Wedge Salad – Rachel Cooks®

A wedge salad is a traditional salad recipe that incorporates a crisp wedge of iceberg lettuce as its basis. It’s a bit of bit retro, like the old-fashioned steakhouses the place it turned widespread. The wedge salad is an effective reminder that iceberg lettuce, when it’s handled proper, is refreshing, crisp, and has a lot extra to supply than its repute might need you imagine.

A traditional wedge salad is often served with crumbled blue cheese, crispy bacon, diced tomatoes, and a creamy dressing—within the case of this recipe, blue cheese dressing. Like a home salad, this salad is a type of all-purpose salad recipes that you could whip up in a matter of minutes to spherical out a meal.

Traditional Wedge Salad Recipe

Goes with all the things. Due to its simplicity, a wedge salad pairs properly with a wide range of major dishes. From breaded air fryer pork chops to garlic butter steak bites, you actually can’t go incorrect with a traditional wedge!

Refreshing. The crisp iceberg lettuce really comes as a nice shock! In the event you’re often one to show your nostril up at iceberg lettuce, this wedge salad actually showcases its greatest qualities.

Simple to make. Another excuse this wedge salad recipe might be on frequent rotation in your house is that it’s simple to arrange—to not point out its brief ingredient checklist!

Customizable. You may simply customise a wedge salad to your loved ones’s tastes by including or swapping the toppings or dressing.

Ingredient Notes

• Iceberg lettuce: Search for a head of iceberg lettuce that’s vivid inexperienced and feels heavy for its dimension. The stem must be fairly white; a brown stem signifies that it isn’t very contemporary. Purchase a big head that’s sufficiently big to chop into decent-sized wedges.
• Bacon: Cook dinner the bacon utilizing your most popular methodology. I usually bake a complete bundle of bacon and refrigerate or freeze it for later use (attempt baked bacon). Air fryer works completely, particularly to prepare dinner a small batch of bacon. Be at liberty to make use of turkey bacon if that’s what you like. Even a plant-based bacon is ok for a vegetarian wedge salad!
• Cherry tomatoes: Any kind of tomatoes work okay though it’s greatest if they’re agency. Giant tomatoes must be diced.
• Pink onion: I like finely diced crimson onions as a result of they supply a pleasant coloration distinction. Thinly sliced shallots are one other good choice for this wedge salad recipe. Sliced inexperienced onions are superb, too, for those who want a milder onion taste.
• Crumbled blue cheese: A wedge salad often is topped with blue cheese crumbles. The selfmade dressing additionally incorporates blue cheese.
• Bitter cream and mayonnaise: These two components type the wealthy, creamy base of the dressing and so they’re important for reaching that traditional wedge salad texture. A thinner dressing tends to make the salad soggy.
• Contemporary parsley: Contemporary is the way in which to go; dried parsley actually doesn’t have a lot taste.
• White wine vinegar: A splash of vinegar provides tanginess and balances the richness of the dressing.
• Seasonings: The dressing is seasoned merely with kosher salt, garlic powder, and floor black pepper.
• Milk: Add simply sufficient to make the dressing drizzle-able.

Learn how to Make This Wedge Salad Recipe

Make the dressing. Stir collectively the bitter cream, mayonnaise, ½ cup of the blue cheese, finely chopped parsley, white wine vinegar, and seasonings in a bowl. Cowl and refrigerate till able to serve. You may make the dressing prematurely for those who like.

Cook dinner the bacon. Chop the raw bacon into small items, then fry it in a pan over medium warmth till crisp. Switch to a paper towel-lined plate to chill and drain.

Prepping the Lettuce

Take away the limp outer leaves of the pinnacle of lettuce. Rinse the lettuce evenly underneath cool water. It’s not mandatory to scrub the interior leaves; merely rinse off the surface of the pinnacle. It’s necessary to completely dry the lettuce earlier than assembling the salad. Use paper towels or a clear dish towel. Moist lettuce will water down the dressing and begin to wilt.

Assemble. Place the lettuce wedges on particular person salad plates. I discover that the salad is less complicated to eat on a larger-sized salad plate. Season the dressing to style and add milk to skinny it, if mandatory. It must be pretty thick in order that it just about stays on prime of the lettuce wedge. Drizzle the lettuce with the dressing, then add the bacon crumbles, diced tomatoes, chopped crimson onion, and further blue cheese, to style. 

Serve. End the wedge salad with a couple of grinds of coarsely floor black pepper. Serve further dressing on the aspect.

Recipe Alternate options

• Take a shortcut. In the event you’re brief on time, be happy to purchase your favourite creamy dressing.
• Attempt one other dressing. I’d say a creamy dressing is unquestionably the way in which to go along with a wedge salad but when blue cheese isn’t your factor, you would swap on this ranch dressing or inexperienced goddess dressing.
• Tame the onions. Soaking the diced crimson onion in ice water will assist tame their chew. In the event you’re simply not a fan, although, you should use chives or inexperienced onions for a milder different, or simply depart them out altogether.
• Add an egg. One widespread variation of the traditional wedge salad recipe is so as to add a tough boiled egg. These On the spot Pot exhausting boiled eggs and air fryer boiled eggs make it simple!

What to Serve With A Wedge Salad

Steak. Wedge salads are a steakhouse staple, so serve yours with air fryer steak bites or this steak sheet pan dinner.

Pork. This wedge salad recipe would even be glorious with spice rubbed pork tenderloin or air fryer pork tenderloin. Attempt it with oven-baked breaded pork chops.

Rooster. Cook dinner On the spot Pot hen thighs or grilled hen thighs when you put together your salad.

For greatest outcomes, retailer every part of this wedge salad recipe individually. (In the event you’ve assembled the salad already, it’ll final a day in an hermetic container within the fridge.)

• Lettuce: Wrap leftover lettuce wedges in a barely damp paper towel, then place them in a zip-top plastic bag or hermetic container. Retailer within the crisper drawer for as much as 2 days.
• Dressing: Switch any remaining blue cheese dressing to an hermetic container. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 days. It can separate a bit within the fridge, so give it an excellent stir earlier than you employ it.
• Toppings: Maintain the bacon, crimson onion, tomatoes, and blue cheese crumbles in separate hermetic containers within the fridge. The bacon will last as long as 3 days, whereas tomatoes and onions must be used inside 2 days. The blue cheese will final so long as the expiration date on the bundle.

Cook dinner ModeForestall your display screen from going darkish

• Take away ½ cup of blue cheese crumbles from the container. Reserve the remaining blue cheese to garnish the salad; refrigerate till wanted.

  4 oz. container blue cheese crumbles, divided

• Mix bitter cream, mayonnaise, ½ cup blue cheese, parsley, vinegar, salt, garlic powder, and pepper in a small bowl. Cowl and refrigerate when you put together the remainder of the salad.

  ½ cup bitter cream, ¼ cup mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon minced contemporary parsley, 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, extra if wanted, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ⅛ teaspoon coarse floor black pepper, extra if wanted

• Chop bacon into ¼ inch items. In a frying pan over medium warmth, prepare dinner bacon till crispy. Switch to a paper towel-lined plate to empty extra grease; put aside.

  4 slices bacon

• Take away wilted outer leaves from the pinnacle of lettuce and rinse it. Dry the lettuce as a lot as attainable, utilizing paper towels or a clear dish towel. To make wedges, minimize the lettuce into quarters (minimize in half prime to backside, after which minimize every half in half once more). Make a small diagonal minimize to take away the core from every wedge. Place every lettuce wedge on particular person salad plates.

  1 head iceberg lettuce

• Take away dressing from fridge; style and season it with salt and pepper, if mandatory. In the event you really feel that the dressing is simply too thick to drizzle, stir in 2 to three tablespoons of milk to skinny it. Drizzle lettuce wedges generously with the blue cheese dressing.

  2 to three tablespoons milk, as wanted to skinny dressing

• Prime with bacon, tomatoes, crimson onion, and reserved blue cheese crumbles. End with a couple of grinds of black pepper, if desired.

  1 cup halved cherry tomatoes, 2 tablespoons finely diced crimson onion

• Serve the salad instantly, with further dressing on the aspect.

• Change up the onions: If desired, omit onions or swap them up. Sliced inexperienced onions or chives are nice, as are pickled crimson onions.
• Dressing notes: In the event you’re brief on time, substitute your selection of bottled dressing for the selfmade blue cheese dressing. Understand that this dressing recipe may be made as much as a day forward. In the event you aren’t a fan of blue cheese dressing, select a special kind of creamy dressing. 
• Storage: It’s greatest to refrigerate the salad elements individually in hermetic containers; assemble proper earlier than serving.

Serving: 1salad with dressing, Energy: 404kcal, Carbohydrates: 9g, Protein: 12g, Fats: 36g, Saturated Fats: 14g, Polyunsaturated Fats: 9g, Monounsaturated Fats: 11g, Trans Fats: 0.1g, Ldl cholesterol: 64mg, Sodium: 778mg, Potassium: 466mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 1370IU, Vitamin C: 14mg, Calcium: 222mg, Iron: 1mg

Diet data is mechanically calculated, so ought to solely be used as an approximation.

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