The Smartest Way To Store Cobb Salad So It Stays Fresh

There is a scene in the 2009 biographical comedy "Julie and Julia" — about home baker Julie Powell who is inspired by French chef Julia Child's easy cooking tips to start her own cooking blog — where Julie meets a group of distant, high-powered friends for their monthly "Cobb Salad Lunch". The scene starts with the entire table of New York City businesswomen ordering varieties of Cobb salads, with modifications to the iconic recipe like "no blue cheese" and "no bacon." It paints an aspirational image of the lunch-time favorite, which includes several different ingredients, including protein, fruit and veggies, cheese, lettuce, and a strong, flavorful dressing. 

If you are planning to prepare a Cobb salad to serve to a group of guests or have one you'd like to save for later without it getting soggy, you'll have to take those ingredients into account. Luckily, there are tricks you can use to keep your Cobb salad fresh until you are ready to eat it, starting with separating the wet ingredients from the dry ingredients to maintain the lettuce's crispiness and the freshness of the others. 

There are also a few more things that can keep your ingredients in tip-top shape, like the paper towel method or the mason jar method. You can even think of artistic ways to serve the meal for a family dinner or a party that does not require the ingredients to overlap. Continue reading for a few tips on how to best store your Cobb salad.

The basic components of a Cobb salad are romaine lettuce, chopped tomatoes, hard-boiled eggs, cooked chicken, avocado, crumbled blue cheese, and chives. The salad is then topped with a creamy dressing made of red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, honey, olive oil, salt, and pepper.

If you do not mind using multiple containers, you can store the ingredients separately to avoid a soggy dish. Put the lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, cooked chicken, and chives in one container, and the tomatoes and avocado in a separate container. It is also recommended to store your cheese and dressing separately. During the storage process, make sure the lettuce is dry to avoid wilting. To best store romaine lettuce after washing it, try lining the container with a paper towel or using a salad spinner.

Another option is to use the mason jar method which involves strategically assembling the salad ingredients in a mason jar. To use this technique, place the dressing on the bottom of the jar, followed by the protein, the avocado and tomato, the blue cheese, and the romaine lettuce. This ensures that the wet ingredients are not touching the lettuce as much as they would in a flatter container.

But what if you are making the Cobb salad for a large gathering? While you can use the aforementioned storage tips to keep the dish fresh until it is time to serve, the assembly process may take a few minutes given the large amounts of the ingredients. If you want to prepare a ready-to-serve salad ahead of an event, try assembling the ingredients on a charcuterie board. First, start with a bowl of dressing in the center, and then add the lettuce around the dressing. On the sides of the bowl, stack the individual ingredients, like a pile of bacon, a pile of hard-boiled eggs, and so forth. Make sure to keep like ingredients in the same area because they will be touching — so the tomatoes and the avocados should be next to one another. Then you can wrap the board in plastic wrap to store in the refrigerator until needed. 

Upon presentation, guests can be invited to build their own Cobb salad, which is friendly for picky eaters or those with dietary restrictions. That way, everybody gets the Cobb salad they want with the freshest ingredients possible. For another simple salad preparation trick, try chilling the serving dish and serving utensils in the fridge before they are used. This helps maintain the quality and coldness of the ingredients to ensure a fresh, delicious salad.