Ingredients
Method
Prep the Lettuce
- Remove any damaged or wilted outer leaves from the iceberg lettuce. Rinse the head under cold water and shake off excess water. Pat it completely dry with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel.
- Place the head of lettuce core-side down on a cutting board. Using a large, sharp knife, cut the head into quarters through the core. Each wedge should have a piece of the core holding it together - that's what keeps the leaves from falling apart.
- Place each wedge on a chilled plate, cut-side up. If you have time, chill your serving plates in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before plating - cold plates keep the lettuce crisp.
Cook the Bacon
- Cook the bacon in a skillet over medium heat until crispy, about 8-10 minutes, flipping occasionally. Or bake it in a 400°F oven on a rimmed baking sheet for 15-20 minutes until crispy. Transfer to paper towels to drain and cool, then crumble or chop into bite-sized pieces.
Assemble the Salads
- Drizzle about 1/4 cup of blue cheese dressing over each wedge. You want generous coverage but not so much that it's drowning - the lettuce should still be visible.
- Sprinkle the crumbled blue cheese over each wedge - about 2 tablespoons per wedge. The extra cheese on top gives you texture contrast with the creamy dressing.
- Scatter the crumbled bacon over each wedge. Distribute the halved cherry tomatoes evenly across the four wedges. Add a generous spoonful of pickled red onions to each - the acidity and color are important.
- Finish with chopped fresh chives and a few good cracks of black pepper over each wedge.
Serve
- Serve immediately while the lettuce is still cold and crisp. Provide a knife and fork - wedge salads are eaten with utensils, not hands.
Notes
Iceberg lettuce gets overlooked in favor of trendy greens, but for a wedge salad, nothing else works. The tight, compact leaves stay crisp and crunchy even under heavy dressing. The mild flavor doesn't compete with the bold toppings. And the structure holds up - you can cut into it with a knife and fork without it falling apart.
The combination of creamy (blue cheese dressing), salty (bacon), sweet (tomatoes), tangy (pickled onions), and fresh (chives) hits all the right notes. Each bite should have a little bit of everything. That's why proper topping distribution matters - you don't want all the bacon on one wedge and all the tomatoes on another.
Using pickled red onions instead of raw adds acidity without harshness. Raw onion can be sharp and overpowering. Pickled onions are tangy and sweet and brighten the whole salad without dominating it.
Keep Everything Cold
The lettuce must be cold. If it's room temperature or warm, the whole salad feels wrong. Store your iceberg in the coldest part of your refrigerator. If it's been sitting out, run it under very cold water, shake it dry, and chill it for 15-20 minutes before cutting and serving.
Cold plates help too. If you're making this for guests, chill the serving plates ahead of time. It's a small detail but it makes a difference.
Blue Cheese Dressing
Use a thick, creamy blue cheese dressing. Thin, pourable dressing will run off the lettuce and pool on the plate. You want something with body that clings to the leaves. Store-bought is fine - look for refrigerated dressings rather than shelf-stable, they're usually thicker and taste better.
If you're making your own, use plenty of blue cheese, sour cream or mayonnaise for body, and just enough buttermilk to make it spoonable but not pourable.
Bacon Tips
Cook the bacon until it's truly crispy. Chewy bacon doesn't crumble well and the texture is wrong for this salad. You want it to shatter when you bite into it. Don't be afraid to cook it a little longer than you think - crispy is better than underdone for this application.
Let the bacon cool completely before crumbling. Hot bacon is floppy and tears instead of breaking cleanly. Cold bacon shatters into perfect pieces.
Cherry Tomatoes
Halve the cherry tomatoes so they sit nicely on the wedge and don't roll off. Whole tomatoes look pretty but they're a pain to eat and tend to fall onto the plate. Halved tomatoes stay put and you get tomato flavor in more bites.
Use ripe, sweet cherry tomatoes if possible. Underripe or flavorless tomatoes add nothing to the salad. In winter when good tomatoes are hard to find, you can skip them or use sun-dried tomatoes instead.
Pickled Red Onions
The pickled red onions are what set this wedge salad apart. They add acidity, sweetness, color, and visual interest. Make sure they're well-drained before adding them to the salad - excess pickling liquid will dilute the dressing.
If you don't have pickled red onions, you can substitute thinly sliced raw red onion, but soak it in ice water for 10 minutes first to mellow the sharpness. Drain and pat dry before using.
Scaling Up or Down
This recipe serves 4 as a side salad or light lunch. To scale up, just multiply the ingredients. One large head of iceberg makes 4 wedges. If you're serving more people, get more heads of lettuce.
For individual plating at a dinner party, put one wedge per plate. For family-style service, arrange all four wedges on a large platter and let people serve themselves.
Make-Ahead
You can cook the bacon and prep the tomatoes a few hours ahead. Keep everything covered in the refrigerator. Don't cut the lettuce or assemble the salads until you're ready to serve - once cut, iceberg starts to brown and wilt at the edges.