With varying textures and flavors like crispy bacon, juicy strawberries, crunchy lettuce, and creamy blue cheese, there’s so much to love about this simple strawberry bacon salad. It’s perfect for entertaining, but also makes a light lunch or dinner.
Tell Me About This Strawberry Bacon Salad
- Texture: While we love the strawberries and pops of creaminess from the cheese, this salad is all about crunch courtesy of the romaine lettuce, bacon, and pecans.
- Flavor: We’re amazed by the amount of flavor packed into a salad that calls for just 5 ingredients: sweet, savory, sharp, and nutty. The honey balsamic vinaigrette is the perfect finishing touch, bringing all these wonderful flavors together.
- Ease: Salads are usually pretty easy to throw together and this one is no exception—just chop, toss, and serve.
- Time: If you don’t have cooked bacon, set aside some time to cook it first. We usually use the stovetop for bacon. After that, the salad takes about 15 minutes to throw together.
Suggestions for Serving this Strawberry Bacon Salad
This salad is our usual go-to for entertaining, such as alongside Christmas dinner, at bridal showers, baby showers, or really anytime you need a guaranteed delicious (and easy!) dish. It’s also a favorite savory option when planning our menu of Easter brunch recipes.
When we make it for dinner, we usually add something substantial like grilled chicken or salmon. We’ve also added 1/2 cup of chopped red onion or chickpeas and/or 1 sliced avocado for extra flavor and texture. Sometimes we arrange hard-boiled eggs on top like a cobb salad, too.
When preparing the strawberry bacon salad as a side dish, we often serve it with baked macaroni and cheese, corn fritters, crab cakes, or baked lemon herb salmon.
Some Notes on the Ingredients
- Strawberries. Use the juiciest strawberries you can find—they make an even more flavorful salad.
- Nuts. We love pecans, but chopped walnuts or sliced almonds are great options too.
- Blue cheese. Blue cheese (bleu cheese)—you either love it or you hate it. Sure, it won’t win any beauty awards and its scent is undoubtedly suspicious, but its bold flavor is one of the best parts of this salad especially when paired with sweet strawberries and honey balsamic vinaigrette. If blue cheese just isn’t your thing, you have options! Either feta cheese or goat cheese work too.
- Honey balsamic vinaigrette. What we love most about this strawberry bacon salad is the homemade vinaigrette. We typically see this salad with a poppy seed dressing of sorts, but the honey balsamic vinaigrette takes it to an entirely new level. It’s very easy to make and you can shake it up ahead of time.
PS: If you have leftover bacon and a furry friend at home, try my homemade bacon dog treats!
More Savory Recipes You’ll Love
- Strawberry Feta Pasta Salad & Creamy Chicken Pasta Salad
- Zucchini Casserole
- Citrus Chicken Quinoa Salad
- Green Bean Casserole
- Honey Garlic Shrimp
For even more inspiration here are 15+ summer dinner ideas!
PrintMy Favorite Strawberry Bacon Salad
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: serves 4
- Category: Salad
- Method: Cooking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is our favorite strawberry bacon salad because it’s always a crowd-pleaser and if you already have cooked bacon, it takes about 15 minutes to throw together.
Ingredients
- 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- 1 pound strawberries, sliced
- 5–6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped
- 2/3 cup crumbled blue cheese*
- 2/3 cup chopped pecans*
Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 Tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Make the vinaigrette first by whisking all of the vinaigrette ingredients together. Taste, then add salt and pepper as needed. You can make the dressing ahead of time and keep it in the refrigerator until ready to use. It’s great for up to 2 weeks when stored in the refrigerator.
- If your bacon is not already cooked, cook it according to its package directions. Cool until ready to handle, then chop it up.
- In a large bowl, toss all of the salad ingredients together, then mix in the vinaigrette. You may not need all the vinaigrette—use as much or little as you prefer.
- Plate and serve. Cover and store leftovers in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk
- Lettuce: Instead of romaine, this salad is wonderful with spinach or mixed field greens too.
- Cheese: Instead of blue cheese, try feta or goat cheese.
- Pecans: If you have some extra time, toast the pecans for added flavor. Preheat oven to 300°F (150°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Spread pecans on top and toast for 7-8 minutes. Cool before adding to salad. Feel free to substitute with chopped walnuts or sliced almonds. (And you can toast those following the same toasting directions.)