Wedge Salad with Potato Chips

Here the classic wedge salad is transformed with creamy ranch dressing, crushed potato chips, and blue cheese crumbles. It’s simple yet stunning!

Of all flavors in the world, my favorite is smoky. To me, it’s the lost sixth taste: sweet, sour, bitter, salty, savory, and SMOKY. Right? For someone who eats mainly vegetarian, it’s a difficult favorite flavor, since smoky is so often associated with meat. So, Alex and I tend to use smoked paprika a lot in our recipes to add that smoky, savory meaty undertone to vegetarian dishes. We’re always looking for new ways to infuse smoke into a dish.

Related: 25 Best Salad Recipes

How to make wedge salad

A few weeks ago I had a girls night at a restaurant in Indianapolis called Oakley’s Bistro. When I saw the menu featured a wedge salad with smoky ranch, I knew exactly what I wanted to order. Chef Steve’s take on a wedge salad covered the crispy iceberg lettuce with an insanely smoky ranch dressing, blue cheese, sundried tomatoes, and crushed potato chips. It was a huge hit at our table, and I knew immediately that I wanted to create a version for the home kitchen.

Related: 10 Homemade Salad Dressing Recipes

Two methods for smoky ranch dressing

For the smoky ranch dressing, we created two versions: one using smoked paprika that everyone can make, and one using our new favorite toy: our smoking gun! What’s a smoking gun? I first saw one demonstrated at the IACP conference in New York. The gun is used to cold smoke the food–that is, it injects a smoky flavor without applying heat. We’ve been using it to smoke just about everything: popcorn, potato chips, salmon, and yes: ranch dressing.

If you don’t have a smoking gun (which we assume you don’t!), you can use the smoked paprika version of the dressing. Smoked paprika is a type of paprika that’s smoked over a wood fire, and it infuses a smoky undertone to anything it touches! We use it often in our recipes: it’s especially great for adding flavor to plant based recipes. Here’s more about smoked paprika, and lots more of our recipes that use it.

Our version of smoky ranch is made with our classic and delicious Homemade Ranch Dressing. Drizzle the dressing over a crisp wedge of iceberg lettuce. Then top it with sundried tomatoes, blue cheese crumbles, chives, and a few crumbled potato chips. It’s an easy side dish recipe that takes no time to put together, but seems elegant and classy. It’s perfect for entertaining and the grilling season ahead! Serve it with a veggie burger or pizza and a glass of rose for a carefree meal al fresco.

Looking for healthy side dish recipes?

This wedge salad is a tasty healthy side dish recipe; here are a few more side dish recipes we love:

• Incredible Chopped Salad
• Shaved Brussels Sprout Salad with Pomegranate
• Greek Orzo Salad
• Crispy Sweet Potato Fries
• Incredible No Mayo Potato Salad
• Strawberry Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Caribbean Black Bean Salad
• Classic Greek Salad
• Cucumber Salad with Vinegar
• Classic Vegan Potato Salad
• Grilled Romaine Lettuce
• Perfectly Creamy Polenta Recipe
• Crispy Sweet Potato Fries
• Best Popover Recipe
• Peach & Burrata Caprese Salad
• Nicoise Salad
• Strawberry Spinach Salad
• Arugula & Tomato Burrata Salad

This recipe is…

This wedge salad recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free.

Wedge Salad with Potato Chips

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(28 votes, average: 4.14 out of 5)

4.1 from 28 reviews

• Author: Sonja
• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 0 minutes
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 4 1x

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Description

Here the classic wedge salad is transformed with creamy ranch dressing, crushed potato chips, and blue cheese crumbles. It’s simple yet stunning!

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

For the smoky ranch dressing

• Homemade Ranch Dressing
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

For the salad

• 1 small head iceberg lettuce
• 4 sundried tomatoes
• 2 chives
• 1 handful potato chips
• 2 tablespoons blue cheese crumbles

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Instructions

1. Make the Homemade Ranch Dressing and stir in the smoked paprika.*
2. Slice the iceberg head into wedges (4 for a small head, 6 for a large head).
3. Thinly slice the sundried tomatoes and chives. Crumble the potato chips.
4. Place each wedge on a plate and garnish with dressing, sundried tomatoes, chives, chips, and blue cheese crumbles.

Notes

For the smoking gun option: Place the dressing in a bowl and cover in plastic wrap, then place the smoking gun inside the bowl and smoke for a few minutes.

• Category: Salad
• Method: Raw
• Cuisine: American

Keywords: Wedge Salad, Smoky Ranch, Ranch Dressing, Smoky, Gluten Free, Vegetarian, Creamy Ranch, Wedge, Lettuce

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