Classic Seven-Layer Salad ♥ A Favorite Family Recipe

A classic summer salad, the seven-layer salad, with layers of romaine, peas, bacon, cheese, tomato, cooked eggs. Great for potlucks and a family favorite for holidays year-round. So many people love this salad!

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An American-Style Potluck for an Estonian Food Blogger

Last week my favorite Estonian blogger, Pille from the food blog Nami-Nami who also hosts the Estonian equivalent of Epicurious, visited for a few days.

Ha! I write that so matter-of-factly, as if her visit all the way from Estonia were no big deal. But the few days we had were special, time spent with someone who, thanks to blogging, I already knew even as we met face-to-face for the first time. Thank you, Pille, for coming to St. Louis!

On the Monday, we invited some St. Louis food bloggers over for a supper potluck. Since this was Pille's first trip to the U.S., "American food" was the theme. For a "school night", the eight of us laughed long and late. Twas fun, all, thank you for coming over!

Transforming a Seven-Layer Salad from Heavy to Light

For the first time ever, I made the classic seven-layer salad – but only because it was so "American". You see, I've had seven-layer salads at potlucks – they're standards, right? doesn't someone always bring a seven-layer salad to a potluck? – and to my taste, they're too often icky-heavy.

But not this time! I used my long-time favorite Buttermilk Garlic Salad Dressing which is sooo much lighter in both texture and calories than the typical mayonnaise versions that other seven-layer recipes call for, some times just plain ol' mayonnaise glopped on.

So this salad – this Classic Seven-Layer Salad – was really good!

And pretty too! In the tall clear glass trifle bowl, my Seven-Layer Salad turned into 14 layers – it was so pretty!

Usually, I think, other cooks do seven layers in a 9x13 pan so the trifle bowl is entirely optional. In fact, it's probably easier to stir a seven-layer salad in a 9x13. Plus, since you stir before serving, the drama of the layers is lost, anyway.

An Easy Transition to a Vegetarian & Vegan Seven-Layer Salad

Since Nupur from One Hot Stove and Lisa from Show-Me Vegan (sorry, that site's no longer live) were attending, I also made a vegan version of the Seven-Layer Salad, omitting the bacon, cheese and eggs and using a vegan mayonnaise made with almonds called Almonnaise. [Note to Vegetarians]

More American Dishes from St. Louis Food Bloggers

Nupur brought her summer rolls, which are so delicious, we decided would qualify as "new American".
Lisa brought her BBQ Beans with Dark Rum (sorry, Lisa's blog is no longer public).
Bruno from Bruno's Dream brought a delicious pizza which was just as good, cold, for lunch the next day.
Joy from The Spiral of Seasons brought homemade bread with two homemade butters which we all raved over.
Pille made a variation of her beet and blue cheese tartlets and also her gorgeous orange and red onion salad.
For dessert, we had a cherry cobbler from Ann at Kitchen Conservatory
For cupcakes, Stef of Cupcake Project brought Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

RESOURCES

In 2014, we visited Pille in Estonia, meeting her husband and three beautiful children. Global friendships, so important, I think! I wrote about it here, Estonian Deviled Eggs.
Want to learn more about St. Louis food bloggers? Follow all the fun at StLFoodBlogs.com.

~recipe updated, first published way back in 2008~
~more recently updated recipes~

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CLASSIC SEVEN-LAYER SALAD

Hands-on time: 20 minutes (presumes dressing, eggs, bacon, already made)
Time to table: 4 hours
Serves a bunch (amounts shown in parentheses below are plenty to serve 16)

SALAD LAYERS
Romaine lettuce (about 1 pound), chopped into bite-size pieces
Frozen peas (about 8 ounces), rinsed under cold water briefly to thaw, then drained well
Cooked bacon (about 8 ounces)
Good summer tomato (about 1 pound), chopped
Hard-boiled eggs, sliced (about 3 eggs)
Cheddar cheese (about 8 ounces), grated
About 4 tablespoons Buttermilk Garlic Salad Dressing

FOR GARNISH (save aside some of the above for garnish)
Cheddar cheese around the edge
Chopped tomatoes in the center
A handful of peas over the tomatoes
A sprinkle of bacon bits over the tomatoes

SALAD LAYERS Reserve some of the cheese, tomatoes, peas and bacon for garnishing. In a 9x13 pan or other dish, build salad in layers, from bottom to top. Drizzle lightly with Buttermilk Garlic Salad Dressing, letting the dressing slip into the cracks; you'll need less dressing than you think because the lettuce, peas and tomato also provide lots of moisture. If needed, do a second or third set of layers and drizzle again.

GARNISH Spread a thin layer of cheddar cheese around the perimeter, then fill the center with tomatoes. Sprinkle with peas and bacon.

TO SERVE Cover and let chill for 4 hours in the refrigerator before serving. Stir just before serving.

ALANNA's TIPS & KITCHEN NOTES
ROMAINE For the romaine, the smaller the pieces, the easier the salad will be to stir. Do tear, not cut, the romaine, otherwise the edges will appear dark and bruised. If there's romaine left over, take it along in a freezer bag and stir it into the salad just before it's served. This helps make it a more "lettuce" salad than a "cheese and bacon salad".
BACON Here's how to make homemade bacon bits. Don't buy the product called Bacon Bits, they're awful; if you don't have time to cook your own bacon, then skip this ingredient.
EGGS Here's how to cook perfect hard-boiled eggs.
DRESSING If using another dressing (or the plain mayonnaise that many Seven-Layer Salads call for), make sure it's thin enough to "dress" the salad, not just thickly coat the lettuce and other layers. If it comes too thick, just thin with milk or buttermilk. Another dressing to use? The gorgeous My Everyday Creamy Herb Salad Dressing.
USE A LIGHT TOUCH It's really easy to turn this salad into something too heavy. Even though I used what seemed like a lot of romaine lettuce at the time, there wasn't enough lettuce for it to really be a salad. Because there are so many other layers, I should have (1) done really thin layers, a sprinkling even, of the non-lettuce layers and (2) used much more lettuce.
SEVEN-LAYER SALAD DOESN'T KEEP While the salad does need to rest for the dressing to soak in and the flavors to meld, it doesn't hold over well the next day so you'll want to make just enough.

Per Serving: 205 Calories; 14g Tot Fat; 6g Sat Fat; 8g Carb; 2g Fiber; 6g Sugar; 227mg Sodium; 67mg Cholesterol; 12g Protein WEIGHT WATCHERS POINTS Old Points 6 & PointsPlus 6 & SmartPoints 9 & Freestyle 6 & myWW green 9 & blue 6 & purple 6

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MORE FAVORITE SUMMER SALAD RECIPES for POTLUCKS

~ Classic Seven-Layer Salad ~
~ Summer Orzo ~
~ Fattoush (Traditional Middle Eastern Salad) ~
~ Finnish Summer Potato Salad ~
~ Summer Black-Eyed Pea Salad ~
from A Veggie Venture

~ more Favorite Summer Salad Recipes ~
~ Zucchini Spiral "Noodle" Salad ~
~ Quinoa & Black Bean Salad ~
~ Greek Pasta Salad ~
~ more salad recipes ~
from Kitchen Parade

SEASONAL EATING: THIS SAME WEEK ACROSS THE YEARS

Spinach with Cottage Cheese and Canned Beets Zucchini with Tomatoes & Cheddar Carrot Loaf (Savory Carrot-Mushroom Pâté) Tomato Bread Pudding V Asparagus & Edamame Salad Simple Arugula Salad Lima Bean Hummus Roasted Asparagus with Anise First Tomatoes! Lemon Mint Cucumber Water Bok Choy Salad with Chinese Salad Dressing Classic Seven Layer Salad Fire-Charred Tomatoes Weight Watchers Spinach Dip Cauliflower "Potato" Salad The Miracle of Squash Blossoms Chinese Cucumber Salad Eloisa's Jicama Salad

A Veggie Venture is home of "veggie evangelist" Alanna Kellogg and the
famous asparagus-to-zucchini Alphabet of Vegetables.

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