Ultimate Wedge Salad: Iceberg, Bacon, Blue Cheese & Parmesan

Karen Hand Allen
Dec 11, 2025
3 min read

Lettuce wedge salad in white bowl. Iceberg lettuce is covered in bleu cheese, olive oil, parmesan, seasoning, bacon, and cherry tomatoes

The wedge salad is a beauty in a lane all by itself. Our family has eaten it for eons and one of us usually asks for it; they’re having a hankering that nothing else will satisfy. Its distinctive promise is that it isn’t like almost any other salad, it’s unique and one-of-a-kind. After all, lettuce is the main star and is lovely, full of fiber and low in calories, and has the honor of being one of the most consumed vegetables in the world, mostly due to being chock full of vitamins and minerals and goodness. What’s not to love, I mean, there’s a ton of lettuce in the world, but this recipe uses common Iceberg lettuce, really? The whole planet talks about other lettuces like they are the cat’s meow of cookery. Let’s see, besides Iceberg, we use a variety of lettuce out of our garden frequently when we cook. Our go to favorite is Romaine, for Caesar salad , Radicchio, Endive, Butterhead, and Coral lettuce.

Butterhead lettuce sitting in the garden — Butterhead lettuce in our garden

Iceberg lettuce is a common lettuce we all grew up eating and as we know, it has a crisp, but slightly sweet flavor and lends itself to letting others shine in the meal, and that’s just what it does in the Classic Wedge Salad. It’s really a princess, so simple, but capable of transforming the ordinary into the extraordinary and creating a dish that is both elegant and comforting.

Close-up of purple and green lettuce growing in a garden. Leafy textures and blurred greenery in the background. Vibrant and lush. — Coral lettuce

When the cold, refreshing wedge is topped with crumbled, perfectly crisp bacon, the smoky saltiness pairs beautifully with the lush cool crunch beneath it. Add a generous amount of blue cheese, and the salad takes on a bold, creamy character that makes every bite feel indulgent. Then comes the drizzle: golden extra-virgin olive oil and a snowfall of of Parmesan cheese, giving the wedge a glossy richness and depth that makes it almost impossible to resist.

What’s more remarkable is this salad isn’t tied to any season, it belongs to all of them. In the fall, its richness dances beautifully with warm soups and roasted meats. In winter, the salty bacon and blue cheese feel heartwarming and bold against the frigid air outside. Come spring, the crisp green freshness tastes like the season waking up again, and in summer it cools the palate with its sharp, refreshing crunch. It’s the kind of salad that adapts effortlessly, savory in cold months, invigorating in warm ones, and always the ace of flavor.

It matters not when it’s served, the wedge salad has a way of bringing people together. It’s the salad that shows up in backyard barbecues, Sunday dinners, holiday tables, or casual nights at home. Friends and family share bites, comparing which topping makes it better, extra bacon, a stronger blue cheese crumble, or that impossibly rich olive oil soaking into the lettuce just right. It’s familiar, uncomplicated and arresting, and always welcome because it brings a sense of decadence, abundance, and shared enjoyment to the table that our family has joined friends with to celebrate for generations. This is for you.