Description
A cool, crisp Classic Wedge Salad is one of the best staples, ever. This famous steakhouse salad features crunchy iceberg lettuce, cherry tomatoes, crumbled bacon, chives, and drizzled with a scratch-made blue cheese dressing. It’s a salad you can pair alongside your main entree or enjoy all on its own, it’s delicious like that!
Ingredients
Scale
For the blue cheese dressing:
- 1 cup blue cheese crumbles (aged)
- ¾ – 1 cup whole buttermilk
- ⅓ cup full-fat mayonnaise (we love Duke’s!)
- 2 teaspoons worcestershire sauce
- 3 cloves of garlic, finely minced or pressed
- 1 ½ tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
- Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
For the wedge salad:
- 1 head iceberg lettuce, cut into 4 quarters
- 6 strips thick-cut bacon, cooked to a crisp & then crumbled
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh chives, for garnish- optional
Instructions
For the blue cheese dressing:
- In a bowl or mason jar, combine the blue cheese crumbles, ¾ cup buttermilk, mayonnaise, worcestershire sauce, garlic, chopped parsley, and salt/pepper- to taste. Stir the dressing until well combined- if you prefer a drippier dressing consistency, add an additional ¼ cup of buttermilk. Give the dressing a taste test and adjust with more salt/pepper, as needed. Cover dressing and transfer to the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes for flavors to meld.
For the wedge salad:
- Prep lettuce. Remove the outer leaves of lettuce as these ones are usually a bit wilted and somewhat dirty. Carefully rinse the remaining head of lettuce and pat dry with a paper towel. Place the head of lettuce on a cutting board and use a sharp knife to cut the head in half from the top and slicing down to the core. Then cut each half of lettuce once more into quarters/wedges. Cut the tiny bit of core off each quarter while keeping the wedge intact.
- Assemble wedge salad & serve. To serve up family-style, place the 4 wedges onto a large platter (or serve on individual plates). First, spoon/drizzle the desired amount of dressing over the individual wedges. Top each wedge with tomatoes and crumbled bacon. Garnish wedge salad with fresh chopped chives, if desired. I also like to hit them with a little freshly cracked black pepper as well- totally optional. Serve immediately. Enjoy!
Notes
- Blue cheese alternatives: Great substitutes that have a similar complexity in flavor & texture of blue cheese include roquefort cheese, stilton cheese, or gorgonzola cheese!
- Buttermilk substitute: Combine 1 cup whole milk + 1 tablespoon lemon juice or white vinegar, stir mixture together and let sit for 5 minutes. Then use this “homemade buttermilk” in recipe above. You can also use plain kefir if you’d like!
- Mayonnaise substitute: Feel free to use full-fat sour cream.
- Storing homemade salad dressing: Keep the dressing stored inside of an airtight container or jar at all times, and it’ll keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Always stir well before using.
- Please read blog post in its entirety for more tips + tricks.
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