Love the Pine Room Salad from R&D Kitchen? Me too. Here's my closest copycat recipe for the deliciously crunchy chopped kale and lettuce salad with toasted almonds, boiled egg, and a bacony mustard dressing.

I don't often miss my days of living in crowded Uptown Dallas. But when I do, it's because of the food. Having numerous options of delicious, quality restaurants at my disposal (many within walking distance) is one of the only things I miss about living in a big city. I often find myself craving some of my old favorites from Dallas restaurants, one of them being R&D Kitchen.

If you've been to R&D, it's likely that you've had the Pine Room Salad. The crunchy chopped salad fleck with almonds and boiled egg piled high on a plate has been one of my favorites for some time, and now that I live hours away, I've been forced to try my hand at recreating it. After years of trying different combinations, I've finally come up with a satisfying close second to the actual Pine Room Salad that I can make right at home when the craving strikes. It's become one of our favorite salads to make at home. If you haven't ever been to R&D and don't yet know what you're missing, try this recipe anyway, you'll love it!

Why You'll Love This R&D Copycat Pine Room Salad

This salad is simply delicious. It features a mix of crunchy and tender finely chopped lettuces, toasted almonds, hard boiled egg, aged white cheddar cheese, red onion, and a warm, savory-sweet bacon honey mustard dressing. It's simple but so so good, and it goes with some many meals.

How To Make a Copycat R&D Pine Room Salad

First, you'll cook some bacon, reserving the grease to use in the dressing. Then whisk together the bacon grease, some olive oil, honey mustard, white wine vinegar, finely chopped shallot, the bacon that’s been chopped, and a little salt and pepper. I like to make the dressing last to pour over the salad while it's still warm.
While the bacon cooks, you'll also toast some almonds and boil an egg.
Chop the remaining ingredients for the salad.
Then toss everything together in a big bowl and coat everything evenly with the warm dressing and serve!

Ingredient Substitutions

While this dressing in the recipe is the closest I've gotten to the dressing at the restaurant, there are a couple of swaps you can make that still result in a delicious dressing:
- If you don't have honey mustard, you can use 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard + 1 teaspoon of honey.
- You can use red wine vinegar, champagne vinegar, or apple cider vinegar in place of white wine vinegar, if that's what you have.
As far as lettuce goes, I like to use one cup each of romaine, red leaf lettuce, cabbage, and dinosaur kale, but whatever combination of lettuces you have will work. But keep in mind it will be better with at least one crunchy lettuce and one softer one.
If you don’t have or can't find aged white cheddar (I like Sartori or Kerrygold Reserve), you can use another firm aged cheese, such as Bellavitano or Manchego.

More Salads You'll Love:

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Copycat R&D Pine Room Salad

Print Recipe

Author: Kaleigh
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings 1x
Category: salad
Method: chopped
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

Scale

For The Dressing:

1 tsp finely chopped shallot
1 strip cooked bacon, finely chopped
1 tbsp reserved bacon grease, warm
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp honey mustard (I like Maille)
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

For The Salad:

¼ cup raw almonds
4 cups lettuce, finely chopped (I use 1 cup each of romaine, kale, red leaf lettuce, and cabbage)
1 large boiled egg
1 oz aged white cheddar cheese (I like Sartori)
¼ cup red onion, diced

Instructions

Cook the bacon, reserving the grease. (I like to cook it in a cast iron skillet in the oven at 375°F for 10-12 minutes).
While the bacon is cooking, hard boil the egg if it's not already boiled, and toast the almonds by baking in the oven at 375°F for 8-10 minutes. Cool and peel the egg.
Chop the lettuce, onion, almonds, shallot and bacon. Use a large-holed grater to grate the cheese and boiled egg.
In a jar or small bowl, whisk the dressing ingredients together until combined.
Add all of the ingredients to a large bowl. Pour the dressing in, starting with only half, and toss to coat. Add more dressing to taste if you'd like.
Serve the salad with the dressing warm, or refrigerate until you're ready to serve.

Notes

Start with only half of the dressing, then add more as needed. Leftover dressing can be stored in the refrigerator to make another salad!
If you don't have honey mustard, you can use 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard + 1 teaspoon of honey.
You can use red wine vinegar, champagne vinegar, or apple cider vinegar in place of white wine vinegar, if that's what you have.
As far as lettuce goes, I like to use one cup each of romaine, red leaf lettuce, cabbage, and dinosaur kale, but whatever combination of lettuces you have will work. But keep in mind it will be better with at least one crunchy lettuce and one softer one.
If you don’t have or can't find aged white cheddar (I like Sartori or Kerrygold Reserve), you can use another firm aged cheese, such as Bellavitano or Manchego.

Keywords: R&D Pine Room Salad, chopped kale salad, kale salad with bacon dressing