Have you ever gotten an obsession about a particular item at a restaurant and you can’t stop going there and getting the same thing? It happened to me recently with Panera’s Green Goddess Cobb Salad with Chicken. I’ve gotten it a few times over the past couple of weeks. So many yummy flavors including pickled onion, egg, tomato and avocado. And the Green Goddess dressing that tops is all off??? To die for. I love it. Bright and basil-y and just so yummy.

The most recent time I got this yummy salad, I was remarking to my husband how much I liked this dressing and I wished they sold it in bottles so I could have it whenever I wanted. Which of course led to (as often happens during dinner conversations) me pulling out my phone and searching to see if they sell it. They do! They have it at Target – easily accessible and my impatient self was figuring out how soon I could get there. But then…

I wondered if I could make it myself. So I searched again for the recipe and what do you know? Panera’s website has the recipe! I was all over that and created my grocery list since I was going to the grocery store this morning.

I’m giving you the link to the recipe but I’m showing you how I made it because I made some subsitutions.

Here is what you need to make Panera’s Green Goddess Dressing (makes two cups):

Substitutions are in parentheses in the list.

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 oz. (weighed) fresh basil leaves, finely chopped (I couldn’t find good basil in my grocery store so I used approximately 3 tablespoons of the LiteHouse freeze dried basil)
• 2 tablespoons shallot, minced
• 2 tablespoons basil pesto
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar (I used regular distilled white vinegar)
• 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon agave syrup (I used honey)
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard (I used regular yellow mustard)
• pinch of kosher salt & coarse black pepper

So easy: mix everything up and refrigerate until ready to use! If you are not sure about having chunks of shallot and herbs in your dressing you could use your Magic Bullet blender like I did.

It tastes JUST like Panera’s! so, So, SO. GOOD! And great as a dip for carrots – which I scarfed down right after this picture was taken. Mmmmmmm.

BONUS RECIPE! You may have noticed that my shallot is HUMONGOUS. The two tablespoons I needed used only 1/3 of the shallot so I made a quick pickle and will put these on my next salad with my Green Goddess dressing!

Here is what you need:

• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup distilled white vinegar
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• ¾ cup thinly sliced shallot

Combine first five ingredients in a non-reactive saucepan; heat until boiling and the salt and sugar are dissolved.

Pour over sliced shallots in a pint jar. Cover and let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate.

I’m ready for my next salad!

Have you had this salad from Panera? Will you try this dressing? Let me know in the comments.