7 Layer Salad Recipe – a classic recipe! Layers of lettuce, green onions, celery, green peas, hard boiled eggs, bacon, and cheese. Topped with an easy homemade dressing of mayonnaise, sour cream, cider vinegar, sugar, garlic, and seasoned salt. Can make in advance and refrigerate until ready to serve. Great for potlucks, cookouts, and tailgating. Everyone LOVES this #salad! #sidedish
BEST 7 Layer Salad
This 7 Layer Salad has been a staple in our house all summer long. It is SO good! Layers of crunchy veggies, hard-boiled eggs, bacon, yummy homemade dressing, and cheese! All of our favorites in one casserole dish. I could make a meal out of just this salad. SO good! This salad is great for potlucks and cookouts. It is super easy to transport and is always a hit. Everyone loves it!
How to Make 7 Layer Salad
This 7 Layer Salad is very easy to make. The first layer of this salad is chopped lettuce. I used iceberg. Feel free to use romaine or a combination of iceberg and romaine. The second layer is some chopped green onions and chopped celery. If you don’t like green onions, you can swap them for sweet white onion or red onion. The third layer is a layer of frozen green peas. I just threw the green peas in the salad frozen. They will be completely thawed by the time you eat the salad.
The fourth layer of this 7 Layer Salad is a layer of chopped hard boiled eggs. I cooked my eggs in the Instant Pot. They come out perfect every single time! Next up is a layer of cooked bacon. To cut down on the prep time, I used precooked bacon. I buy it in bulk at Costco. It is GREAT for recipes like this!
Next, you are going to add the dressing. It is a combination of mayonnaise, sour cream, sugar, cider vinegar, garlic, and seasoned salt. You can skip the sugar if you are doing Keto or Low-Carb. Also, feel free to add a packet of Ranch dressing mix to the dressing for a different flavor. This would also be great with my Real Deal Chicken Finger Sauce as the dressing.
Finally, add the shredded cheese to the top. I used cheddar. Feel free to swap the cheddar for your favorite cheese. Cover the salad and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Can 7 Layer Salad Be Made in Advance?
Yes! You want to make this salad the day before you plan on serving it and store it in the refrigerator. The leftovers will keep a couple of days. The lettuce doesn’t get soggy because the dressing is on top of everything and not mixed into the salad.
What to Serve With 7 Layer Salad
This salad goes with everything. Chicken, pork, burgers, steak, sandwiches – really everything! I love to make this when we have friends over for dinner. It is easy and can be made in advance. It is also super easy to transport to parties and cookouts. This would be great for tailgating in a few weeks too! Here are a few of our favorite recipes to serve with this easy salad:
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7 Layer Salad
Ingredients:
- 1 head lettuce chopped
- 1 cup chopped celery
- ½ cup chopped green onions
- 2 cups frozen green peas
- 6 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
- 1 lb bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
- 1½ cups mayonnaise
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 Tbsp cider vinegar
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp seasoned salt
Instructions:
- Place chopped lettuce in the bottom of a 9x13x2-inch baking dish.
- Toss together celery and green onions. Layer on top of lettuce.
- Sprinkle green peas on top of celery and onions.
- Spread chopped hard-boiled eggs on top of green peas.
- Spread cooked bacon crumbles on top of eggs.
- Whisk together mayonnaise, sour cream, cider vinegar, sugar, garlic powder, and seasoned salt. Spread over salad and make sure it completely covers the entire salad.
- Sprinkle grated cheese on top of the dressing.
- Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Notes:
Steph
I know this is a “layered” salad but in the photo it looks tossed together… so do you toss it before you serve it or just scoop it out? Oddly I have never made or eaten this.
No. I did not toss it together before scooping it out.
Weve been making 7 Layer Salad for over 30 years in my family We dont use the Vinegar or Garlic and we ate a layer of sliced tomatoes before the cheese. We Love 7 layer salad!!!!
To cut back on a bit of fat, I left out the bacon. I decided to try the dry Ranch dressing mix addition also. And to makeup for the lost layer, I added French Fried Onions that come in a package just before serving. It was a huge hit!
Sounds yummy!
This is pretty much the same recipe I use except I just put plain mayo for the dressing. I am excited to try this dressing as I think it will step up the flavor. This is one of those recipes that can be used as an entire meal and it is so, so good!
i love this recipe – classic and no funky weird ingredients – i've always just been lazy and used plain mayo – bhahahaha – i'm in! (and i love frozen peas)
I've been making my version of 7=layer salad for years… it's a fantastic side dish, or even an entire meal in the summer! My layers are romaine, green or red onion (diced), canned water chestnuts (chopped), frozen peas, bell peppers (any color, diced), bacon bits, and cheese shreds. My dressing is made by mixing mayo (or plain yogurt) with the juice of an orange with some of the zest added, and drizzled over the top… wonderful!