If you love a good grinder, my grinder salad recipe has all the flavors of this beloved Italian sandwich in a bowl!
The dressing is so heavenly, it’s spoon-licking good. Add your favorite deli meats, pepperoncini, red onion, tomatoes, and provolone to chopped lettuce, toss it up in my creamy dressing and you have a delicious low-carb meal or side salad.
What is a Grinder? Depending upon the region you live, grinder is synonymous with the hero, hoagie, or sub sandwich. This salad is so good, you won’t miss the bread.
If you‘re looking for more salads that aren’t the average, run-of-the-mill, wah-wah tasting, try our wonderful Mediterranean salad, pizza salad, or our most popular salad, KFC Coleslaw!
More in the mood for the sandwich? I hope you’ll try our Italian chopped sandwich. I promise it’s off-the-charts DELICIOUS!!
Grinder Salad Ingredients
- Mayonnaise: The base of the creamy dressing
- Red Wine Vinegar: Vinegar adds tang to the dressing. In a pinch, you can substitute with apple cider or white vinegar, but not balsamic.
- Italian seasoning: This mix of herbs has the perfect combination of rosemary, basil, marjoram, and oregano.
- Garlic: Fresh garlic gives the dressing a kick.
- Parmesan: Grated parmesan makes the dressing so good; a little salty and cheesy.
- Salt + Pepper: Table salt and black pepper
- Sugar: A little sugar added to the dressing balances out the flavors.
- Iceberg Lettuce: This crunchy lettuce is the base of the salad. You can substitute Romaine or other sturdy lettuce of your choice.
- Ham or Turkey: Gotta have meat!
- Pepperoncini: This mild pickled pepper adds a tangy pickled flavor to the salad.
- Grape Tomatoes: These little tomatoes pack a lot of flavor, have few seeds, and are consistently good. They’re also readily available year-round.
- Red Onion: I love red onions, which add a sharp, crunchy, and peppery flavor.
- Provolone: This mild Italian white cheese is a classic for Grinder sandwiches.
- Salami: Last but not least, salami is a must to round out all the classic flavors of our favorite Italian sandwich, in a salad.
Tips
- Uncured Deli Meats: I prefer using uncured deli meats in this salad. Uncured simply means the meats are not cured with added synthetic nitrates or nitrites. Synthetic nitrates and nitrites are associated with potential health concerns. The uncured meats have some naturally occurring, but there aren’t more added. Nitrates are naturally occurring in soil, water, air, and some foods.
-
Start Slow With Vinegar: Use 1 to 2 Tablespoons of Red wine vinegar. Start with 1 tablespoon and taste the dressing. I you like tangier dressing, add more vinegar to your liking.
- Keep ‘Em Separate: Do not add the dressing to the salad until you are ready to serve it in order to keep the lettuce and all the ingredients from wilting. Chill the salad and dressing separately until ready to serve.
- Grinder Salad with Beans: If you’d like to add more protein, cooked garbanzo beans are a great addition. If you’re using canned, be sure to rinse and drain before adding to the salad.
- Got Tortellini? This is also delicious with cooked, drained, and chilled tortellini.
- Grinder Salad With Chicken: This salad is loaded with deli meats. If you’d like, you can add chicken too, or cut bake on some of the deli meats.
Storing + Freezing + Make-Ahead
- How Long Can You Keep This in The Fridge? Once made and dressed, your Italian Grinder Salad will need to be eaten immediately. If you store the salad separately from the dressing, it can be kept for a few days.
- Can You Freeze This? This cannot be frozen.
- Make-Ahead: Yes, you can make this ahead of time. Just chill the salad separately from the dressing until ready to serve.
How To Make Grinder Salad
- Combine all the dressing ingredients.
- Whisk it.
- Chop all the salad ingredients.
- Place all salad ingredients in a large salad bowl. Toss.
- Serve.
***See the full instructions below.
More Delicious Salad Recipes
- Strawberry Salad
- Spinach Strawberry Salad
- Carrot Salad
- Quinoa Salad
- Cucumber Tomato Salad (Grandma’s recipe!)
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
- Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Cucumber Tomato Feta Salad
- Southwest Salad
- Broccoli Salad
- Mexican Corn Salad
Tried This Recipe?
If you make this spaghetti recipe with ground beef, I’d love to hear what you think! 💕 Please leave a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating and a comment below — your feedback helps other home cooks and means so much to me.
And don’t forget to snap a photo and tag me on Instagram @gonna_want_seconds — I can’t wait to see your delicious plate of pasta! 🍝
💌 Hungry for more yummy cozy recipes? Subscribe to my newsletter so you never miss a new family favorite.
Thanks for stopping by my kitchen today — happy cooking, friends! 💗 Kathleen
Grinder Salad
Our grinder salad is loaded with meats, cheeses, and the best homemade dressing ever! It's a hearty salad that eats like a meal!
Servings: 6 servings
Ingredients
Dressing
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 2 teaspoons garlic grated {microplaned}
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan,
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon sugar
Salad
- 6 cups Iceberg lettuce, finely chopped
- 4 ounces ham or turkey, sliced in 1/4 inch strips
- 1/4 cup sliced pepperoncini
- 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, sliced in half
- 1/4 cup red onion, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup provolone, sliced in 1/4 inch strips
- 1/2 cup salami sliced in 1/4 inch strips
Instructions
Make Dressing;
- Whisk together all dressing ingredients.
Make Salad:
- Place all salad ingredients in a large salad bowl. Toss until everything is evenly combined.
- If serving immediately, toss with dressing until ingredients are evenly evenly coated.
- If making ahead, cover dressing and salad separately with plastic wrap, and store in the refrigerator. Toss salad with dressing right before serving.
Notes
- Uncured Deli Meats: I prefer using uncured deli meats in this salad. Uncured simply means the meats are not cured with added synthetic nitrates or nitrites. Synthetic nitrates and nitrites are associated with potential health concerns. The uncured meats have some naturally occurring, but there aren’t more added. Nitrates are naturally occurring in soil, water, air, and some foods.
-
Start Slow With Vinegar: Use 1 to 2 tablespoons of red wine vinegar. Start with 1 tablespoon and taste the dressing. I you like tangier dressing, add more vinegar to your liking.
- Keep ‘Em Separate: Do not add the dressing to the salad until you are ready to serve it in order to keep the lettuce and all the ingredients from wilting. Chill the salad and dressing separately until ready to serve.
- Grinder Salad with Beans: If you’d like to add more protein, cooked garbanzo beans are a great addition. If you’re using canned, be sure to rinse and drain before adding to the salad.
- Got Tortellini? This is also delicious with cooked, drained, and chilled tortellini.
- Grinder Salad With Chicken: This salad is loaded with deli meats. If you’d like, you can add chicken too, or cut bake on some of the deli meats.
Nutrition
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 299kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Cholesterol: 41mg | Sodium: 942mg | Potassium: 277mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 595IU | Vitamin C: 5mg | Calcium: 127mg | Iron: 1mg
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE? I'D LOVE TO SEE!Tag @GonnaWantSeconds or #gonnawantseconds on Instagram!
© Gonna Want Seconds. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media/website/blog is strictly prohibited.
I’ve been looking for salads that I’d love to eat, this is one of them!!
Yaaay! That’s awesome, Diane!
Thanks for the positive feedback and the 5 star rating 🙂