Radicchio Salad With Creamy Ranch Dressing

This Radicchio Salad With Creamy Ranch Dressing has deep and luscious flavors. Loaded with bacon, blue cheese, and buttery croutons, you’ll have a hard time keeping yourself away!

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Not your average salad

Savory salad never tasted so good! My Radicchio Salad With Creamy Ranch Dressing is super easy to make and has so many delicious flavors. Loaded with vegetables, bacon, and a homemade dressing, you’ll be going back for a second or third helping.

This is not your average salad. The radicchio has a strong, bitter taste that’s complemented by crispy bacon, blue cheese, onions, and sourdough croutons. You can even use the leftover dressing as a dip for vegetables, for wing night, or in a Mediterranean salad.

What is radicchio?

When you first see radicchio, you may think it’s a long red cabbage. It’s actually from the chicory family! Just like an endive, radicchio has long leaves and a similar look to cabbage.

Radicchio has crunchy leaves and a bitter flavor, which is perfect for salads and slaws. It can also be grilled or roasted and eaten with meat and other vegetables. You can tone down the flavor by soaking the radicchio leaves in an ice bath for 15 minutes, as we do in this recipe.

Ingredients needed

Once you have the radicchio, all you need are a few more easy ingredients. You’ll love the wide variety of flavors as everything is combined together. Feel free to add a sliced endive into the salad for a green and purple color contrast.

Here’s what you need to make this salad:

• Radicchio
• Bacon
• Red onion
• Blue cheese
• Sourdough bread
• Olive oil
• Sea salt

How to make radicchio salad

This restaurant-worthy salad comes together in a few steps. You can even pre-make the salad and let it sit in the fridge for an hour or two so the flavors can get to know each other.

Here’s how to do it:

1. Preheat the oven to 450ºF.
2. Cut the radicchio into quarters, remove the stem, then cut it into thirds. In a large bowl or a salad spinner, cover the radicchio with ice water. Use your hands to massage the leaves, then let it soak for 15 minutes. Drain and dry well.
3. While you wait for the radicchio to soak, make the easy homemade ranch dressing.
4. Next, prepare the salad toppings. Cut the bacon slices into 1/2 inch pieces and cook in a medium skillet over medium heat. Stir occasionally until most of the fat has rendered and the pieces start to brown and crisp (10 to 12 minutes). Remove the bacon pieces and set them on a paper towel-lined plate. Don’t forget to save your bacon grease!
5. Slice the sourdough bread into crouton sized pieces. Toss them in olive oil and spread on baking sheet. Bake for 4 to 5 minutes, watching them to make sure they don’t burn.
6. Slice the red onion into thin slices and set aside. Crumble the blue cheese.
7. Assemble the salad in a large serving dish. Add the chopped radicchio, the bacon pieces, croutons, and cheese. Drizzle the ranch over top and toss everything together.

Making it ahead of time

I would highly recommend making the ranch dressing a day or two ahead of time. This will give all of the ingredients time to mingle and get to know each other, resulting in the best dressing ever. Keep it sealed in the fridge until you’re ready to eat.

If you have leftover salad, feel free to cover the bowl with a lid or plastic wrap and keep it in your fridge. It should stay fresh for up to 2 days.

More salad recipes

I love to create fun and flavorful salad recipes that won’t leave you hungry. Try any of these as a healthy dinner or side dish:

• Loaded Chicken Salad With Honey Mustard Vinaigrette
• Garlic Grilled Shrimp With Mediterranean Salad
• Asian Cucumber Salad
• Crunchy Kale Salad
• Mexican Street Corn Salad

If you tried my Radicchio Salad With Creamy Ranch Dressing, let me know what you think! Leave a comment or rate this recipe below. Don’t forget to take a picture and tag me on Instagram! I love to share all of your recreations.

xoxo,
LENA

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