BLT Salad with Homemade Buttermilk Ranch Dressing โ A BLT salad packed with an abundance of veggies for added texture and flavor, all topped with homemade ranch! Fast, fresh, healthy & satisfying!
Easy Recipe for BLT Salad
My family adores anything with bacon. Bacon makes everything better, right?
The salad is chock full of colors, textures, and a plethora of veggies.
As many textures, flavors, and veggies that I can pack into a salad, that happier I am.
My favorite are the big tomato slices. Almost daily for the past 10 years, I eat one tomato. You know what they say, a tomato a day keeps the doctor away. Something like that.
Having juicy tomatoes with the crunchy cucumber slices, crisp carrots, and the little bursts of flavor and color from the peas and corn scattered about, is my idea of a great salad.
But what really makes a salad is the dressing. No matter how good the greens and veggies are, the dressing is the make-it-or-break-it element. And this dressing is a definite make-it.
You can just use your favorite store-bought ranch dressing, but making your own takes about 1 minute.
And after trying homemade ranch, you’ll never need those powdered ranch dressing mix packets again. Or shall I say packets of sodium and garlic powder.
BLT Salad Ingredients
To make this easy recipe for BLT salad, you’ll need:
- Bacon
- Salad greens
- Tomatoes
- Cucumber
- Carrots
- Corn
- Peas
- Mayonnaise
- Sour cream
- Buttermilk
- Fresh parsley
- Lemon juice
- Olive oil
- Green onion or chives
- Garlic
How to Make BLT Salad with Ranch Dressing
Making a BLT salad from scratch is so easy! I love that the dressing can be prepared in advance and eaten throughout the week.
Here’s a look at how the salad is prepared:
- Cook the bacon: Cook according to manufacturerโs instructions. Dice small; set aside.
- Assemble the salad: In a large bowl, add the greens, top with tomato, cucumber, carrots, peas, corn, and sprinkle bacon pieces over the top; set aside.
- Make the dressing: Combine the mayo and sour cream with a splash of buttermilk, lemon juice, olive oil, green onions or chives, parsley, salt and pepper, and blend until smooth.
- Drizzle as much dressing as you’d like over the salad. Enjoy!
Can I Use Different Veggies?
Of course! You can customize your BLT salad however you see fit. However, I recommend keeping the salad greens, tomato, and bacon โ otherwise you’d be missing one of the key components of a BLT.
Can I Make This Vegetarian?
Yes! That’s what I did. Simply use your favorite vegan bacon and cook according to package instructions.
Tips for the Best BLT Salad
Low-fat swaps: For the dressing, you can use lite/reduced fat versions of the mayo and sour cream (or try Greek yogurt). I did, and the dressing is still plenty creamy, thick, and luscious, with just the right amount of tang from buttermilk.
Adjust the flavors: Like all dressings, adjust the seasonings, salt, and flavor balance to your taste. If you think it needs a dash more lemon, buttermilk, oil, salt, or whatever it is, add it to taste.
Leftover dressing: The recipe makes just over 1 cup dressing and extra will keep easily for a week in the fridge. It’s great to have around to do double duty as a veggie dip, or I’m sure it would make a fabulous chicken marinade.
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BLT Chopped Salad with Homemade Creamy Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
Ingredients
Salad
- ยฝ cup cooked, diced bacon or faux bacon pieces (about 8 strips bacon, cooked to manufacturerโs instructions)
- about 3 to 4 cups salad greens
- 1 small/medium ripe tomato, sliced into thin rounds
- half of 1 cucumber, about 10 thinly sliced rounds
- ยผ cup thinly sliced carrots
- ยผ cup peas, I used frozen
- ยผ cup corn, I used frozen
Buttermilk Ranch Dressing
- ยฝ heaping cup mayonnaise, lite or reduced fat okay
- ยฝ heaping cup sour cream, (lite or reduced fat okay; plain Greek yogurt may be substituted
- ยผ cup buttermilk + extra if necessary to thin
- 2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf, Italian parsley
- 1 to 2 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 to 2 tablespoon minced fresh green onion, scallions, or chives ( I used 1 trimmed green onion in entirety)
- 1 small garlic clove, peeled, optional and to taste
- ยฝ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- ยฝ teaspoon ground black pepper, or to taste
Instructions
- Salad โ Cook bacon according toย manufacturerโs instructions. Dice small; set aside.
- In a large bowl, add the greens, top with tomato, cucumber, carrots, peas, corn, and sprinkle bacon pieces over the top; set aside.
- Buttermilk Ranch Dressing โ Toย the canister of a food processor or blender (mini food processorsย work great here),ย add all ingredients and blend until smooth and creamy, about 30 seconds. Taste dressing and if necessary, adjust flavor balance by adding more lemon, oil, herbs, salt and pepper, or whatever dressing needs, to taste. I like my dressing thicker and didnโt use more than 1/4 cup buttermilk, but add more, to taste, to thin it out. Brands of mayo, sour cream, and buttermilk all vary in their thickness.
- Transfer dressing to a glass jar with lid, or airtight container with a lid.
- Drizzle over salad and toss to combine. Serve immediately. Extra dressing will keep for 7 to 10 days airtight in the fridge; shake well before next use.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Oh man, this salad is just packed, how delicious :) I am dying to make this!
I’m always looking for new, fresh salad recipes. This one sounds fantastic… perfect for the summery temps we’re still getting here in Australia. Such a great combo of fresh veggies. Thanks lovely! Stunning photos xx
This salad looks like just what I need right now :) I’m definitely going to try your dressing, all those fresh ingredients look divine!
i like this kind of combination of salad, is so fresh, healthy and very, very easy to prepare quickly and in the same time so easy to eat :)
I want this salad. It is gorgeous. Alhough I love bacon I seldomly eat it for health reasons. I’m going to brake the seldom here and make this salad.
I’m not a big bacon person … it’s okay and I’ll eat it but only in savory things. As much as I love the sweet/salty combo I can’t stand the whole bacon in dessert thing! It totally grosses me out! And then there’s my husband who constantly begs me to buy bacon … I somehow seem to always forget that request when at the store… whoops! haha This salad is gorgeous – I love all the colors!
I hate bacon too lol, but I think I’ll try this with some sliced turkey!
I love this dressing–it’s great as a veggie dip too. We had this for dinner and it will make a repeat appearance for lunch again this weekend as my veggie drawer is stuffed now!
Thanks for making it & glad it will make a reappearance! Enjoy that stuffed veggie drawer :)
Bacon or no bacon, that’s a gorgeous salad!
Chopped salads with ranch are my favorite, but maybe with real bacon :)
Oh, wow, this is the most delicious-looking salad I’ve ever seen! I’ve never made my own dressing before– what other sorts of tips might you have to make it easier?
Just read the recipe and do what I said – it’s super easy!
super fabulous girl!
You’re not alone! My family is not a bacon family, and believe it or not I actually only tasted bacon ONCE–it was Morningstar Farms fake bacon strips–and I thought it was gross. Of course, it could be that I overcooked it, or it wasn’t good because it was fake, or maybe the brand isn’t a good one–but I have never tried bacon again nor had a desire to do so. I’ve had a few salads with bacon bits, but I think they ruin the salad because they overpower all the other flavors.
I want this right now. Bacon and all!
You’re so bold to admit you don’t love bacon, lol! I think us pseudo-vegetarian can all agree on it. It’s ok, but it’s not like changing. It’s certainly not get-a-tattoo-of-a-bacon-strip-and-wear-a-bacon-scarf-and-use-bacon-bandaids-and-bacon-chapstick amazing. Am I right? lol
Totally right and in the food blogging world and the trendy food culture world, to say you don’t like bacon is total heresy! :)
I typically look at your site on my phone but yesterday I did on my computer and the pictures of this salad are beautiful! They made me stop in my tracks and admire.
Thanks for the compliments! :)