Yield: 4 servings
Wilted Lettuce Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
This Wilted Lettuce Salad is tangy, zesty, and 100% addictive. Our secret? Crisp, fresh lettuce topped with salty bacon and the most amazing hot bacon dressing. One bite and you'll be in love.
Ingredients
- 1 head romaine lettuce, torn into pieces
- 1 head radicchio, torn into pieces
- 3 green onions, sliced
- 6 slices thick cut bacon, cut into pieces
- 4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons honey
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large bowl add the romaine lettuce, radicchio and green onions. Toss and set aside.
- In a medium sized skillet, cook the bacon over medium-high heat until crispy. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked bacon and set aside.
- Turn off the burner under the skillet. If there is more than a ¼ cup of bacon grease, spoon the excess out before continuing.
- Pour the apple cider vinegar and honey into the bacon grease and stir until combined, scraping up any bacon stuck to the skillet.
- Pour the hot bacon dressing over the lettuce. Toss well and season with salt and pepper, to taste.
- Top the salad with the crumbled bacon and serve immediately.
Notes
Storage: Once assembled, this salad is best served immediately. Since the lettuce is wilted, it does not store well to enjoy again later.
Make Ahead: However, you can store the salad mix and dressing separately in airtight containers in the fridge. When ready to serve, reheat the hot bacon dressing and then pour over the lettuce mixture. Serve immediately.
Apple Cider Vinegar: You can sub regular white vinegar or red wine vinegar, but you’ll lose some of the tanginess.
Honey: 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar may be substituted for honey.
Toppings: Wilted lettuce salad is the perfect base for all the toppings you love. Some of our favorites are some crumbled blue cheese, candied nuts and crispy fried onions. You can also add sliced hard boiled eggs for a Cobb salad feel.
Radicchio: If you cannot find radicchio, try a little red cabbage or omit it. We added the radicchio to give color and a little bite to this salad. Radicchio has a slightly bitter flavor, but it mellows perfectly when mixed with the bacon vinaigrette.
Lettuce Greens: You can use different types of lettuce, but make sure whatever you choose is hardy, otherwise it’ll wilt too much. You could try butter leaf lettuce, iceberg lettuce or fresh baby spinach!
Use Your Hands: We used our hands to tear the lettuce. Using a knife can make the lettuce turn brown quicker.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 serving, Calories: 285kcal, Carbohydrates: 13g, Protein: 10g, Fat: 22g, Saturated Fat: 7g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g, Monounsaturated Fat: 9g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 36mg, Sodium: 388mg, Potassium: 742mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 5g, Vitamin A: 13760IU, Vitamin C: 14mg, Calcium: 75mg, Iron: 2mg