Easy strawberry salad recipe with iceberg lettuce, crumbled bacon and a homemade blue cheese vinaigrette. Jump to the Iceberg Strawberry Salad
Walk into most grocery stores these days and you’ll find bags upon bags of mesclun mixes and delicate baby greens. As much as we love the choice, you’ll likely find us pushing the bags aside and reaching for heads of iceberg or romaine. We love the crunch.
Forget the Wedge and Make this Salad with Strawberries and Tangy Blue Cheese Dressing
Iceberg lettuce sometimes gets a bad rap, but it is perfect in this salad. It is crisp and hearty — plus it stands up to the extra spoonfuls of blue cheese vinaigrette we douse it with. (Yep, douse — it’s best this way).
For the dressing, we mash blue cheese crumbles into apple cider vinegar — the cheese breaks down just enough that it sort of melts in. That along with a little garlic and olive oil makes everything really punchy. If you are more into creamy dressings, use our Creamy Blue Cheese Dressing, instead.
Since the dressing is so forward, you really need the crisp iceberg and lots of sliced strawberries to cool things off. Oh and we add bacon. No explanation needed there, right?
You’ll find us munching on a big plate of this strawberry salad for dinner, but you could easily turn it into a starter. Or make it your own and add some extras — roasted shrimp would be delightful.
We love salad for dinner, here’s another dinner worthy salad for you: Balsamic Strawberry Salad with Goat Cheese and Candied Walnuts
Recipe updated, originally posted July 2013. Since posting this in 2013, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Strawberry Iceberg Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
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With lots of crunch from iceberg lettuce this strawberry topped salad is perfect for dinner or served at the beginning of a meal. Think about adding some extra protein such as grilled shrimp or chicken. The vinaigrette is pretty punchy — if you’re not a big fan of tangy vinaigrettes, try topping the salad with a more traditional creamy blue cheese dressing.
You Will Need
Salad5 thick-cut bacon slices, cooked until crisp then crumbled
1 medium head iceberg lettuce, trimmed and cored, sliced into 1-inch-thick rounds (should get about 4 to 5 rounds)
6 ounces strawberries, hulled and sliced (9 strawberries)
1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced
Vinaigrette2 ounces blue cheese, crumbled (1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon very finely minced garlic (about 1/2 medium clove)
Pinch sugar, plus more to taste
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar or champagne vinegar
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and fresh ground black pepper
Directions
1Place lettuce rounds onto plates or arrange all slices onto a larger platter. Top with crumbled bacon, strawberries and onion slices.
2Make vinaigrette. In a medium bowl, use a fork to mash the blue cheese, garlic and sugar into the cider vinegar until the blue cheese has melted into the vinegar. You don’t need to mash until completely smooth, it’s fine to have some small pieces of cheese left.
3Add the olive oil and whisk until creamy. Adjust seasonings with more sugar, salt and/or pepper. Drizzle dressing over stacked salad. If any blue cheese remains, it doesn’t hurt to add a few extra crumbles on top.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- For the bacon, we bake it. If you have one, inset a metal cooling rack into a rimmed baking sheet lined with aluminum foil. Arrange bacon slices on rack. Bake bacon in a 400 degree F oven for 15 to 20 minutes until crispy. If you do not have a cooling rack that fits inside a baking sheet, lay bacon slices directly onto baking sheet. See more about baking bacon here.
- Nutrition facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
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Chart topping recipe and beautiful! I made this last night for dinner and it was a big hit. I did not change the dressing recipe, but I used mixed greens that I already had on hand instead of the iceberg, and I cut the red onion first and let the slivers rest in cool water while I prepped everything else because the onion seemed particularly pungent when I cut them. I added cold chopped rotisserie chicken, and tossed it with the greens, onions and dressing then plated the salad. I decorated each salad with the strawberry slices and chopped bacon and finished with a light drizzle of remaining dressing. The mixed greens worked fine as a substitute. I do plan to make this again, but I will try the iceberg lettuce; I love the idea of slicing into rounds!
We made it with left over roast chicken and it was fantastic. Thanks for this recipe which we will be enjoying often.
I am eating this as I type! That is how incredible this salad is! I may have this every day ?
I made this for a dinner party and it was absolutely delicious. Made the stacks ahead, drizzled with dressing when I served. So good!
Sounds delish! I love iceberg lettuce!
I do not like Blue cheese at all but the rest sounds great. Will need to figure out something to replace the blue cheese with.
Feta or goat cheese would be nice.
I. Am. In. Love.
Thanks, Bev!