LOADED HOUSE SALAD — Just like a house salad from your favorite restaurant, this salad is full of delicious ingredients like tomatoes, cheese, nuts, bacon and croutons. The perfect accompaniment to any meal!
Since I’m basically running a mini restaurant here, I decided we might as well have our own signature salad, and this Loaded House Salad is the one we turn to most often.
Well, besides Caesar salad, which is my go-to lazy salad, since the only thing I have to chop for that one is the lettuce, but when I want a really hearty salad to serve with dinner, I make this one.
This salad has everything I look for in a good salad–vegetables, cheese, a few crunchy elements, and of course, some bacon.
Of course, there’s an easy to make homemade dressing too. Really, there’s nothing complicated about this salad, but it’s got enough flavor and variety that it definitely qualifies as “loaded.”
And my whole family loves it…..well, one kid always picks out the tomatoes, but to each his own, right?
I love that this salad is simple enough for any week night meal, but also fancy enough to serve with a nice steak dinner.
It definitely reminds me of the house salads we’ve had at our favorite restaurants. As I like to say, this salad is easy but elegant, which is my number one requirement any time I’m entertaining.
And of course, it’s easily adaptable to use what you have on hand. You can easily switch up the type of cheese you use. Or replace the almonds with some chopped pecans or walnuts.
Feel free to mix up the salad ingredients an hour or two head of time and then add the dressing just before serving.
If you’re looking for a delicious signature salad recipe for your family, this Loaded House Salad is a great place to start!
Be sure to save this recipe for Loaded House Salad to your favorite Pinterest board for later.
Here’s what you’ll need to make Loaded House Salad
- Olive oil
- Produce: lemons, garlic, lettuce, tomatoes
- Salt and pepper
- Sugar
- Mozzarella cheese
- Slivered almonds
- Parmesan cheese
- Bacon
- Croutons
Loaded House Salad
Ingredients
For the dressing
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup lemon juice
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
For the salad
- 2 heads Romaine lettuce chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes halved
- 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
- 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 2/3 cup toasted slivered almonds
- 8 strips bacon cooked crisp and crumbled
- 1 cup croutons coarsely crushed
Instructions
- In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, whisk together ingredients for dressing. Refrigerate until ready to use.
- I a large bowl, toss the ingredients for the salad together until well-mixed. When ready to serve add desired amount of dressing and toss again to coat well.
Video
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Nutrition
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Who Dished It Up First: Adapted from Taste of Home
4 comments
Elizabeth Mulgrew
Easy, tasty side salad with a great dressing, perfect for those nights when you spend most of your time/energy on the main dish! I don’t know about you, but I constantly do that and then I’m pulling my hair out for a salad/side dish! This recipes fills the bill!
Lynn
Very good, easy, tasty and most importantly, easy to cut into 1/4 for just 2 people! The dressing tastes so fresh and all the yummy extras inside had me eating a full bowl of salad, which never happens!
Ellen
We had this salad for dinner tonight, as a main dish salad, and we enjoyed it very much.
When typing the recipe into my computer, I noticed that you mention nuts (almonds) in the article, but I don’t see nuts in the recipe.
Should I be adding almonds (sounds like a good idea!); if so, how much?
Danelle
Yes, there should have been almonds in the ingredient list. I’ve updated the recipe. Thanks!