Black and Blue Salad

This Black and Blue Salad is made with juicy grilled steak, homemade blue cheese dressing, and a tangy sweet balsamic tomato bruschetta. Keep this fresh and herby steak and blue cheese salad recipe on hand for hot summer nights out on the patio!

This post was developed in partnership with Ohio Beef. As always, all opinions are my own.

Absolutely Incredible Steak and Blue Cheese Salad

Every winter, when we’re just about to lose our minds over snow and gray skies and frigid temperatures, we pack up and escape to Texas to visit my husband’s family. There’s so much to look forward to each year–seeing parents and sibling-in-laws, spending time with our niece and nephews, and, of course, seeing the sun again.

My favorite part of the trip is when we gather together for big family dinners. Every night, we crowd around a different table, three high chairs deep, and pass platters, spoon purees, wipe up spills, and catch up on life in the pauses.

We always have a range of dishes, with old family favorites like Red Wine Pot Roast and new experiments, like Pineapple Sunshine Cake.

This last trip, we had a particularly fantastic Steak and Blue Cheese Salad at my sister and brother-in-law’s house.

My brother-in-law is one of those cooking whizzes who never uses a recipe and never writes anything down. He just sprinkles and dollops and drizzles and tastes until it’s just right.

His creations are always fantastic, but good luck getting the recipe–there isn’t one. But after trying this black and blue salad, I knew I had to recreate it, and have a written recipe to share and pass on!

What’s a Black and Blue Salad?

Black and blue salad gets its name from the blackened edge of a grilled steak combined with blue cheese.

Our recipe takes Black and Blue to the next level with 4 simple elements: iceberg lettuce wedges, a cherry tomato bruschetta, a homemade blue cheese dressing, and a grilled ribeye steak.

Each ingredient is simple on its own, but this salad proves that a dish can be much greater than the sum of its parts.

This dish is a study in contrasts, from the tangy sweet balsamic tomatoes to the creamy, sharp blue cheese dressing. Light and herby while also being intensely savory, this steak salad hits all the right notes for a delicious and easy summer meal.

How to Cut Lettuce for Wedge Salad

Before we dive into the recipe, let’s talk about the base of a Black and Blue Salad: the lettuce! 

We love using iceberg lettuce for wedge salads. It’s crisp, refreshing, and stays together well.

Normally a head of iceberg lettuce is cut into fourths for large, entree size salads, but we’ve found we prefer smaller wedges that can be plated individually or loaded on a platter.

These mini wedges are easier to serve, easier to cut, and great for soaking up all the delicious dressing. The mini wedge salad is also perfect for parties! Let guests grab a hunk off the platter and go!

1. To cut the lettuce, first remove any wilty outer leaves, then chop off the hard brownish bit at the bottom, leaving some of the bottom intact so the wedges don’t fall apart.
2. Then, cut the head straight through the middle, into two halves, and again into fourths. Cut each fourth down the middle to make eight mini wedges.

How to Make Black and Blue Salad

Step 1: Prep the steak. Pull the ribeye steak from the fridge and season generously with Kosher or sea salt (smoked salt, if you can find it!) and fresh cracked pepper on both sides. Allow to sit at room temperature for at least 15 minutes or up to an hour.

Step 2: Make the blue cheese dressing. Mash together the blue cheese and buttermilk until a thick clumpy paste forms, then stir in sour cream, mayo, white wine vinegar, and chives. Season with salt and pepper and refrigerate while you make the rest of the salad.

Step 3: Make the tomato bruschetta. Combine cherry tomatoes with garlic, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil. Set aside.

Step 4: Grill the steak. Preheat the grill to 450-500 degrees. Grill the steak for about 5 minutes per side, using a meat thermometer to test for doneness. Tent with foil and rest for 10 minutes. Thinly slice the steak across the grain.

Step 5: Plate. Spoon the bruschetta over the lettuce wedges. Top with slices of steak and then the dressing. Serve.

Tips for Grilling Steak

1. Always start with clean grill grates.
2. Use high heat for the perfect sear.
3. Oil your grill grates using a paper towel dipped in vegetable or canola oil.
4. Use a meat thermometer to get your preferred doneness. For medium rare, pull the steak at 125-130 degrees. For medium, pull it at 135-140 degrees. The amount of time your steak takes to grill will depend on how thick it is, but here is a general steak grilling guide.
5. Tent with foil and allow to rest. A steak should always rest for 10 minutes before slicing. This gives the meat a chance to reabsorb all those delicious juices. The steak will continue to cook and rise in temperature about 5 degrees during this time, which is why we recommend pulling it on the lower end of doneness.
6. Slice across the grain. For the most tender slices, make your cuts in the opposite direction of the grain of the steak.

Make Ahead and Storage Instructions

Most of the components of this Black and Blue Salad can be made ahead of time!

• The cherry tomato bruschetta can be made up to 12 hours in advance.
• The blue cheese dressing can be made up to 2 days in advance. Both should be stored, covered, in the fridge.
• The lettuce wedges can be cut up to 24 hours in advance and stored in a large ziplock bag with paper towels to soak up any excess moisture.

Leftover salad elements should be stored, separately if possible, in containers in the fridge and consumed within 2 days.

FAQs

Can I use a store bought blue cheese dressing?

Yes, a store bought dressing should still work, but I have to say, this homemade version is SO much better.

Store bought blue cheese dressing tends to be thick and gloppy, while our version is a bit thinner–more in line with our Cilantro Ranch Dressing. I find it’s so much better for soaking into the lettuce and tastes much lighter and fresher!

Can I use a different kind of steak?

Absolutely. A sirloin would also work well here. You could also use a thin steak like flank or skirt, but you would need to marinate it first for the best flavor. Feel free to use our recipe for Marinated Skirt Steak or Grilled Skirt Steak Sandwiches.

More Entree Salads to Try

We love serving salads as a main dish, especially in the summer, but we still want them to be hearty enough that we aren’t hungry again in an hour! Here are our favorite entree salads:

• Panera Asian Sesame Salad
• Doritos Taco Salad Recipe
• 7 Layer Salad
• Copycat Northstar Chopped Salad with Goat Cheese
• Big Mac Salad

Here in my home state of Ohio, there are 17,000 beef farming families dedicated to providing excellent care of their animals, protecting the environment for future generations and producing safe, healthy beef. To learn more about beef farming here in Ohio, check out this video, or follow Ohio Beef on Facebook.