The Chef Salad was likely created by chef Victor Seydoux at the Hotel Buffalo, a Statler Hotel in Buffalo, New York. Chef Seydoux first learned his craft in Montreux, Switzerland and continued his studies in France and England before coming to work in the United States. His first experiences in the U.S. included positions at The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and the Ritz-Carlton Although the origin of the salad is not generally known, as reported by Alice Rose Seydoux, widow of Victor, the salad was officially launched at the Hotel Buffalo.

Chef Seydoux, who was responsible for running the kitchen on a tight budget, began using some of the small slices of meats and cheese in a salad that he served to select customers. When the customers started requesting it regularly, the hotel decided to add it to the menu. Giving chef Seydoux the honor of naming the salad he is purported to have said "Well, it's really a chef's salad." Chef salad (or Chef's salad) consists of hard-cooked eggs, strips of ham, roast beef, turkey, and/or chicken, croutons, tomatoes, cucumbers, and cheese, all of which are placed upon a bed of tossed salad greens.

The dressing on this salad was traditionally Thousand Island dressing, but today it is often served with a dressing of the consumer's choice. Chef Salad is generally a salad of mixed greens garnished with eggs, crumbled cheese, and/or meat. Several early recipes include anchovies.

It probably owes much of its popularity, according to Evan Jones in American Food: The Gastronomic Story (1975), to Louis Diat, Chef at the Ritz-Carlton. According to his book Cooking a la Ritz Diat's recipe reads as follows: "Chef's salad. Place separately in a salad bowl equal amonts of chopped lettuce (place on the bottom of the bowl), boiled chicken, smoked ox tongue and smoked ham, all cut in julienne style.

Add 1/2 hard-cooked egg for each portion. Place some watercress in the center and serve with French Dressing." Speculation is that, while Diat obviously did not invent the salad, older recipes exist, its inclusion on the menu at the Ritz-Carlton would have introduced the salad to more of the public. Its possible that the inclusion of thousand island dressing is also linked to the Ritz, since the hotel also introduced the complex dressing to New York.

Diat's recipe, while containing smoked ox tongue, still contains the primary Chef Salad ingredients; meat, eggs, greens and presentation: julienne sliced meat, sliced eggs, making it a good source for the modern salad. Several other early chef salad recipes mention crumbling Roquefort cheese over the salad.

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