BLT Salad

BLT Salad is a tasty low-carb lunch or a side dish, and if you have fresh garden tomatoes, use those for this amazing salad. But this salad recipe also has a tip for coaxing flavor out of tomatoes when it’s not quite garden tomato season yet! 

PIN the BLT Salad to make it later!

This quick and easy BLT Salad is perfect recipe to make when you have fresh garden tomatoes and want to savor them! But this is also a recipe that can help when you’re starting to crave garden tomatoes, but it’s not quite fresh tomato season yet.

The salad uses perfectly-ripe cherry tomatoes, perfectly-crisp pieces of thick-sliced bacon, Romaine lettuce, and a perfect garlicky salad dressing that adds flavor to the other ingredients.

I first made this a few years ago with crumbled pre-cooked bacon, but since then I’ve been making it with thick sliced bacon that’s cut in large pieces and cooked until it’s crisp, so I’m updating the recipe with new photos to show the way I like it now. And I LOVE this salad!

Of course you could make salad this with larger diced tomatoes if it’s tomato season and you have some fresh garden tomatoes! And the salad is low in carbs, so you might want to add more tomatoes if it’s fresh tomato season. You can also add more bacon if you like the sound of that! But seriously, no matter how you adjust the recipe this BLT Salad is always going to be quick, easy, and delicious!

What ingredients do you need for this recipe?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

• romaine lettuce
• diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes
• thick sliced bacon
• green onion
• Olive Oil (affiliate link)
• white balsamic vinegar (affiliate link)
• Garlic Powder (affiliate link)
• salt and fresh black pepper to taste

Can you use other types of lettuce for BLT Salad?

If Romaine lettuce is not your thing, feel free to use any lettuce you prefer for this amazing salad!

What if you don’t have white balsamic vinegar?

I love the white balsamic vinegar that’s used in the dressing for this recipe, and it’s a bit milder than the traditional balsamic vinegar. Using white balsamic also keeps the salad pretty. But if you don’t want to buy a special vinegar for one salad, use any balsamic vinegar you prefer; just realize that the lettuce and other ingredients will be slightly colored by the darker vinegar.

How to make BLT Salad:

(This is only a summary of the steps for the recipe; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

1. We used thick-sliced bacon, and cut it into largish pieces. (Make sure your bacon doesn’t have added sugar if you’re watching carbs.)
2. Add chopped bacon to a hot frying pan and cook until the bacon is crisp.
3. Remove bacon from the pan and drain on paper towels.
4. Some people might like to use some of the bacon fat to replace part of the oil in the dressing, your choice on that!
5. Tear up Romaine lettuce fairly small and wash lettuce in ice cold water, in a salad spinner (affiliate link) if you have one. 
6. If you don’t have a salad spinner just wash lettuce in a bowl and dry with paper towels. Put lettuce in salad bowl.
7. Cut cherry tomatoes in half, or cut up larger tomatoes, whichever you are using and slice green onions.
8. Whisk together dressing ingredients. The salad would also be great with my favorite Newman’s Own Original Recipe Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing (affiliate link) 
9. Toss the lettuce with the dressing, then add the other ingredients and toss again.
10. If you have garden-fresh tomatoes the salad will be even better, but even with the early summer cherry tomatoes I used it was amazing!

Want More Tasty Salads with Bacon?

• Loaded Cauliflower Mock Potato Salad
• Spinach Salad with Bacon and Feta
• Bacon, Lettuce, Tomato, and Avocado Salad
• Brussels Sprouts Salad with Bacon, Almonds, and Parmesan
• Red Cabbage Salad with Bacon and Goat Cheese

Continue to Content

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Yield: 4 servings

BLT Salad

Prep Time 15 minutes

Total Time 15 minutes

When you need a quick low-carb lunch or pot-luck salad, this easy BLT Salad will hit the spot!

Ingredients

• 6 cups torn romaine lettuce (or a little more)
• 1 cup diced tomatoes or cherry tomatoes (see notes)
• 8 thick slices bacon
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion

Dressing Ingredients:

• 4 T olive oil
• 2 T white balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• salt and fresh black pepper to taste

Instructions

1. We used Kirkland thick-sliced bacon from Costco, and cut it into largish pieces.
2. Then add the chopped bacon to a hot frying pan and cook until the bacon is crisp.
3. Remove bacon from the pan and drain on paper towels.
4. I like torn Romaine lettuce for this salad. You want the flavors well-distributed in the salad, so tear up the lettuce fairly small.
5. Wash lettuce with ice cold water in a salad spinner (affiliate link) if you have one, or wash and dry with paper towels. (This is probably optional, but washing the lettuce in ice cold water makes it a lot more crisp.)
6. Put lettuce in salad bowl.
7. Cut cherry tomatoes in half, or cut up larger tomatoes, whichever you are using.
8. Slice green onions.
9. Whisk together dressing ingredients (or use your favorite purchased no-sugar vinaigrette.)  
10. Toss the lettuce with the dressing, then add the other ingredients and toss again.
11. Serve right away.
12. If this makes more than you'll eat at one time I'd wash the lettuce and make the dressing and store in fridge. Then cook the bacon and cut up cherry tomatoes right before you're eating the rest of the salad.

Notes

Check bacon ingredients; the Kirkland thick-sliced bacon we used has no added sugar. Definitely make this salad with chopped fresh garden tomatoes if you're lucky enough to have some!

Recipe created by Kalyn and Kara.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 257Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 4.7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 23mgSodium: 398mgCarbohydrates: 6.5gFiber: 2.2gSugar: 3.2gProtein: 9.3g

Nutrition information is automatically calculated by the Recipe Plug-In I am using. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee 100% accuracy, since many variables affect those calculations.

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Did you make this recipe? Please leave a star rating (under the PRINT button in the recipe) or share a photo of your results on Instagram! THANKS!

Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet ? South Beach Diet Suggestions:
This Easy BLT Salad would be good for low-carb and low-glycemic diets, and personally I’d eat it for the original South Beach Diet as well. The South Beach Diet doesn’t recommend bacon because it contains saturated fat, but you could use turkey bacon if you’re being strict about that!

Find More Recipes Like This One:
Use Salad Recipes to find more salads like this one. Use the Diet Type Index to find recipes suitable for a specific eating plan. You might also like to follow Kalyn’s Kitchen on Pinterest, on Facebook, on Instagram, on TikTok, or on YouTube to see all the good recipes I’m sharing there.

Historical Notes for This Recipes
This tasty salad was first posted in 2015, and the original version used crumbled precooked bacon. The recipe was updated in 2021 with my current preference for thick-sliced bacon cooked just before you make the salad, and it was last updated with more information in 2023. Make it any way you prefer of course!

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