The New Wedge Salad

If you love a lettuce wedge salad, you’ll love this flavorful take on the classic. Blue cheese crumbles and herby dressing pair with beets and crisped pancetta, all on fresh iceberg lettuce. 

You know what the Classic Wedge is. Your mind probably goes straight to rich blue cheese dressing and, if you’re lucky, crispy bacon bits.

The iceberg lettuce is just the vehicle we wisely use to get the other ingredients into our mouths!

A New Take on a Lettuce Wedge Salad

Change perfection? I think you will like where I’m going with this.

I made the iconic side salad worthy of a meal by swapping bacon for meaty pancetta and adding crunchy hazelnuts and roasted beets.

Dress it with a tangy, lemon parsley vinaigrette, but don’t forget the blue cheese! Keep it classic with big, creamy pieces of Roquefort.

All the salty, rich, crunchy tastes we want…just new!

Other favorite salad recipes:

• Sesame Ginger Beef Salad
• Grilled Pita Salad with Lemon Chicken Kabobs
• Warm Salmon and Arugula Pasta Salad

Dressing for a wedge salad:

Typically a creamy blue cheese dressing douses a wedge of iceberg lettuce. We top it with bacon bits or crumbles and call it delicious.

It is! It’s tasty, and why mess with perfection? I lightened up a classic diner salad with herby, lemon vinaigrette. It adds a nice zing to the crispy lettuce.

I didn’t forget the blue cheese. I just enhanced it! Fresh crumbles of cheese land in your mouth with each bite.

How to cook pancetta:

I swapped traditional bacon with pancetta in this iceberg lettuce salad. Pancetta is a cured Italian bacon and is much more meaty than bacon.

I cut it into cubes. There is a fair amount of fat on pancetta and you can trim this off a bit, or just keep it for flavor.

Pancetta needs to be cooked quite slowly. You want to render the fat from the pieces rather than fry it to a crisp. This will take about 20 minutes over medium heat.

5 from 3 votes

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The New Wedge Salad

Work Time

20 mins

Total Time

1 hr 20 mins

 

Turn the classic lettuce wedge salad into a main course by adding diced pancetta, roasted beets and protein-rich hazelnuts.

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Keyword: iceberg lettuce, wedge salad

Yield: 4

Calories: 803 kcal

Ingredients

• 2 Red and golden beets
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 3/4 lb pancetta
• 1 head Iceberg lettuce
• 1/2 cup Hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup Roquefort cheese

Lemon Parsley Vinaigrette

• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 clove minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp flat-leaf parsley chopped
• 1/2 cup Extra-virgin olive oil

Instructions

For Salad

1. Wrap beets, a sprinkling of kosher salt and a little olive oil in aluminum foil. Roast at 375ºF until tender, about 1 hr. Set aside to cool.   

2. Dice pancetta into 1/2-inch pieces. Cook in a skillet over medium heat until fat is rendered and pancetta is golden and cooked, about 20 min. Reserve a few tablespoons of the fat.

3. Slice iceberg lettuce and serve with pancetta, sliced beets, toasted hazelnuts, crumbled Roquefort cheese and Lemon Parsley Vinaigrette.

For Vinaigrette

1. Stir together lemon juice, garlic, black pepper, sugar and flat-leaf parsley. Combine reserved pancetta fat and enough extra-virgin olive oil to make 1/2 cup and whisk into dressing.

Recipe Notes

• Swap bacon for pancetta in this new take on the lettuce wedge.

Nutrition Facts

The New Wedge Salad

Amount Per Serving

Calories 803 Calories from Fat 693

% Daily Value*

Fat 77g118%

Saturated Fat 18g113%

Cholesterol 66mg22%

Sodium 1383mg60%

Potassium 619mg18%

Carbohydrates 14g5%

Fiber 4g17%

Sugar 7g8%

Protein 17g34%

Vitamin A 917IU18%

Vitamin C 14mg17%

Calcium 123mg12%

Iron 2mg11%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Serving things on the side? Try my newest side dish recipes:

• Hot Spinach and Cheese Sandwich Melts
• Asparagus Puff Pastry with Cracked Pepper Cottage Cheese
• Fresh Corn Fritters with Cheddar and Pimentos
• Authentic Creamy Black Beans
• Artichokes Recipe With Lemon Mayo – Instant Pot Variation

Recipe by Tara Teaspoon

I’ve been in the food publishing business for over 20 years, creating recipes and food styling for magazines, books, television and advertising. Find out more about me!

Recipe by Tara Teaspoon. Originally published LHJ 08/11. Photography Yunhee Kim. Food Styling Paul Grimes.