The Gotham Salad at BG Restaurant in New York's Bergdorf Goodman is a classic chopped salad. My version combines deli turkey, ham, bacon, roasted beets, Swiss cheese, eggs, tomatoes, and crisp lettuce with homemade Thousand Island dressing.
Don't you love food with history?
According to Town and Country magazine, Bergdorf Goodman's BG Restaurant averages 2,400 orders of the Gotham salad every month. Over a million diners have enjoyed the Gotham Salad, and it has been on the menu for over 100 years.
That's amazing!
This salad is easy to make, and it's perfect for a low-carb diet! With all the ingredients cut into bite-size pieces, you get a mouthful of every ingredient in each bite. All of it is gluten-free.
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What You Need for The Gotham Salad
- I bought thick-cut slices of turkey breast, Swiss cheese, and ham at the deli counter, then cut each into strips and diced them.
- Diced cooked beets - you can get great cooked beets in the produce section of your grocery store
- Diced tomatoes - use any variety, the freshest tomatoes you can buy.
- Diced hard-boiled eggs - mash them into bits with the back of a fork.
- Bacon - crumbled into bite-sized pieces.
- Iceberg lettuce - you can substitute Romaine lettuce. The lettuce should be crunchy.
Although the original recipe called for poached chicken breasts, I used deli-sliced Turkey Breast in this salad. I have a great poached chicken recipe you can try.
Ingredients for Thousand Island Dressing
The dressing is delicious. I made it with Hellmann's mayonnaise, chili sauce, pickle relish, chopped onions, and peppers. I used apple cider vinegar instead of tarragon vinegar.
- Diced red onion
- Diced green bell pepper
- Chili sauce. You can substitute ketchup.
- Sweet pickle relish
- Tarragon vinegar (you can substitute apple cider vinegar)
- Grated ginger
- Mayonnaise
- Chopped garlic
- Salt to taste
- Freshly ground black pepper
If this dressing is too much to make, go with a Balsamic Vinaigrette, like this one from Meggan Hill. Made with extra virgin olive oil, Dijon mustard, and honey, it's hard to go wrong.
How To Make Gotham Salad
Chop the salad ingredients. Puree all the dressing ingredients in a food processor or blender. Gently toss salad ingredients with Thousand Island Dressing in a large mixing bowl.
Serve chilled.
Make-Ahead Tips
Chop all the ingredients and prepare the dressing, keeping them separate until ready to serve. Store each component in a separate sealed container and the salad dressing in a covered jar. Refrigerate all components. Here are some top tips:
- Dressing: Blend all ingredients and store in a screw-top jar until ready to use. You can prepare this up to two days in advance.
- Lettuce: Rinse, dry, and store in a plastic bag. Wet a paper towel and place it in the bag to keep the lettuce fresh.
- Tomatoes: Dice large garden-variety tomatoes, or use cherry or grape tomatoes, halved or quartered.
- Poached Chicken Breast can be cooked a day in advance or substituted with a store-bought rotisserie chicken or deli turkey.
- Bacon: can be made a few hours ahead of your meal. Fry or bake the bacon on a sheet pan in the oven until the fat renders out and it's super-crispy. Crumble until you have ½-inch pieces.
- Hard-boiled eggs: prepare a day in advance and store in the refrigerator. Chop when putting the salad together.
- Beets: Pick up in the produce section of your grocery store.
Store the leftovers in Mason jars and refrigerate for no more than one day.
This chopped Gotham Salad combines crisp lettuce, deli turkey, ham, bacon, roasted beets, Swiss cheese, and eggs with homemade Thousand Island dressing.
The dressing is classic Thousand Island dressing. It's an easy salad to pull together. Plus, it's easy to make - perfect for when you're short on time. Try it today!
The Gotham Salad has many ingredients, but it is well worth the time. You are going to love it! This simple NYC salad recipe is perfect for any occasion.
The Bergdorf Goodman Cookbook
This recipe was adapted from The Bergdorf Goodman Cookbook.
If you enjoy cookbooks, this one is an excellent choice. It features 100 recipes with beautiful hand-drawn illustrations. Each recipe includes a passage with background information. I love it!
The recipes include cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, soups, salads, entrees, and lots of desserts from restaurant chefs and the Fifth Avenue landmark's famous clientele.
I have halved the Gotham Salad recipe for us. You can easily double it for a big family.
Silverman, Laura. The Bergdorf Goodman Cookbook. New York/USA: HarperCollins Publishers.
FAQ
Bring a pot of cold water with a big pinch of salt to a boil. With a slotted spoon, add eggs, one by one. Turn off the heat and cover the pot. Set a timer for 10 minutes. While the eggs cook, prepare a large bowl of ice water.
When the timer goes off, remove the eggs from the pot and plunge them into the ice bath. Let them cool for 5-10 minutes. Peel and dice.
Gruyère is a mild cheese, similar to Swiss Cheese. Try Jarlsberg, Swiss, or Emmenthaler.
Alabama Jack's makes a great salad. The iconic bar and restaurant is located on Card Sound Road, about 7 miles from the entrance to the Ocean Reef Club. Their salad ingredients are all cut up, so it is similar to a chopped salad. Top the salad with grilled or blackened shrimp and ranch dressing. You can't go wrong!
Gotham Salad
Ingredients
FOR THE SALAD
- 1 cup deli turkey breast, diced (4 oz)
- 1 cup cubed Swiss cheese (4 oz)
- 1 cup cooked and diced ham (4 oz)
- 5 slices crispy bacon crumbled
- 2 hard-boiled eggs chopped
- ½ cup roasted diced beets (2-3 cooked beets)
- 1 cup diced tomatoes about ½ pint cherry tomatoes
- 4 cups iceberg lettuce finely shredded (1 head of lettuce)
FOR THE DRESSING
- 1 tablespoon diced red onion 1 slice of onion
- 2 tablespoons diced green bell pepper about ¼ of a pepper
- 2 tablespoons chili sauce
- 1 tablespoon pickle relish
- 1 teaspoon tarragon vinegar use if you have it (or apple cider vinegar)
- ¼ teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon fresh ginger (½-inch piece) peeled
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cut all ingredients into bite-size pieces.
- Puree the dressing ingredients without the mayonnaise. Add the mayo and blend well.
- Toss the salad with the dressing.
- Serve chilled.
