BLT Salad
Summer tomatoes are the ultimate ingredient for this classic BLT Salad. All of the favorite fillings of a classic BLT sandwich are in salad form. It is a perfect summer salad that goes with everything you can conjure up to throw on the grill. This salad is bright, simple, and accented by the pop of flavor that the bacon and blue cheese delivers. Add some blue cheese dressing to this, garnish with chives, and hello, my new beautiful summer fave 🙂
What is a BLT?
If you are unfamiliar with a BLT, aka Bacon, Lettuce, and Tomato, it is a simple and incredibly delicious classic sandwich consisting of crispy fried bacon, crisp lettuce, and perfectly seasoned, juicy-ripe tomatoes on toasted white bread with mayo. It’s another summer favorite of mine. The BLT is believed to be a distant relative of the Classic Turkey Club Sandwich. Others say it’s an early English tea sandwich. The acronym is said to have started in diners in the 1940s to shorten the name when ordering the BLT sandwich from the cooks. So I transition from a BLT sandwich to a BLT Salad with the extra pop of flavor of blue cheese dressing and crumbles. You won’t miss the bread, I promise!
Why you will love this BLT Salad
Why is this BLT salad so spectacular? It’s the ultimate warm-weather salad. It’s just a handful of colorful ingredients that make a gorgeous presentation. The hero ingredients here are the ripe summer tomatoes, because why not, and good blue cheese. In this salad, I’m using Point Reyes Blue Cheese, which is made in California and is the best!
BLT Salad ingredients
You need a few ingredients for this beautiful BLT Salad, but make sure they are the best you can buy. Nothing is worse than making this salad with underripe tomatoes or sub-par bacon. You must use the best ingredients to appreciate the flavor and simplicity fully.
- Butter lettuce – leaves removed from the stem, washed, and thoroughly dried.
- Ripe tomatoes and thick-sliced – heirlooms are preferred for this salad as they are the most flavorful.
- Good bacon – thin or thick sliced, crisp-cooked and crumbled into large pieces
- Homemade blue cheese dressing – or good quality store-bought.
- Blue cheese – crumbled for serving and garnish.
- Chives – finely chopped for garnish
- Fresh cracked pepper
- Sea salt – coarse ground
How to assemble this delicious BLT Salad
Present and serve this pleasing salad on a large platter. Start by layering the butter lettuce leaves in a fan formation. Arrange the tomato slices on top of the lettuce leaves. I love to use multi-colored tomatoes and arrange them by color. Sprinkle the lettuce and tomatoes with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Next, drizzle the blue cheese dressing onto the tomatoes. Add blue cheese crumbles to the entire salad to taste. Next, add the crumbled bacon pieces. Lastly, garnish with finely chopped chives. Now, this spectacular salad is ready to serve.
This delicious salad is fully customizable. You can add more or less of the ingredients to suit your taste. There are no strict quantities!
Make this salad ahead of your gathering
If you are not ready to serve the salad immediately, you can prep the ingredients beforehand and arrange the salad before serving. Also, romaine or iceberg holds up well to prepare in advance. Butter lettuce is fragile and should be removed from its stem when serving. Hold off on the dressing, blue cheese crumbles, bacon pieces, and chives until serving.
The best dressings for a BLT Salad recipe
One of the most common questions when serving this salad is what dressing is best for this BLT Salad recipe. I think blue cheese or gorgonzola dressing is the best, but a good ranch is equally delicious if Blue cheese is not your preference. Even more so, my superbly delicious Yogurt Dill Dressing is excellent for this salad, too. In short, creamy dressings are the way to go with this salad. It elevates the flavors perfectly.
Variations
There are several ways to customize this salad to your preferences. Below are some great ideas for using the base of this BLT salad and changing it up!
- Substitute Yogurt Dill Dressing instead of blue cheese dressing + replace chives with fresh dill leaves.
- Add Marinated Balsamic Red Onions + use extra onion-soaked vinegar and extra virgin olive oil for dressing.
- Add ripe, sliced avocado + lobster meat + White Balsamic Honey Mustard Vinaigrette.
- Substitute bacon for garbanzo beans + substitute blue cheese dressing for Sumac dressing.
Perfect main courses for this salad
My ideal protein choice for this salad is a grilled tri-tip roast. I make this cut of beef during the summer months. My version is super simple and delivers a deliciously tender roast. Get the Two-Ingredient Grilled Tri-Tip Roast to add to this incredible salad. My next choice is Easy Chicken Schnitzel. It’s easy and full of flavor.
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BLT Salad
June 26, 2024Equipment
- 1 Platter large
Ingredients
- 2-3 medium Ripe tomatoes, thickly sliced heirlooms are preferred for this salad as they are the most flavorful.
- 1/2 cup Blue cheese dressing homemade or good quality store-bought
- 1/3 cup Blue cheese crumbled for serving and garnish
- 6 slices good bacon – thin or thick works crisp-cooked crumbled into large pieces
- 1 tablespoons Chives finely chopped for garnish
- Fresh cracked pepper to taste
- Sea salt – coarse ground to taste
Instructions
- NOTE: This delicious salad is fully customizable. You can add more or less of the ingredients to suit your taste. There are no strict quantities!
- Start by layering the butter lettuce leaves in a fan formation onto the platter.
- Arrange the tomato slices on top of the lettuce leaves. I love to use multi-colored tomatoes and arrange them by color.
- Sprinkle the lettuce and tomatoes with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Next, drizzle the blue cheese dressing onto the tomatoes. Add blue cheese crumbles to the entire salad, to taste.
- Next add the crumbled bacon pieces.
- Lastly, garnish with finely chopped chives.
- Now this spectacular salad is ready to serve.
Notes
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Nutritional information is calculated online and should be used as a guide.
All content and photographs ©Claudia’s Table and claudiastable.com
