Summery Kale Cobb Salad with Pesto Salad Dressing

A summertime recipe for cobb salad that includes grilled chicken AND corn plus caprese salad ingredients with juicy tomatoes, mozzarella, and a super easy basil pesto salad dressing that is out of this world delish. This is also a great meal prep kale salad! If you have any leftover pesto, use it to make burrata pesto dip as a starter!

Oh hello, here's a salad we can SINK OUR TEETH INTO. Finally. 

I'm all about a main dish salad. I order them often in restaurants because I want to, not because I'm punishing myself for something or feel like I should. BUT, the salad's gotta be a good one. House made dressings, fun protein choices, crunchy things, etc.

Kale Cobb Salad Recipe Notes

• This salad in particular is SO good as a main dish. It's got the base of my favorite kale salad that we make at least once per week.
• Meal prep this one! I wash and tear the kale on Sundays when I meal prep then use it for at least one lunch and one dinner, then throw any leftovers into pasta or curry at the end of the week.
• Grilling the chicken and corn adds tons of summery flavor AND keeps the kitchen clean.
• The caprese flavors in this are perfect for summer - pesto salad dressing, fresh mozzarella, and tomatoes. If you make this in the winter it still works well, just use cherry tomatoes or Campari tomatoes for lots of flavor year round.
• This is mostly a low carb main dish, although I like the addition of corn for some carb balance. You can also add croutons or bread on the side of this cobb, both are great to round out the meal.

Pesto Salad Dressing

The dressing for this salad is the most simple pesto vinaigrette: any pesto you have on hand mixed with some fresh lemon juice to thin it out, and maybe a pinch of salt if you need it.

I like to make the dressing in advance and use it on all sorts of things. But, for the sake of timing this recipe, you can also make it after you prep the kale - it needs to sit a bit to soften while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Timing Pro Tip: I wrote the pesto salad dressing in that order in the recipe card below, but truly the steps to getting this salad ready can be re-ordered based on what works for you, how much you want to prep vs doing it all at once, etc.

Ingredients and Ingredient Swaps

Here's what we're working with!

• Flat/dino/lacinato kale. You can use any kale you like, but I prefer flat kale to curly for its nice chewy texture.
• Lemon. One lemon that gets a lot of action in the recipe. The zest goes on the grilled chicken, and the fresh lemon juice is split in half - half goes on the kale, half goes in the pesto salad dressing.
• The pesto salad dressing, which is just lemon juice, pesto, and salt. Use any basil pesto that you like for the classic caprese flavor.
• Boneless skinless chicken thighs for grilling. This is the BEST boneless chicken for grilling and I won't discuss other options. (use whatever chicken you like, obviously)
• Corn on the cob. Two ears that we'll grill then cut the kernels off to spread over the salad. SO GOOD.
• Cherry tomatoes or any other tomatoes that you like.
• Fresh mozzarella to round out the caprese vibe we're going for!
• Optional: balsamic glaze for drizzling right at the end. I skipped it because I don't love it. But, yes, traditionally caprese salad consists of fresh basil (hence, the pesto), tomatoes, mozzarella, and balsamic. Choose your own adventure!

See the recipe card below for full ingredient list and instructions.

Step by Step Instructions

Start by adding just a bit of olive oil to the kale, then squish fistfuls of the kale to break it up slightly and spread the oil over all the leaves. This will soften the kale leaves just slightly and make them wonderfully chewy without being hard to eat.

Prep the corn and chicken at the same time. I drizzle both with olive oil and add lots of salt and pepper, then grill them and let them cool while I make the rest of the salad.

Toss the lemon zest all over the chicken, too.

Preheat your grill to high and grill the corn on a few sides just until nice char marks form - don't worry about actually cooking the corn.

Grill the chicken for about 7 minutes on each side until it's totally cooked through - more or less depending on your grill.

When the dressing is done and the corn and chicken are grilled, all that's left is assembling the salad. Here are the final steps:

• Use a serrated knife (even a steak knife works for this) to cut the corn off the cob.
• Toss the kale with the rest of the lemon juice and a good sprinkle of salt. Taste the kale and keep salting it until the lemon juice isn't too strong and the kale is really flavorful.
• Slice the chicken, dice the tomatoes and mozzarella if they aren't prepped yet.
• Arrange the ingredients on top of the kale in pretty rows (cobs on a Cobb, get it?), then drizzle just a bit of the dressing over the top.
• Toss everything together or keep everything separate on a platter, then transfer to bowls to serve.

Serving and What Goes with Kale Cobb Salad

For serving, pass extra dressing for anyone that needs it.

I love this with a loaf of no-knead bread and brownies for dessert. Simple, delicious, and so so summery. A bowl of vegan pasta salad is also really nice on the side!

Make Ahead and Leftover Storage

• I think this is so yummy served fresh because the hot chicken + cool other ingredients are so, so good together. That said, besides grilling, every single ingredient can be prepped in advance, so truly all you have to do is grill, cut the corn off the cob, and arrange the salad.
• Leftovers are great in the fridge for 2-3 days, kale holds up so well even with dressing on it.

It's delicious, nutritious, whole food-y without being overly light or boring. The chicken and cheese have enough protein that you aren't going to be scrounging for a snack ten minutes later, always a pitfall of super light recipes for me.

Pesto to me just screams summer, and the corn with tomatoes drive the point home in a borderline-not-quite-obnoxious way, the best line to straddle when it comes to summer produce.

Enjoy this one! It's EXCELLENT.

More Ultra Summery Meals

Recipe

Summery Kale Cobb Salad with Pesto Salad Dressing

Lindsay Howerton-Hastings

The BEST pesto salad dressing over a kale cobb! This combines the best parts of cobb salad, kale salad, and caprese salad all into one gigantic nutrient-dense summery powerhouse. You will LOVE this.

5 from 30 ratings

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Servings 4 servings

Equipment

• ▢
  Chef Knife
• ▢
  Juicer
• ▢
  Zester

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 1 bunch Lacinato or flat, or dino kale
• ▢ 4 tablespoons olive oil divided
• ▢ 1 lemon zested and juiced
• ▢ Kosher salt and pepper
• ▢ 4 tablespoons prepared basil pesto
• ▢ 1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs
• ▢ 2 ears corn husks removed
• ▢ ½ cup cherry tomatoes halved
• ▢ 4 ounces fresh mozzarella cubed

Instructions

 

Kale Prep

• Remove the stems from the kale leaves with your fingers or a small knife. Tear the kale into bite-sized pieces and place in a large salad bowl.
• Drizzle the kale with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil and squish it into the kale using your hands, like you are trying to squeeze water out of the kale. When the kale is coated in the oil, let it sit while you prepare the rest of the salad. This will soften the leaves slightly.

Pesto Salad Dressing

• Make the dressing by combining the pesto, the juice of half the lemon, and ¼ teaspoon salt with a fork. This is a great use of time while the kale rests, but it also can be done several days in advance and kept in the fridge.

The Rest of the Kale Cobb

• Grill Prep: Preheat a grill for high heat grilling. Toss the chicken thighs with the lemon zest, ½ teaspoon EACH salt and pepper, and 2 tablespoons olive oil. Drizzle the corn with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
• Grill: Grill the corn until dark marks form, then remove from the grill and allow to cool. Grill the chicken until cooked through, about 7 minutes on each side.
• When done grilling, slice the chicken and use a serrated knife to scrape the corn kernels from the cobs. Toss the kale with the juice from the other half of the lemon and ½ teaspoon of salt.
• Assemble the salad. Make a bed with the seasoned kale and arrange segments of the corn, chicken, tomatoes, and mozzarella. Drizzle with the pesto dressing. Enjoy!

Notes

Basic Kale Salad: The kale base of this salad is one that I use all the time, for main dish salads like this one or side salads topped with any other veggies I have. It’s delicious!

Leftover Storage: I love this salad freshly prepared with the cool salad base and the warm grilled chicken and corn. However, kale holds up really well in the fridge, and leftovers of this is perfect for a few days in the fridge.

Prep: If you'd like to cook this freshly but prep in advance, I'd suggest doing everything BUT grilling the chicken and corn and adding the lemon juice to the kale in advance. This can be done the day before or the morning you'd like to make this, and the pesto salad dressing can be kept in the fridge for several days once it's made.

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!

This recipe was originally written in August 2019. I've updated it slightly with better instructions and notes on time management. I hope you love it as much as we have for so many years!