This is the wedge salad recipe we are always happy to eat. Crispy lettuce, a thick homemade dressing, bacon, and a quick tomato-onion pickle. It’s a good one!

Take us to a classic steakhouse, and there’s a very good chance at least one of us will order a wedge salad. We’re picky about it, though. The lettuce should be generous, the dressing needs to be thick and seriously blue cheesy, and tomatoes are a must (bacon is also up there on the expectations list).

We eat this homemade wedge salad for dinner, sometimes on its own or alongside some protein like grilled steak or baked salmon.

Key Ingredients

• Iceberg Lettuce: The classic choice for wedge salads! Grab a larger head and remove any tattered or browned leaves. Then, trim the bottom so the stalk isn’t brown. Slice into four wedges, and you are ready for the salad. Halved romaine lettuce hearts are great, too.
• Bacon: We love thick-cut bacon for this and usually cook it in the oven, which creates less mess than in a skillet. Cook your bacon until crisp, then chop it to top the salad.
• Tomato: Use the best tomatoes available. We’ve shown a medium slicer tomato in the photos, but cherry tomatoes or heirloom tomatoes are also excellent.
• Onion: We prefer sweet onions and quickly pickle them for 5 minutes to tone down their raw, sharp flavor. Yellow or red onions work nicely, too.
• Blue Cheese Dressing: We use our homemade blue cheese dressing and highly recommend you do, as well. It’s easy to pull together and tastes much better than what’s sold at the supermarket. You’ll need mayo, sour cream (or yogurt), blue cheese, lemon juice, and parsley. Then, to thin it a little, a bit of milk or buttermilk. When shopping for blue cheese, we prefer buying wedges rather than pre-crumbled cheese, and especially love gorgonzola.

Find the full recipe with measurements below.

How to Make a Wedge Salad

Tip 1: Make a tomato-onion quick pickle. The first step to making our wedge salad recipe is to combine thinly sliced sweet onion, chopped tomatoes, a bit of rice wine vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Then set this aside while you make the dressing and salad. As the onion sits, it softens, and the raw flavor tones down a little, and the tomato releases some of its juices (which are wonderful spooned over the salad).

Tip 2: You can make the dressing ahead. Our dressing below sits well in the fridge for up to a week. It also only takes 5 minutes to make, so if you are up for a quick meal-prep session, make the dressing, and you will be one step closer to a homemade wedge salad later on in the week. As you make it, you’ll notice it’s quite thick. Add a tablespoon or two of milk to thin it out a bit, or wait until you are ready to build your salad and thin it out then.

Tip 3: Assembling the salad. Place your wedge of iceberg onto a plate, then drizzle the thick, creamy dressing over it, making sure to get it into the nooks and crannies of the lettuce. Then pile on your pickled onion and tomato, chopped bacon, fresh herbs, and more blue cheese (if you like). Finish with a pinch of freshly ground black pepper and enjoy! By the way, you can also cut your lettuce into slabs, like we do for this strawberry iceberg salad.

Serving Suggestions

This salad makes a fantastic appetizer, but we mostly enjoy it as our main meal with a little extra protein added to it. Think a side of lemon dill salmon, juicy chicken breasts, marinated steak, or grilled chicken.

More Classic Salads