Mini Wedge Salads
Mini Wedge Salads- Iceberg lettuce is chopped into small wedges, topped with all the fixings, and drizzled in homemade ranch for a more party friendly spin on a classic salad presentation.
December 28, 2022 by Nicole Collins
I’ve told you guys before about all the random places I get inspiration for recipes.
And because I never know when inspiration is going to strike, I keep a running text chain with myself about recipe ideas I want to try out.
Today’s recipe was born at my day job.
We were having a holiday soup potluck last week, and the girls and I were gabbing about what kinds of dishes we were going to bring.
I don’t even know how, but somehow we started talking about salads. And then, we started talking about wedge salads and how overwhelming they are. So I say “how cute would a wedge salad be if it was a mini?”
And no sooner did I say that out loud did I repeat to myself in my head, “how cute would a wedge salad be if it was mini!”
I walked away from the conversation to text myself the idea immediately, signed up on the list to make mini wedge salads for our party, and that’s how we got to this moment today.
Today, we’re making Mini Wedge Salads!
I made these salads for a work potluck simply because I was being cheap if I’m being completely honest. I was thinking about how to make salad spread farther to be able to feed the amount of people we had. But then, they turned out so beautiful. And these were such a hit at the party. I knew it’d be an injustice if I didn’t share these with you guys too!
Let’s talk about traditional wedge salad. It’s typically a head of iceberg lettuce cut into 4 wedges, smothered in blue cheese dressing, and topped with bacon, onion, and tomatoes. But I wanted to stretch the lettuce, and I don’t like blue cheese. So, we’re making a few small tweaks to the original to get to the version you see here today.
To make our mini wedges, we’re going to cut a head of iceberg in half vertically (through the core). Once we have the 2 halves, we’ll cut out those little pieces of core from the bottom of the lettuce. Then, we’ll cut each half in half again vertically and horizontally. And, voila! We have 8 baby wedges to arrange directly on our serving platter.
Next, we’re going to drizzle our homemade ranch dressing all over our lettuce wedges. This is going to act like glue to help keep our other toppings on the salad. The homemade dressing is a simple mix of sour cream, mayo, milk, and pantry spices like garlic powder, onion powder, parsley, chives, and my secret ingredient…paprika.
After our dressing layer is complete, it’s time to sprinkle on some grape tomato halves, some shredded cheddar cheese, and some crispy crumbled bacon. I went back and forth on the onion component of this salad, because I know so many people can be really funny about onions. So to finish the salad, we’re going to give it a sprinkling of fresh minced chives. Chives are nice and delicate, so they’re the perfect way to get oniony essence without overpowering anyone’s mouth.
And, that’s all there is to it!
Now the cool thing about these salads is that they’re super adaptable. If you love blue cheese and want to be a little more traditional, go ahead and use that instead. If you love onions, go ahead a toss on some thinly sliced shallot or red onion. If you want to keep these vegetarian and skip the bacon, do it. Just add a sprinkling of parmesan cheese to the salad to help replace the salty bite.
At the end of the day, you can’t go wrong with a basic house salad. They’re cool and crispy and creamy and savory all at one time. But, these mini wedge salads are a showstopper on the presentation scale. I can’t tell you how many people told me they get overwhelmed by the size of classic wedge salads but thought the idea of this mini version was brilliant.
We all know my brain can be a wild place sometimes, but it’s those brilliant moments that I love to celebrate!
Ok, everyone! It’s not too late to add these mini wedge salads to your holiday menus. And, these work great as a New Year’s appetizer or a game day veggie component too!
I hope you guys enjoy. Have a very Merry Christmas if you celebrate (or a happy Sunday if you don’t). And, I’ll do my best to get us at least one more new recipe before the end of the year.
Let’s eat!
Mini Wedge Salad
Serves: 8 Print
Ingredients:
For the Ranch Dressing:
½ cup sour cream
¼ cup mayonnaise
2 tbsp milk (I used 1%)
¼ tsp dried chives
¼ tsp dried parsley
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp dill weed
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp paprika
For the Salad:
1 head iceberg lettuce
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
2 strips bacon, cooked and crumbled
1/3 cup shredded cheddar
1 tbsp chives, minced
Directions:
Make the Ranch Dressing: To a mixing bowl, add sour cream, mayo, milk, dried chives, parsley, garlic powder, salt, dill, onion powder, pepper, and paprika. Stir to combine. Set aside in the fridge to chill at least 1 hour.
Prepare the iceberg lettuce: Remove the outermost layer of lettuce from the head of iceberg. Cut the lettuce head in half vertically, then chop off the core from the end of each half. Cut each lettuce half in half vertically, then in half again horizontally so you have 8 mini wedges. Arrange on a serving platter.
Assemble the Salad: Drizzle the lettuce wedges all over with dressing. Top with tomato, cheddar, bacon, and fresh chives (in that order) dividing the toppings evenly between the wedges. Serve and enjoy!
Recipe notes:
*You can be flexible with the toppings that you add to these salads. If you prefer blue cheese dressing, go ahead and use that. If you like a nice, sharp onion bite; add some thinly sliced shallot. If you want to keep these vegetarian, leave out the bacon but add some grated parmesan to replace that salty bite.
*This recipe is easily doubled to feed a crowd.
