A wedge salad is a quarter of a head of iceberg lettuce, sitting cut side up, with blue cheese dressing poured over it and bacon, tomato, red onion, and chives on top. There is no tossing and barely any knife work. It is a steakhouse standard because it is cold, crunchy, and takes the kitchen almost no time on a busy night.
People look down on iceberg, and for most salads they are right. But this is the one dish where iceberg is the correct choice: nothing else holds that much cold water in a crisp shell, and nothing else gives you that shattering crunch against a thick dressing.
Why It Works: Cold, Dense, and Undressed Until the Plate
Iceberg is mostly water held in a tight structure, so it takes on cold like a sponge and stays rigid. Chill the whole head, hard, before you cut it. A warm wedge goes limp under the dressing in minutes.
Because the leaves are packed tight, dressing sits on the outside and runs down into the layers as you eat, so every bite from the outer leaf to the core gets a little. That only works if you dress it on the plate, right before serving. Dressed early, the wedge collapses.
Wedge Salad
Serves 4 as a starter. Prep 15 minutes, cook 10 minutes for the bacon, total about 25 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 large head iceberg lettuce, chilled
- 6 slices bacon
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved, or 2 vine tomatoes, diced
- 1/4 small red onion, sliced paper thin
- 2 tablespoons chopped chives
- Black pepper
- 3/4 cup blue cheese dressing
- 2 tablespoons extra blue cheese crumbles, to finish
Method
- Chill the whole head of iceberg in the coldest part of the refrigerator for at least an hour.
- Lay the bacon in a cold skillet, set over medium heat, and cook until crisp, about 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels and chop.
- Peel off any bruised outer leaves. Cut the head in half through the core, then each half in half again, so you have four wedges that hold together at the base.
- Set a wedge cut side up on each cold plate.
- Spoon the blue cheese dressing over each wedge, letting it run into the layers. Scatter the bacon, tomato, red onion, and extra blue cheese over the top.
- Finish with the chives and a heavy grind of black pepper. Serve at once, with a knife and fork.
Nutrition (per serving, estimated)
- Calories 320
- Fat 27 g
- Carbohydrates 9 g
- Protein 11 g
- Sodium 640 mg
Tips and Variations
A drizzle of good balsamic vinegar or a spoon of balsamic vinaigrette over the finished wedge cuts the richness and adds color.
Swap the bacon for crisp prosciutto, or leave it off and let the blue cheese do the work for a vegetarian plate.
Little gem lettuce, halved instead of quartered, gives you a smaller, more tender wedge if iceberg feels too plain.
Everything but the cut lettuce can be prepped hours ahead. Cut the wedges and dress them only when the plates are going out.
The Dressing
This salad is a delivery system for blue cheese dressing, so it has to be good. The recipe, thick with real crumbled blue and a little buttermilk to loosen it, is on the blue cheese dressing recipe. Make it a day ahead so the flavor sets.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why iceberg and not a better lettuce?
Iceberg is the point. Its dense, watery structure gives the cold and the crunch that a thick dressing needs to play against. A tender lettuce would go limp immediately. This is the one salad where iceberg beats everything else.
How do I cut a clean wedge?
Cut through the core each time. Halve the head through the stem, then halve each half again through the stem. The core holds the leaves together so the wedge does not fall apart on the plate.
Can I make a wedge salad ahead?
Cook the bacon, chop the vegetables, and make the dressing up to a day ahead. Cut and dress the wedges within a few minutes of serving or they wilt.
What do I serve with a wedge salad?
It is the classic steakhouse starter, so a grilled steak or chop. It also holds its own next to a burger or roast chicken as the whole vegetable course.
Is a wedge salad actually healthy?
The lettuce is fine. The calories are almost all in the dressing and bacon, so the honest answer is it depends on how heavy your hand is with both. Spoon the dressing rather than pour it and it stays reasonable.
Tools for the Job
- A sharp chef knife for cutting the head cleanly through the core
- A large cutting board steady enough to halve a whole head of lettuce
- Chilled salad plates to keep the wedge cold on the table
- A prep bowl for the bacon, onion, and tomato
More Salads
Caesar Salad, Cobb Salad, Italian Chopped Salad, and the full salad recipe collection.
Who Is Writing This
Chef Alan Guerin spent 35 years in professional kitchens, from fine dining rooms to hotels and catering, and earned the Four Diamond distinction six times. He built Wine Drop Cookery to put that experience into plain guides anyone can cook from. More about Chef Alan.