Radicchio salad with creamy ranch, blue cheese, bacon, sweet onion, croutons. This delicious summer salad will be on repeat at your house once you try it too. It’s simply irresistible.
I wasn’t a big fan of radicchio before when it was hanging around all bitter in a salad mix, you know, that bag of salad mix that you get at the store, nope, didn’t like it. Until I learned how to properly prepare it not to be bitter. If you are in the same boat, let me change your mind too. I have three favorite salad greens : arugula, radicchio and butter leaf lettuce. That’s pretty much what I stick too, unless I am making my Cesar salad, grilled or not grilled, then romaine hearts all the way.
Do you have a favorite lettuce you prefer over all of the ones out there? Let me know in comments below, can’t wait to hear what yours is.
When Shey (my hubby) and I went on a weekend getaway a few weeks ago to downtown McMinnville. We stayed at the beautiful new hotel called Atticus Hotel. It was such a great experience, I thought I would share some photos of our stay and a little back story for this recipe.
Here is a little about the hotel :
It’s a luxury lifestyle hotel in Historic Downtown McMinnville–the heart of Oregon Wine Country. There are 36 rooms that has grown out of the roots of their community. At the Atticus Hotel, they know it’s the added detail in every distinctive room and their insider’s perspective that enable you to soak up our Oregon wine country lifestyle. It’s what makes the Atticus much more than a hotel: it’s where you belong.
Upon our arrival at the hotel and were greeted with a glass of bubbles by the concierge, hello, yes please. I couldn’t get enough of the beautiful details of rich velvet colors in the lobby. I think one of my favorite parts about it, was the secret room off the lobby. We couldn’t wait to go explore the room we were staying in. Another awesome thing that is awesome, love all the unique brass knockers with different characters on each door. It was like exploring a magical town of adventures. Check out some of the photos I took of the space. Thanks to Atticus Hotel for having us there for the weekend. Can’t wait to go stay there again.
We were so hungry and skipped lunch before we got to the hotel, so we decided to order room service… which for some reason I’ve never done, but it was worth it, because we ate this delicious radicchio salad, in bed, in robes. Heck yeah. Don’t know why I haven’t done it before until now. Worth the wait.
After enjoying the salad, I told Shey that I would eat this salad for always and need to recreate it at home when we are back. That’s exactly what I did and I am so happy I recreated it. I skipped the hard boiled eggs that the original salad had, I wasn’t into it the first time I made the recipe. So it’s a bit different than the one they served at Bless Your Heart restaurant, that’s located in the hotel.
The weekend was filled with one of my good friend Erin (Platings and Pairings) and Ricks wedding, then exploring downtown McMinnville, wine tasting, sleeping in, naps, a little bit of shopping and time spent with friends in their back yard, eating that salad again… two days in a row.
I can’t wait to hear what you think about this recipe. It’s super easy to make, if you can make the dressing ahead of time it will have time to hang out and let all the flavors come together, that would be awesome and if not, it’s so easy to make and you make enough to have leftover to dip with veggies or another salad.
Check out the recipe for my EASY HOMEMADE RANCH DRESSING here.
Let’s get cooking.
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?
If you give my RADICCHIO SALAD WITH CREAMY RANCH a try? Let me know what you think, rate this recipe in comments below, share it on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram. Leave a comment and don’t forget to take a picture, tag it with #lenaskitchenblog on Instagram or tag me on my Facebook page! I love seeing what you come up with! Happy cooking.
RADICCHIO SALAD WITH CREAMY RANCH
Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, SaladINGREDIENTS
- 2 heads medium radicchio heads
- 6 slices bacon
- 1/4 red onion, cut really thinly
- 1/2 cup blue cheese, crumbled
- 3 thick slices sourdough bread, cut into cubes and toasted
- 2 tbsp olive oil for croutons
- 1/4 tsp sea salt, or more to taste
- 1/2 cup EASY HOMEMADE RANCH DRESSING, recipe link below.
INSTRUCTIONS
- Cut the radicchio into quarters, cut out the stem, then cut into thirds. In a large bowl or salad spinner, cover the radicchio with ice water, using your hands, massage it a bit before letting it stand for 15 minutes. Drain and dry well.
- Make your homemade ranch dressing. Grab my EASY HOMEMADE RANCH DRESSING recipe here.
- Cut the bacon slices into 1/2 inch pieces. In a medium skillet over medium heat, add the bacon pieces and cook, stirring occasionally, until most of the fat has rendered and bacon is starting to brown and it's nice and crisp. Approximately 10 to 12 minutes. Remove the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate.
- Slice sourdough bread or your favorite bread into crouton sized pieces. Toss in olive oil and spread on baking sheet. Bake for 4-5 mins at 450 F, watch so they don't burn.
- Slice the red onion into really thin slices and set aside. Crumble the blue cheese.
- Assemble the Salad. In a large serving dish add the chopped radicchio, make sure it's nice and dry. Add the bacon, croutons and cheese. Drizzle the ranch over top, you may not use it all, so go easy, you can always add more. Toss the salad well.
NOTES
NUTRITION
xoxo,
LENA
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I am so happy to hear that. It’s one of my favorite salads for sure. the flavors are great in here. Will have to try it with my new shallot vinaigrette now. I think it will be a hit.
This salad came out absolutely amazing!! I didn’t have any ranch on hand or the stuff to make the homemade one, so I made it with a champagne vinaigrette and it was delicious!! Thank you Lena!!