this!

I hope you guys enjoy. And, let’s eat!

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DIY Chopped Salad

Serves: 5 cups          Print

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cauliflower florets

• 2 cups broccoli florets

• ½ cup matchstick carrots

• 4 cups leafy greens (like green leaf lettuce, red leaf lettuce, spinach, kale, arugula, or cabbage), roughly chopped

Directions:

1. Add cauliflower, broccoli, and carrots to the bowl of a food processor. Process with 3 quick pulses to chop the veggies. Transfer to a ziptop gallon baggie.

2. To the same bowl, add leafy greens. Process with 2-4 very quick pulses until chopped. Transfer to the baggie with the other veggies.

3. Zip the baggie shut with air still in the bag, and shake well to combine the veggies.

4. Serve with your choice of salad dressing and crunchy toppings. Will store in the fridge for up to 5 days.
   

Recipe notes:

*For our leafy greens, we need to use a green with low water content. I’d recommend staying away from romaine and iceberg lettuce. I usually pick 2 of the above leafy greens and use equal parts of each.

*We want to just barely tap the pulse button on our food processor. Quick, fast pulses are all we need to chop our veggies. It happens very fast.

*Do make sure to give your greens a rough chop before putting them in the food processor. We want to help them along so they spend as little time in the food processor as possible. They’re very delicate, so we don’t want to overdo it.

*I love to top this salad with a variety of crunchy toppings depending on what flavor of dressing I’m using. I like French fried onions, seeds, nuts, wonton strips, tortilla strips…there are so many options!