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A classic wedge salad is simple and gorgeous! Serve it as a starter salad, or add crispy baked chicken and serve it as an entrée salad. Remove the bacon, and you have a fabulous vegetarian salad. It’s versatile and delicious!

The classic wedge salad starts with a hearty wedge of Iceberg lettuce. This wedge is the perfect vessel for tangy blue cheese dressing! Next, it’s topped with sweet diced tomatoes, zesty red onions, crispy bacon crumbles, and delicate chives. These are classic ingredients. Play around with it and add your favorite toppings. Switch out the lettuce too. Baby romaine lettuces like Ruby Gem or Little Gem are also perfect for the classic wedge salad! The possibilities are endless! 

How do you make a classic wedge salad?

  • Cook the bacon. Line a sheet pan with foil and lay the bacon on it. Cook at 400F for about 15-20 minutes or until crispy. Cooking bacon in the oven will free you up to do other things like making the blue cheese dressing. It also makes perfectly flat bacon which is awesome if you’re making a build-your-own wedge salad bar. You can stand them up in a jar or glass.
  • Make the blue cheese dressing. It’s easy peasy! Just grab a medium-sized bowl and stir together Greek yogurt, mayo, buttermilk, blue cheese, garlic powder, and lemon juice. Season with a little salt and pepper, and you’re good to go. Pour into a mason jar or other container, and tuck that baby in the fridge until you’re ready to use.
  • Prepare the salad. Peel any wilted leaves from the outside of the lettuce head and slice the end of the core off. Cut the head in half. Place the flat side down and cut each half in half. You should end up with four fairly even quarters.
  • Dice the tomatoes. Dice them fairly small so they stick to the sides of the wedge. Halved grape or cherry tomatoes work well too.
  • Finely dice the red onions and thinly slice the chives. Nobody wants a big chunk of onion or chive. Nuff said.
  • Assemble the salad. Set each quarter on a plate. Drizzle each wedge with blue cheese dressing and top with diced tomatoes, red onions, bacon crumbles, and chives. If you’re a huge blue cheese fan like me, add some extra crumbles to the top. It’s amazing!

Fun Facts:

  • The first printed version of the iceberg wedge salad was featured in Marion Harris Neil’s cookbook “Salads, Sandwiches, and Chafing Dish Recipes.”  I would love to get my hands on a print of this book! Collecting vintage cookbooks is so fun! The wording and ingredients are so different from their modern counterparts. Sometimes, if you’re lucky, you’ll find a hidden gem recipe.
  • This statuesque salad has true longevity! Its been on restaurant menus since the 1920s. It had a crazy surge in popularity in the 1970s when steakhouses ruled the restaurant scene. With newer ingredients like Little Gem and Ruby Gem, baby romaine lettuces, the wedge is back and holding its own in restaurants across America today.
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Classic Wedge Salad

Classic Wedge Salad

★★★★★ 5 from 1 reviews
  • Author: Carole at Comfort + Thyme
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Total Time: 15 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x
  • Category: Salads
  • Method: Chop and Stir
  • Cuisine: American
  • Diet: Gluten Free
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Description

This beautiful iceberg wedge salad is fresh, colorful, and a carnival of flavor on a plate!  Switch it up and add some of your favorite toppings!

Ingredients

Scale

Blue Cheese Dressing

  • 1 cup non-fat Greek yogurt (low fat or regular work well too)
  • 1/3 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup reduced-fat buttermilk
  • 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese
  • 3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper

Salad

  • 1 head iceberg lettuce, quartered
  • 1/2 cup diced tomatoes
  • 1/4 cup finely diced red onion
  • 4 ounces cooked bacon, crumbled (about 4 strips)
  • 1/4 cup chives, chopped
  • crumbled blue cheese, for garnish

Instructions

  1. In a medium bowl, stir together the blue cheese dressing ingredients. Use the back of the fork to breakdown any large chunks of blue cheese. Adjust the seasonings with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until ready to use.
  2. Remove wilted leaves from the outside of the lettuce head. Trim the base. Cut the lettuce head cut in half then cut each half in half. You should have four fairly uniform quarters.
  3. To serve, drizzle each quarter with the desired amount of blue cheese dressing. Top with diced tomatoes, red onions, bacon crumbles, chives, and freshly cracked black pepper.

Notes

  • Swap iceberg lettuce for Little Gem or Ruby Gem baby romaine lettuce.
  • Blue cheese dressing will last in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Keywords: classic wedge salad, wedge salad, blue cheese dressing, blue cheese, salad, iceberg wedge salad