This is a classic wedge salad recipe made with crunchy iceberg lettuce, juicy tomato, crumbled bacon, fresh chives, and an easy, creamy, homemade blue cheese dressing you’ll crave time and time again.
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“This is our go to blue cheese dressing! We’ve made it for years and it never fails. It’s the best!” ~Christina, FoodieCrush reader
A Fully Loaded Wedge Salad with the Creamiest of Dressings
I am a green salad girl. From leafy spring lettuces delicately dressed in my favorite vinaigrette to spunky arugula salad to loaded-to-the-gills cobb salads, I love ’em all.
But when it comes to my cravings for crisp and crunchy green salads, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as digging into a iceberg wedge salad that requires both a fork and a knife.
Iceberg lettuce is the white bread of lettuces and is just as much beloved. Crunchy, watery, with crags to catch every chunk of bacon or tomato and layers that stand up to the heft of homemade blue cheese dressing, there’s something about a blue cheese-laden wedge salad that somehow makes this somewhat boring leafy green totally exciting.
Enjoy! Heidi
My Top Tips for Making a Wedge Salad
- Make the dressing in advance: The blue cheese dressing tastes the best after it’s had 20ish minutes to hang out in the fridge. This gives the flavors time to come together and become friends.
- Make it a meal: I usually serve this blue cheese wedge salad as a side dish, but you can make it the main event by adding 3 ounces of shredded rotisserie chicken breast or simple grilled salmon to it.
- Prettier presentation: I usually reserve a few especially blue-veined pieces of blue cheese to sprinkle on top of the salad and reserve a few strands of chives to snip at an angle and sprinkle on top. Bigger chunks of freshly ground black pepper are a must here in my opinion.
Here’s What Goes On a Wedge Salad
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
Iceberg lettuce is the non-negotiable base for any wedge salad worth its salt. From there, we load it up with the following classic toppings:
Blue Cheese Dressing
My homemade blue cheese dressing is far above and beyond anything you can find on the store shelves (even the refrigerator section!) and has just the right bite thanks to a dash of red wine vinegar and a bit of buttermilk.
For the creamiest blue cheese dressing, you’ll want to use a blend of mayo and sour cream for the base.
Toppings
Crisp up some bacon in a skillet before crumbling to ensure crisp bites aside the flavorful fatty bites too. There’s also juicy tomatoes (grape and cherry tomatoes are sweet year-round!), as well as mellow chives.
Blue Cheese
Sure, there’s blue cheese in the dressing, but a few blue cheese crumbles on top add an extra tangy zing. I’m a fan of lots of chunky blue cheese, but if you prefer yours on the un-chunked side, just mash up those cheesy bits a bit more and you’re good to go.
Assembling the Wedge Salad and Dressing in 10 Minutes Flat
- Make the blue cheese dressing. It’s as simple as mixing together all the ingredients, placing the mixture in the fridge for 20-30 minutes for the flavors to meld, then drizzling it over your wedge salad. Seriously, that’s it!
- Fry the bacon in strips, then break it into smaller pieces. I find it less apt to burn and more flavorful when frying the bacon in strips before making it into bite-size chunks. Drain the bacon on a paper towel after frying.
- Cut the iceberg into wedges. Simply cut the head of lettuce in half, then in half again. Be sure to remove any limp outer leaves; we’re going for maximum crunch factor here.
- Assemble your salad. Place each wedge cut side up on a plate, drizzle with dressing, top with bacon crumbles, sprinkle with chives and blue cheese chunks, then finally add a few wedges of tomato on top or to the side.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
The BEST Wedge Salad Recipe
Ingredients
For the Blue Cheese Dressing
- 1 cup light sour cream
- ½ cup mayonnaise
- 3 tablespoons buttermilk
- 3 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1 ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- ¼ teaspoons garlic salt
- 4 ounces blue cheese , (reserve a few chunks for garnish)
- 3 chives , minced (reserve a few for garnish)
For the Salad
- 1 head iceberg lettuce , cored with limp outer leaves removed
- 4 strips bacon , cooked, cooled and crumbled
- 2 cups cherry tomatoes , cut in half or in wedges
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Make the dressing: Add all of the dressing ingredients to a medium bowl and whisk well to combine. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
- Assemble the salad: Remove any limp outer leaves of the lettuce head and then cut in half, then cut each half into quartered wedges.
- Place each wedge on a plate, drizzle with the blue cheese dressing, top with a few crumbles of bacon, a sprinkling of chives and reserved blue cheese chunks with slices of tomatoes.
- Give one more sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper, and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Experiment by Adding More Toppings!
If you’re not dead set on making a “classic” wedge salad, you can make this recipe your own by adding one or more of the following:
- Red onion
- Avocado
- Homemade croutons
- Dried fruit (such as cranberries or apricot)
- Nuts
- Fried onion bits
- Hard-boiled egg
- Try pancetta instead of bacon
- Roast your tomatoes instead of using raw ones
- Swap the blue cheese dressing for ranch dressing
Serve These Dishes to Make It a Steakhouse Dinner
Make it a steakhouse dinner night when you serve your salad alongside:
More Classic Salad Recipes to Master
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Denise Irvine
Excellent. Finally found the perfect blue cheese recipe
It’s the best Thank you
Allen P
I was so excited to read you are green salad girl. I really made this recipe my new go to.
Christina
This is our go to blue cheese dressing! We’ve made it for years and it never fails. It’s the best!
I’m glad you enjoyed Christina!
Keiren
Best blue cheese dressing ever,actually made your wedge salad and added avocado,fabulous
Margaret Katheryn
have tried a number of blue cheese dressings and was always disappointed until I made your blue cheese dressing – sublime
Donald Russell
I just love bleu cheese dressing for my salad LOl sometimes it looks like I like a little lettuce with my bleu cheese dressing. I love my recipe for Bleu Cheese Dressing.
10 oz. Crumbled Bleu Cheese, 16 oz. Sour Cream, 2 TBL. Red Wine Vinegar, 2 TBL. Olive Oil, 1/8 TEA. Cayenne Pepper, 1/2 TEA. Garlic Powder and a 1/4 TEA. Garlic Salt.
Mix ingredients together thoroughly. Chill Remember as dressing sets it thickens and if it needs thinning add more sour cream or a little milk or half and half. I keep containers of crumbled bleu cheese in the freezer just for this recipe. If is tastes to astringent you can add a tablespoon or so of mayo for sweetness. It tastes best after being refrigerated for 24 hours. This recipe I acquired from Monsieur Louie, a French Chef in New York many, many years ago. He also mentioned if you like your dressing chunky add more bleu cheese crumbles after the salad is dressed or add Roquefort Bleu Cheese for a more decadent tasting salad.
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
Thanks for sharing!
elisabeth
First time making blue cheese dressing and I loved it!
Ashley @ Foodie Crush
YUMMM! Glad to hear that.
Tanya
Your blue cheese recipe is the best I have ever had! No more bottled dressing for us!