Grilled Romaine Salad with Roasted Garlic Ranch
It has been a big grilling summer around these parts. We’ve been firing up the coals nearly every night and eating outside as much as possible. It is so much easier now that the kids are older and can play on the swing set while we mill around the yard! Naturally I’ve seized this opportunity to work on a few new grilling recipes, including things like vegetables and desserts.
One of our latest new favorites is this grilled romaine salad. Grilling romaine caramelizes the natural sugars in the lettuce and the resulting flavor is amazing. It is honestly so good you could just drizzle it with lemon juice and olive oil and have a great salad. But since I wanted to make it into a main course, I took a more in-depth approach and topped it with Hidden Valley® Roasted Garlic Ranch, one of Hidden Valley’s new flavors, and sprinkled freshly cooked bacon bits on top.
These delicious toppings instantly transformed the lettuce into a weeknight dinner that the whole family could enjoy. The dressing really makes all the difference — it takes the salad from a side dish to a family-friendly main course. Romaine is not typically my children’s favorite vegetable, but topping the leafy green with a bit of bacon and a drizzle of flavorful Hidden Valley dressing is helping them learn to love this veggie. I can definitely see us enjoying this meal many more times in the future. It makes me glad we have so many more good grilling days remaining before fall.
Ingredients
- 3 hearts of romaine, outer leaves stripped
- 6 tablespoons Hidden Valley® Roasted Garlic Ranch
- 9 strips of bacon, cooked and broken into small bits
Instructions
- Heat the grill to medium and oil the grate.
- Carefully place the romaine to the side of the direct heat and grill for about 3 minutes per side, or until the edges of the leaves are charred. Rotate the romaine carefully with tongs so each side is evenly cooked.
- Remove the lettuce to plates and chop off the very bottom of the romaine hearts that hold it together. Drizzle each one with 2 tablespoons of dressing and one-third of the chopped bacon. Serve with a fork and knife and enjoy!
