Summer Chopped Salad
on Jul 11, 2025
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With peaches, tomatoes and avocados, this summer chopped salad proves why you need to have a version of one for every season. You can’t beat the variety of textures and flavors that you get in a chopped salad. Tossed in balsamic vinaigrette, this one has a little bit of everything in each bite, celebrating stone fruit and tomatoes during peak season. Enjoy it as an entree salad for lunch or dinner.
Also try this summer grain salad with farro, peaches and corn.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
It doesn’t get any more summer than a salad with peaches and tomatoes. This is the season for stone fruit and tomatoes. Even though you can get pretty much any vegetable or fruit any time of the year, summer is when stone fruit and tomatoes are at their best.
This salad has a mix of ingredients and textures that will have you going back for seconds. You have sweet peaches, ripe tomatoes, creamy avocados, toasted walnuts and blue cheese. Savory and sweet, they all work so well together.
You can customize the salad. Switch up the fruit or the cheese. Try adding a protein like chicken. The beauty of a chopped salad is that you can make adjustments depending what you are in the mood for and what you have in your kitchen.
The Ingredients
This is what you need:
- Peaches: Whether you’re at the grocery or the farmers market, look for peaches that are fragrant and give just a little when you gently squeeze them. These are both good signs that the fruit is ripe.
- Tomatoes: Cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes will work in any color. I like small tomatoes in salads because they hold their juices and seeds rather than chopping bigger tomatoes, which can get messy.
- Avocados give the salad creamy mellow flavor. Lately, I have been using them in more recipes with Mediterranean ingredients. Avocados can go with so much more than cilantro and lime juice.
- Romaine is always my base for chopped salads. I like romaine hearts because they are the center of the head of lettuce and have more crunch.
- Red onions are my summer salad onion because they are crisp, sharp and great raw.
- Blue cheese is pungent and some would say stinky. This is a love-it/hate-it cheese. You can substitute with feta cheese, goat cheese or mozzarella for something more quiet.
- Walnuts: Always toast the nuts for 5-7 minutes in a 350-degree F oven. This brings out their nutty flavor. You can swap with chopped almonds.
- Parsley and chives: Fresh herbs are a wonderful finishing touch in salads. Here I use chopped parsley and chives, but you can also include fresh basil.
- Balsamic vinaigrette: I include honey to round out the dressing which has balsamic vinegar, garlic, whole grain mustard, extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and black pepper.
How To Make This Summer Chopped Salad
1. Combine the salad ingredients. Put the romaine, peaches, tomatoes, avocados, red onions, blue cheese, walnuts, chives and parsley in a big bowl.
2. Make the vinaigrette. Stir the minced garlic, honey, mustard, salt, pepper, vinegar and oil in a small bowl.
3. Drizzle the dressing into the salad, tossing to combine.
Serving
This is a great main dish summer salad for lunch or dinner. You can keep it vegetarian or add a protein. Grilled or roasted chicken are great with peaches. Serve it as a side salad with roasted ratatouille quinoa, tofu veggie skewers, oven-baked zucchini corn fritters or burst cherry tomato pasta.
Leftovers & Storage
Only toss the amount of salad you are planning to eat in the dressing. Then your leftovers won’t get soggy. If you do save part of the salad, the avocado will brown. That won’t affect the taste. You can also just cut part of the avocado to prevent this from happening.
You can save the undressed salad in an airtight container in the fridge up to 2 days. Store the vinaigrette in a jar, and let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before you toss it in the salad.
More Summer Salad Recipes
Balsamic Tomato Peach Salad
Peach Watermelon Salad
Grilled Peach Salad
Peach Caprese Salad
Peach Tomato Burrata Salad
Heirloom Tomato Salad
Tomato Avocado Salad
Looking for more salad inspiration? Check out my seasonal salad guide with recipes and tips on ingredients, meal prep and more.
Summer Chopped Salad
Ingredients
For salad
- 4 cups chopped romaine hearts
- 2 peaches, diced
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes or grape tomatoes, halved
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1/4 cup finely chopped red onions
- 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
- 1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts
- 1 tablespoon minced chives
- 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
For viniagrette
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Combine the romaine, peaches, tomatoes, avocados, red onions, blue cheese, walnuts, chives and parsley in a large bowl.
- To make the vinaigrette, whisk the garlic, honey, mustard, salt, pepper, vinegar and olive oil in a small bowl.
- Drizzle the dressing into the salad. Toss to combine.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
