Iceberg Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese and Bacon

The Iceberg Wedge Salad is a classic American restaurant salad that is as easy to make at home as it is delicious! Crunchy iceberg lettuce, crispy bacon and the quintessential wedge salad dressing: creamy-tangy blue cheese. Make Wedge Salad for a couple or a crowd in minutes.

I remember, with a twinge of shame, scolding my friend Bryan for eating iceberg lettuce. “It has no food value!,” I squawked, “You should eat mixed greens instead or romaine at the very least.”

Bryan, I’ve changed my mind. Remember those baby greens – the one’s you call ‘weed salad’ – I still love them, but I admit, iceberg is pretty darn good.

Perhaps iceberg lettuce isn’t loaded with the vitamins, minerals, and fiber of kale or green leaf lettuce. But really, who cares? It’s not junk food. More importantly, it’s cold, crunchy, delicious, and fun to eat sliced in a big wedge then drizzled with blue cheese dressing and sprinkled with crumbled bacon.

If you grew up in the United States and this salad makes you feel nostalgic, it should. It’s been on restaurant menus here since 1916. But why leave it to restaurants when you can make it at home in 15 minutes flat if you have cooked bacon, less than 30 minutes if you don’t. Guests coming? What a fun way to begin a meal or pair with Tomato Bisque for a simple and classic combination. Who doesn’t want to slice in to their own big wedge of salad, scooping up tangy blue cheese crumbles and salty bits of bacon?

How to Make Wedge Salad

1. Cook bacon until crisp in the oven or on the stove top. Crumble and set aside.

2. Add sour cream, minced fresh garlic, blue cheese crumbles (reserving some for garnish) and lemon juice to a small bowl, mash together with a fork. Add chives to dressing and milk to thin to desired consistency. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.

3. Remove wilted or brown leaves from outside of a head of iceberg lettuce. Cut head from top to bottom into 4 equal wedges, leaving core intact. Rinse wedges with water and pat dry with paper towels. Carefully cut core from each, keeping wedge intact and place on separate salad plates.

4. Spoon desired amount of blue cheese dressing over each wedge. Sprinkle each wedge with 1/4 of the bacon crumbles and 1/4 of the remaining blue cheese. Serve.

How do you wash lettuce for a wedge salad?

Remove any brown or wilted leaves from the outside of the head and then cut it into 4 equal wedges top to bottom with the core intact. Rinse each wedge in cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Then carefully cut out core with a paring knife and place on a serving plate, cut side up.

Is iceberg lettuce good for you?

Iceberg lettuce may not have the vitamin and fiber content of other lettuce varieties, but it’s crispy, delicious and filling at just one calorie per leaf! It makes sense to fill your diet with other more nutritious lettuce and vegetables, but iceberg can have it’s place too!

Bacon, that’s the other thing I want to talk to you about. Have I told you that I love bacon for recipes? It’s amazing how a tiny bit of bacon (or pork belly!) can transform salad, soup, pasta, frittata; shall I continue?

We buy bacon from a local farm and I don’t want to admit what we pay per pound. But it’s worth it to know that during the pig’s lives they get to root around outside and do piggy things. Because of the expense and because it’s probably not healthy to gorge ourselves on bacon, I use it sparingly. The best way I know to do this is to cook it up all at once, crumble it or cut it into lardons (thin crosswise slices), and keep it in the freezer.

If you’ve never cooked bacon in the oven, I recommend trying it. There are many benefits: the bacon cooks evenly; there’s no splatter around your burners; you can work on something else while it cooks; it’s a great way to cook bacon for a crowd.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Iceberg Wedge Salad with Blue Cheese and Bacon

Iceberg lettuce is cold, crunchy, delicious, and fun to eat sliced in a big wedge then drizzled with blue cheese dressing and sprinkled with crumbled bacon.

Prep Time10 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Total Time25 mins

Course: Salad

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 271kcal

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup sour cream
• 1 small garlic clove minced
• 3 ounces blue cheese crumbled and divided
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
• milk for thinning dressing
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 head iceberg lettuce
• 4 slices bacon cooked and crumbled

Instructions

For the Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing:

• To make the dressing, add sour cream, garlic, two ounces of the blue cheese, and lemon juice to a small bowl. Use a fork to combine the ingredients, smashing the blue cheese crumbles against the side of the bowl to infuse the sour cream with flavor.
• Add chives to dressing and stir to combine. Add milk a teaspoon at a time until the dressing reaches your desired consistency. Season dressing to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

To Assemble Wedge Salad:

• Remove any wilted or brown leaves from the head of lettuce. 
• Cut the head in half starting from the top and slicing down through the core. Then cut each half in half again so that each wedge has 1/4 of the core. Rinse each wedge and pat dry with paper towels. Carefully cut core from each keeping wedge intact and place on separate salad plates.
• Spoon desired amount of dressing over each wedge. Sprinkle each wedge with 1/4 of the bacon crumbles and 1/4 of the remaining blue cheese. Serve.

Notes

1. Note that cook time doesn’t include bacon.
2. If you’d like to cook your bacon in the oven: Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set an oven proof rack on top. Arrange bacon slices on the rack, giving them a bit of space between. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or to your desired crispness. Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Nutrition

Calories: 271kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Cholesterol: 52mg | Sodium: 490mg | Potassium: 348mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 22.8% | Vitamin C: 7.6% | Calcium: 18.4% | Iron: 4.3%

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