Turns out, most of the cast fell in love with this grab-and-go meal.
Key Points
- Jennifer Aniston inspired her Friends co-stars with a simple, protein-packed chopped salad for lunch.
- The salad featured iceberg lettuce, garbanzo beans, turkey bacon, chicken, salami and Pecorino cheese.
- This easy, customizable salad is nutritious, flavorful and perfect for busy days or meal prep at home.
We’ve long been influenced by Jennifer Aniston, and we’re not just talking about the Friends star’s iconic “The Rachel” haircut. The 57-year-old actor has shared everything from her on-the-go arm workout to her go-to dinner party menu, and as it turns out, her Friends co-stars have been just as keen to follow her suggestions as the rest of us.
On a recent episode of the Table Manners podcast, Lisa Kudrow shared the simple lunch she and her Friends castmates would eat on set. The dish is easy, flavorful and filling—perfect fuel for long days of filming a sitcom episode (or working at the office). And the inspo for Kudrow’s go-to lunch was, of course, Aniston, who played Rachel Green opposite Kudrow’s Phoebe Buffay.
“She used to order a salad that we all would order,” Kudrow said during the Table Manners interview. “It was a chopped salad from the commissary but with shaved Parmesan … because at a certain point, we weren’t leaving our stage … we would just stay on our stage [for lunch].”
Later in the interview, Kudrow explains that it took weeks to rehearse and film a single episode of Friends, with the filming of the actual 30-minute episode taking up to six hours. With such long workdays, it’s no wonder Aniston, Kudrow and their co-stars were on the lookout for a lunch that could be ordered and delivered to them quickly.
Want to try this simple, tasty salad for yourself? In a 2022 Allure interview, Aniston shared that it was a salad from the Warner Bros. Studios (where Friends was filmed) commissary.
“It was a Cobb salad that we basically butchered,” Aniston shared. “It was just lettuce—iceberg I believe… and chopped tomato, garbanzo beans, salami, crunchy, crunchy turkey bacon and chicken … and Pecorino cheese, Italian dressing.”
It looks like the Warner Bros. commissary still sells a very similar chopped saladthough it now contains provolone cheese, black olives and romaine, plus other tasty ingredients.
Sounds pretty delicious to us, especially for upcoming picnics and pool days. And protein and veggies in this salad pack in lots of health benefits, and you can always add in the veggies you have on hand at the end of the week to make this recipe a clean-out-the-fridge staple.
What’s more, homemade Italian dressing is super-simple to whip up at home. And the store-bought dressing chefs recommend to EatingWell—Newman’s Own—makes a version you can easily find at the grocery store. Throw in some crisp iceberg lettuce, savory salami and fresh Parmesan or Pecorino cheese and you’ve got a lunch worthy of sharing with your own Friends.
Looking for more celeb-loved salad recipes? Try Elaine’s “Big Salad” from SeinfeldCameron Diaz’s gut-healthy summer salad or Ina Garten’s go-to caprese salad. Or, if it’s Friends-related eats you’re seeking, you can always try re-creating Ross’ Thanksgiving Leftovers Sandwich from the show.
Comments are closed.