Healthy Wedge Salad Recipe with Bacon & Blue Cheese

This Healthy Wedge Salad Recipe is topped with a lower-calorie tangy buttermilk-blue cheese dressing and combines iceberg lettuce with radicchio and romaine. It’s topped with crispy onions and bacon for added crunch. 

The wedge salad is definitely one of my favorite salads.

Typically they consist of a wedge of iceberg lettuce with loads of blue cheese dressing and crumbles of bacon on top. The iceberg wedge is the perfect vessel for that dressing because when it’s cut open there’s an instant formation of nooks and crannies for that dressing to seep down into.

It’s crispy and refreshing, but also after a while, the wedge salad can become a bit boring. It’s also definitely not the most nutritious salad.

This version changes things a bit.

Ingredients for healthy wedge salad.

How to Make a Healthy Wedge Salad

This Healthy Wedge Salad is bit more nutritious with the addition of two new lettuces to the mix – radicchio and romaine.

If you’re not familiar with radicchio, it looks like a small head of red cabbage but it’s actually a chicory, and has just a slightly bitter, crisp taste. I love how it livens the traditional wedge salad.

I’m also lightening up the wedge salad by making a tangy buttermilk-blue cheese dressing.

Buttermilk may sound fattening but it’s actually low in fat, high in protein and calcium, and contains probiotics – those beneficial bacteria that help keep your digestive system happy and healthy.

I’m combing it with Greek yogurt and a bit of blue cheese to make it decadent and creamy. A splash of vinegar gives it that great tang.

One thing I’m not skimping on is the bacon. 

It’s my feeling that you can’t mess around too much with the classic version. If you’d like to lighten things up even further, you can leave out the bacon, halve the amount of bacon, or swap it out with turkey bacon.

Or, make it extra delicious by adding some air fryer pork belly or crispy prosciutto.

To take this Healthy Wedge Salad over the top, I’m also adding some delicious, crispy red onions. Take note and be sure to spread the onions out well on piece or parchment or a plate while they are cooling, otherwise, they will all stick together and turn into one big mass.

Close up of platter of healthy wedge salad.

 Wedge Salad wine pairing

  • The bleu cheese and bitter radicchio in this salad call for a sweeter white wine like Riesling

More salad recipes 

This Healthy Wedge Salad is topped with a lower-calorie tangy buttermilk-blue cheese dressing and combines iceberg lettuce with radicchio and romaine. It’s topped with crispy onions and bacon for added crunch.

Did you try this healthy wedge salad recipe?

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Close up of platter of healthy wedge salad.

Healthy Wedge Salad Recipe

This Healthy Wedge Salad is topped with a lower-calorie tangy buttermilk-blue cheese dressing and combines iceberg lettuce with radicchio and romaine. It’s topped with crispy onions and bacon for added crunch. 
5 from 12 votes
Print Pin
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 4 large salads

Ingredients

Buttermilk-Blue Cheese Dressing

Crispy Onions

Salad

  • 1 head radicchio
  • 1 head iceberg lettuce
  • 1 heart romaine
  • 6 strips bacon (cooked and crumbled)

Instructions

Buttermilk-Blue Cheese Dressing

  • Add all ingredients to a small mason jar. Shake well to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Crispy Onions

  • Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and a pinch of salt. Stir and arrange in a single layer. 
  • Reduce heat to low and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. After 10 minutes, add in the honey and vinegar. Stir and cook for an additional 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. 
  • Increase heat to high and cook for 1 – 3 minutes, until onions become crispy. Immediately remove the onions piece of parchment or dinner plate and spread apart so the onions do not form together in one big mass.

Wedge Salad

  • Quarter each of the lettuces. Place one quarter of each lettuce on a plate, drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with bacon and crispy onions. 
Did you make this recipe?Mention @platingsandpairings or tag #platingsandpairings!

Nutrition

Calories: 279kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 31mg | Sodium: 393mg | Potassium: 558mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 9g | Vitamin A: 880IU | Vitamin C: 11.3mg | Calcium: 127mg | Iron: 1.1mg

This recipe was originally published in 2015. It was updated in 2019 to add new photographs, and again in 2023 to add new content. The wedge salad recipe remains the same. Enjoy! 

11 thoughts on “Healthy Wedge Salad Recipe with Bacon & Blue Cheese”

  1. 5 stars
    YUM I love a good wedge salad! This looks amazing. I need to try this dressing. I have a feeling I’ll want to put it on everything.

    Reply

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