Shrimp Wedge Salad
This easy Shrimp Wedge Salad combines crisp iceberg lettuce, juicy shrimp, crispy bacon, sweet cherry tomatoes, and creamy blue cheese dressing for a restaurant-worthy dinner that’s ready in minutes.
Jump to:
- 🔎 A quick look at this recipe
- ⭐️ Why this recipe works
- 🤔 What is Wedge Salad?
- 🍤 Ingredients you need
- 📝 Ingredient notes
- 💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
- 👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
- Recipe FAQs
- What to serve with this recipe
- Shrimp Wedge Salad
- 👩🏻🍳 Variations on this recipe
- 😍 Other shrimp recipes we love!
- ⭐️ We want to know what you think!
- 🥣 Come on into our kitchen!
There’s nothing quite like a classic wedge salad with its crisp iceberg lettuce, juicy tomatoes, salty bacon and creamy blue cheese dressing.
Except maybe this easy Shrimp Wedge Salad, where we chop up that lettuce, add tender shrimp and then press the whole delicious situation into a bowl and flip it onto the plate. All the wedge salad deliciousness, none of the lettuce wrestling! 🍤🥬
🔎 A quick look at this recipe
- What It Is: A fun main-course twist on classic wedge salad with shrimp, bacon, tomatoes and creamy blue cheese dressing.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Servings: 4
- Calories: 175
- Good For: Easy summer dinners, light lunches, warm-weather entertaining, and busy weeknights.
⭐️ Why this recipe works
- 🍤 Tender shrimp turn a classic wedge salad into a satisfying main course.
- 🥓 Crispy bacon adds smoky flavor and irresistible crunch in every bite.
- 🥬 Cool, crisp iceberg lettuce makes the perfect fresh, crunchy base.
- 🧀 Creamy blue cheese dressing ties everything together with classic steakhouse flavor.
- ⏱️ Ready in about 20 minutes, making it ideal for busy weeknights or easy entertaining.
- ☀️ A cool, no-fuss meal that’s perfect for hot summer days when you don’t want to cook.
🤔 What is Wedge Salad?
If you’ve ever ordered a steakhouse salad, chances are you’ve met the mighty wedge salad. It’s exactly what it sounds like—a big wedge of crisp iceberg lettuce piled high with creamy blue cheese dressing, crispy bacon, juicy tomatoes, and all kinds of deliciousness.
Wedge salad is also one of those things that the Southern husband just can’t resist when he sees it on a menu. After watching him order it for the millionth time, it finally dawned on me that maybe I should make it at home, which is how my classic wedge salad recipe was born.
However! My pet peeve with a traditional wedge salad is that, let’s face it, it is tricky to wrangle an entire wedge of iceberg lettuce. You spend a decent part of the meal sawing at the lettuce and chasing pieces of bacon and tomato around the plate.
The Southern husband doesn’t seem to mind this one iota, but when I am stealing bites of wedge salad off his plate, I would like to get in and out of there as soon as possible. So my first hack was literally a hack — as in, hacking that lettuce into nice little pieces. Highly satisfying.
From there I kept all the essential wedge salad bits — iceberg, blue cheese dressing, tomatoes and BACON — tossed them together, and added shrimp to turn the whole thing into a legit dinner.
And with only a little more effort than a regular wedge salad, voila! This shrimp wedge salad was born — easier to eat, hearty enough for supper, and most importantly, Southern Husband Approved!
🍤 Ingredients you need
📝 Ingredient notes
- 🍤 Shrimp: Cooked shrimp make this recipe extra quick and easy. I like medium or large shrimp, peeled and deveined, but use whatever size you love.
- 🥬 Iceberg Lettuce: A classic wedge salad starts with iceberg lettuce because it’s wonderfully crisp and holds up beautifully under the dressing. Chill it well before serving for maximum crunch.
- 🥓 Bacon: Cook the bacon until it’s nice and crispy so it adds plenty of smoky crunch. You can cook it a day ahead and refrigerate until you’re ready to assemble the salad.
- 🍅 Cherry Tomatoes: Cherry or grape tomatoes both work well. They’re sweet, juicy, and less messy than slicing larger tomatoes.
- 🧀 Blue Cheese Dressing: Use your favorite bottled dressing, or homemade if you have one you love. If you’re a true blue cheese fan, sprinkle a few extra blue cheese crumbles over the top.
- 🌶️ Freshly Ground Black Pepper: A few generous twists of black pepper add just the right finishing touch and pair especially well with the creamy dressing.
💡 Ingredient substitution ideas
Missing something or want to swap in something different? Check out the links below to find more ingredient substitution ideas. 👇🏻
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities and nutritional information
👩🏻🍳 How to make this recipe
STEP 1: Mix together some chopped iceberg lettuce, halved cherry tomatoes and chopped cooked bacon in a large mixing bowl.
STEP 2: Drizzle in some blue cheese dressing, tasting as you go, until the salad is dressed the way you like it.
STEP 3: Now for the dramatic part. I smooshed the salad into a little round Pyrex bowl and then inverted it onto a plate. I patted a few stray pieces into place, popped a few cooked shrimp on top, added another drizzle of dressing over the whole thing for old times’ sake and ta-da! Wedge salad that you don’t have to do battle with to get deliciousness in every bite.
(Oh and PS, you can also just divide the salad among plates the regular way and pop the shrimp on top…it will still be just as delicious!)
It just goes to show you, messing with success pays off sometimes!
Recipe FAQs
Nope! The pressing is what gives this salad its fun shape, but you can absolutely toss everything together and serve it in regular salad bowls. It will taste just as delicious.
Absolutely. Thaw the shrimp completely, pat them dry and make sure they are peeled and deveined. You can use either precooked shrimp or cook raw shrimp yourself and let them cool before adding them to the salad.
You can prep all the ingredients ahead of time, but wait to add the dressing and press the salads until shortly before serving. This will keep that iceberg lettuce nice and crisp.
A small round bowl that holds about 1½ to 2 cups works nicely. Pack the salad in firmly, invert it onto your plate and give it a gentle shake. And if a few pieces escape, just pat them back into place — this is a salad, not an engineering project. 😂
Pop your question in the Comments section below and I will answer pronto!
What to serve with this recipe
While I can totally eat this as a main course, it is also a great side with grilled steak or grilled chicken. And if you like it as a main, pair it with a cup of zucchini gazpacho.
And for dessert, let’s have some ridiculously easy peach crumble!
Let’s chop, toss, press and flip our way to shrimp wedge salad deliciousness! 🍤🥬
Shrimp Wedge Salad
This easy Shrimp Wedge Salad combines crisp iceberg lettuce, bacon and tomatoes with creamy blue cheese dressing and tender shrimp for a fun twist on the steakhouse classic.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: No Cook
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
- 5 strips bacon, chopped and cooked until crispy
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- ¼ cup blue cheese dressing, plus more as needed and for drizzling.”
- 12 peeled and cooked shrimp
- Fresh ground pepper
Instructions
- Mix together lettuce, bacon and tomatoes.
- Mix in just enough blue cheese dressing to lightly coat the salad. Start with 1/4 cup dressing and taste as you go.
- If you want to be fancy, pack 1/4 of the salad mixture tightly into a small round bowl. Invert it onto a salad plate and gently shake it out. Press together any stray pieces that fall apart. (You can also just divide your salad among plates and pop the shrimp on top!)
- Place 3 shrimp on top of each salad. Drizzle with a little more dressing, grind some pepper on top and serve.
👩🏻🍳 Variations on this recipe
- 🥑 Add sliced avocado for extra creaminess and healthy fats.
- 🧀 Sprinkle on blue cheese crumbles if you really love that classic steakhouse flavor.
- 🥚 Top with chopped hard-boiled eggs for an extra hearty, Cobb salad-inspired twist.
- 🌽 Add fresh corn kernels for a pop of summer sweetness and color.
- 🥒 Toss on sliced cucumbers for even more cool, crisp crunch.
- 🧅 Scatter thinly sliced red onion over the top for a little zing.
- 🌿 Swap the blue cheese dressing for ranch if that’s more your style.
😍 Other shrimp recipes we love!
⭐️ We want to know what you think!
If you try this recipe, we would love to hear how it came out for you! I’d be super grateful if you could leave a star rating (you pick how many stars! 🌟 ) and your thoughts in the Comments section below.
🥣 Come on into our kitchen!
This salad looks like a little treat for our bodies :D
Thanks Lily! It’s a good one, I think! :)
Love that fresh ROUND pepper, sorry couldn’t resist,:-)
Ha! Love it. :)