Classic Wedge Salad

Name: Classic Wedge Salad
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min
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)

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The 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. 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? And if you want to embellish these salads, halved cherry tomatoes and thinly sliced red onion are tasty additions.

What to Serve with Wedge Salads

Pair with a main like Carne Asada, Roasted Lamb Chops, or Pan-Fried Lamb Chops and Tomato Bisque or, another restaurant classic, Twice Baked Potatoes (or Twice Baked Mashed Potatoes).

How to Make Wedge Salad

Step 1: Make Blue Cheese Dressing: 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.

Step 2: From a head of iceberg lettuce, remove any wilted or brown leaves. Cut into 4 equal wedges from top to bottom, leaving core intact. Rinse wedges with water and pat dry with paper towels. Carefully cut core from each and place on separate salad plates.

showing 4 steps of washing iceberg lettuce wedges

Step 3. 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.

How do you eat a wedge salad?

I think that the Wedge Salad is a steakhouse favorite not only because it pairs beautifully with a steak, but because you need a steak knife to eat it! I like to start at the pointed end of the wedge and cut one bite at a time with a knife and fork, making sure to get some blue cheese and bacon on every bite!

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!

Iceberg-Wedge-Salad served photographed from above

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, breakfast 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.

How to Cook Bacon in the Oven

It’s simple to cook bacon in the oven: place an oven safe rack in a baking sheet and arrange bacon slices in a single layer, giving each slice some room all the way around. Bake for 15 to 25 minutes at 400˚F, depending on how crispy you like your bacon.

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.

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5 from 8 votes