House Salad
This is our favorite classic, simple, and easy house salad! Loaded with bacon, cheese, tomatoes, cucumbers, carrots, sunflower seeds, croutons, & ranch!
This recipe is inspired by a salad my family used to make growing up. By “make,” I mean we used to get this salad combination from the grocery store salad bar multiple times a week. It was our hyper-fixation for quite a while. Eventually it became known as our “house salad.” Because it goes with everything.
House salad ingredients…
Traditionally house salads have romaine lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, cheddar cheese, and croutons. We use all of those ingredients… but we also add shredded carrots, bacon bits, and sunflower seeds. Mainly for texture and extra flavor.
For the house salad dressing, we do a buttermilk ranch. It’s so good I could drink it.
Recipe modifications…
You can add or leave out any ingredients to make it your own.
We love a ranch dressing with this salad. But you could also do a classic balsamic vinaigrette.
You could add pickled onions, red onions, bell peppers, or maybe some banana peppers.
Crispy onions or crispy bell peppers would add great flavor and texture.
For gluten free croutons, I like to crush up these crostinis. They make way better croutons than actual gluten free croutons.
What to serve with a house salad recipe?
Literally anything. But more specifically…
Best Steak Marinade + Lemon Parmesan Asparagus
Orange Cajun Salmon + Coconut Rice
Baked Blackened Salmon + Honey Roasted Carrots
Watch the recipe video here:
House Salad
Ingredients
For the ranch dressing:
- 1 1/2 cups low fat buttermilk
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup greek yogurt (any kind of greek yogurt works or sub for mayo)
- 1 (1 oz) packet Ranch seasoning mix (about 2 Tablespoons)
- 1/3 cup green onions, thinly sliced (about 2 green onions)
- 1/3 cup chopped parsley
For the salad:
- 5 pieces of bacon, cut lengthwise & then into small pieces with scissors (you can use bacon bits)
- 12 cups romaine (about 6 heads of romaine)
- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes halved or chopped (~ 1 pint cherry tomatoes)
- 1 cup shredded carrots
- 3 baby cucumbers, thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup sliced green onions (about 3 green onions)
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or smoked gouda)
- 1/2 cup croutons
- 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
Instructions
For the ranch dressing:
- In a blender, add the mayo, greek yogurt, buttermilk, ranch seasoning, green onions, and parsley. Blend until very smooth and parsley is completely blended.
For the salad:
- Layer paper towels on a plate. Place bacon pieces on top of the paper towels. Microwave for 4-5 minutes, or until the bacon is cooked and crispy.
- In a large salad bowl, add all of the salad ingredients. Drizzle ranch over the salad and toss to combine. Serve immediately.
