Cut up a head of iceberg for a classic wedge salad, add blue cheese dressing, smoky bacon, and a few cherry tomatoes, and even the worst kitchen snobs will change their minds!
What Is a Wedge Salad?
Wedge salads go back to the early 20th century, when iceberg lettuce was simply dressed with a creamy dressing such as Roquefort, Russian, or Green Goddess before serving. Blue cheese and bacon became wildly popular additions in the 1950s, but then the dish fell out of favor as the trend faded and as leafier, more flavorful lettuces (like red and green leaf, oak leaf, and others) came into popularity. But all good things return to the table, and so have wedge salads.
How To Make Wedge Salad
There’s so little prep with this salad that you can make it in the time it takes to fry bacon. If you’re serving this at a dinner party, you can make life even easier on yourself by frying the bacon and whisking the dressing ahead of time.
The Best Dressing for Wedge Salad
For the dressing, I like to use a combination of sour cream, mayonnaise, blue cheese, and cider vinegar. It needs to be fairly thick, but still pourable, so when the dressing goes over the wedges, it sticks to the top, but still drizzles down the sides and onto the plate. Crumble bacon, add a few colorful cherry tomatoes and a sprinkle of chives and you have really wonderful textures and tastes: creamy, crisp, crunchy, smoky, juicy, aromatic. The classics are classic for a reason.
More Classic Salad Recipes
Waldorf Salad Caesar Salad Cobb Salad Steak Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette Arugula Salad with Beets and Goat Cheese
Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. Cool and crumble.
