Crispy romaine lettuce, crunchy bacon, and blue cheese in a flavorful, zesty homemade dressing, this Royal Street Salad is perfect as an appetizer, side, or quick lunch idea.
Modeled after the “Royal Street Salad” from Mr. B’s Restaurant in New Orleans, this salad recipe is a family favorite. My in-laws taught us how to make it and we made the recipe our own to enjoy at home. It’s packed with a zesty flavor, is simple to make, and will leave you feeling satisfied.
If you’ve decided that you’d like to eat more salads throughout the week, you need to try this incredible salad. It’s full of flavor and consists of a homemade dressing made using fresh ingredients - diced onion, pimiento peppers, and fresh herbs. When you want to try something new, delicious, and easy to put together, this is the perfect recipe for you.
Table of Contents
🥘 Ingredient Notes
Once the herbs, onion, and garlic are minced, you should have everything pictured below.
- Onion - Dice your onion into fine, small pieces to add to your dressing mixture.
- Pimiento Peppers - Dice the pimiento peppers into small pieces.
- Fresh Oregano - Mince the oregano before you add it to the mix.
- Fresh Parsley - Mince your parsley with the oregano.
- Thyme - You will also want fresh thyme to mince with your other fresh spices.
- Garlic - Mince your garlic into small pieces after peeling it and chopping it.
- Basil - Dice the fresh basil into the tiniest pieces possible for your dressing.
- Dijon Mustard - Add a bit of zest using some Dijon mustard.
- Red Wine Vinegar - A similar substitute for red wine vinegar would be white wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar.
- Olive Oil - You can use canola oil or vegetable oil if you choose, but olive oil is best.
- Spices - You will need kosher salt and black pepper.
- Romaine Lettuce - Roughly chop through the lettuce before assembling the salad.
- Bacon - Cook your strips of bacon, allow them to cool, and then crumble them into pieces.
- Blue Cheese - Add crumbles of blue cheese for additional flavor. You could also use Feta cheese.
🍽 Equipment Needed
- Large Mixing Bowl
- Sharp Knife and Cutting Board for mincing your ingredients
🥣 How to Make It
The royal street salad is made with cooked bacon and fresh ingredients, but it’s incredibly quick and easy to make. (Cook along with my family here!)
- First, you want to chop and very finely mince the fresh veggies and herbs. (Picture 1) Then, cook your bacon and crumble it.
- Once you’ve finished prepping, mix the onion, pimiento, fresh herbs, garlic, mustard, and vinegar together in a large mixing bowl. (Pictures 2 - 5)
- Then, slowly whisk the oil in to allow it to emulsify and create a rich dressing. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (Pictures 6 - 8)
Get your arms ready - it is a lot of whisking. (Just ask my husband! )
- Add your romaine lettuce to the dressing. Toss the salad until fully coated with dressing. (Picture 9 - 10)
- Then add bacon and blue cheese and toss. (Pictured below)
Serve immediately and enjoy!
🔢 Recipe Yield
When preparing this salad, you’ll have enough of it to serve four people if it is used as an appetizer or side dish. Feel free to double the recipe when making this Royal Street Salad for a large family or if it is going to be used as a main course.
🙋♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
It should take about 20 minutes. You’ll spend around 10 minutes preparing your ingredients and an additional 10 minutes assembling the salad. The cook time is dependent on how long it takes to cook your bacon. (My in-laws like to use pre-cooked bacon so it takes them less than 5 minutes. We use thick-cut bacon and it takes 10 minutes or more to be fully cooked and crispy.)
No, this salad has a perfect balance. Just keep an eye on how much salt you’re adding to your dressing because the blue cheese and bacon both naturally have salt added to them. The salt in this recipe is a little variable depending on the type of blue cheese and bacon that you use. (If you use a REALLY salty blue cheese, you can use less salt.) So, you can add more or less salt depending on your preference.
Yes, if you’d like to add extra ingredients, feel free to do so. (Though it wouldn't be "the" Royal Street Salad - it would still be really delicious. Some people like to add cooked chicken or shrimp to this salad. You can also add croutons, cucumbers, carrots, or any other veggies that your family likes.
🍳 Serving Suggestions & Uses
This salad is perfect as an appetizer, a side dish, or even as a healthy lunch option. I like to serve a side of salad with most of my entrees. Here are a few of my favorite entrees to go with this salad:
🥫 Storage/Shelf Life/Reheating
Store your dressing in a plastic or glass container with an airtight lid and keep it in the fridge. Keep your lettuce, crispy bacon crumbles, and blue cheese in separate containers in the fridge until you’re ready to assemble the salad. If you have leftover salad that is already assembled, it will keep for a few days, but the lettuce will start to get soggy - I recommend eating it right away.
✏️ Helpful Tips
- Be sure to use fresh ingredients when preparing your dressing to give it the best flavor possible.
- If you don’t like blue cheese, you don’t have to add it to this recipe. Use mozzarella, crumbled sharp cheddar cheese, or parmesan cheese instead. (It just won't be a Royal Street Salad, it will just be a tasty salad.)
- Don’t pour the dressing over the salad until you’re ready to eat it because you don’t want your lettuce to get soggy.
- Taste your blue cheese and bacon before adding more salt. If they are very salty, you may not need to add as much salt to your dressing.
Other Easy Side Dish Recipes
Have You Tried This Recipe?
Please rate it and leave a comment below. I would love to hear what you think!
📝 Recipe
Royal Street Salad
Equipment
- a whisk
- a large bowl
Ingredients
Dressing
- 1 tablespoon onion, diced finely
- 1 tablespoon pimiento peppers, diced finely
- 2 teaspoons fresh oregano, minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons fresh parsley, minced
- 1 ½ teaspoons fresh thyme, minced
- 1 teaspoon fresh basil, minced
- 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ½ cup olive oil
- 1 pinch kosher salt *
- 1 pinch black pepper
Salad
- 8 cups romaine lettuce roughly chopped
- ½ cup crumbled Roquefort blue cheese
- 8 strips bacon, cooked until crispy and crumbled
Instructions
- Finely mince your onion, herbs, garlic, and pimiento peppers.
- In a large bowl, mix together onion, pimiento, fresh herbs, garlic, mustard, and vinegar.
- Gradually whisk in the oil to allow it to emuslify and create a rich dressing.
- Season with salt and pepper. (Use less salt if your blue cheese is really salty.)
- Add romaine, blue cheese, and bacon to the bowl and toss salad to coat with dressing.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
- Be sure to use fresh ingredients when preparing your dressing to give it the best flavor possible.
- If you don’t like blue cheese, you don’t have to add it to this recipe. Use mozzarella, crumbled sharp cheddar cheese, or parmesan cheese instead. (It just won't be a Royal Street Salad, it will just be a tasty salad.)
- Don’t pour the dressing over the salad until you’re ready to eat it because you don’t want your lettuce to get soggy.
- Taste your blue cheese and bacon before adding more salt. If they are very salty, you may not need to add as much salt to your dressing.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is approximate and is automatically calculated, so should only be used as a guide.
Mary
Really great salad! So glad you posted it. Nice job!
Neal
Love That Salad!!!