7 Layer Salad

 A classic 7 layer salad that is crisp with a creamy dressing.  Full of chopped lettuce, celery, green pepper, onions, cheese, tomatoes, and bacon, this salad makes a quick and easy side dish!

This salad is super easy to make! Probably only took about 15 minutes to put the whole thing together. This is a great dish to bring to summer parties. You can make it ahead of time, just leave the dressing off until you go to serve it. 

This can be made in any kind of bowl or dish of your choice. Dress it up in a nice bowl to make a stunning and bright side dish. It looks really neat if you leave it in the layers, and then right before you serve it, you can mix the dressing in. 

The original recipe that I have did not have any tomatoes in it, but I added some to mine because I had some at home already and I thought they would bring some nice color to the dish. I also switched my onions from red onion to green onions (just the green tops) just because I like them better!

The original recipe also has the dressing with just using Miracle Whip.  I just couldn’t bring myself to do that..so I substituted ½ a cup plain Greek yogurt for ½ cup Miracle Whip.  So my dressing ended up being half Miracle Whip and half plain Greek yogurt. I thought it turned out amazing! The yogurt brings a subtle tang to the whole salad that I love and it feels healthier eating it too!

Check out some of my other favorite salads and side dishes!

Italian Pasta Salad : Easy pasta salad that is bursting with color and flavor! Lots of veggies and tri-color pasta make this a beautiful side dish for a party.

Tangy Cucumber Salad : Sweet and tangy cucumber salad in a homemade red wine vinegar dressing. Perfect summer salad to use up your garden vegetables!

Homemade Baked Beans: Homemade baked beans that are made with crispy bacon, onion, green pepper, molasses, and brown sugar. Easy to throw together and tastes even better when made ahead.

Homemade French Dressing: A sweet and tangy homemade French dressing. Made with simple pantry ingredients that come together in minutes. 

Stuffed Baked Potatoes:  Baked potatoes stuffed with  creamy chicken, beef, and cheese. Perfect for a weeknight meal, filling side dish, or appetizer!

Romanian Garlic Dill Pickles: Classic Romanian pickles flavored with banana hot peppers, garlic, and dill. Crunchy and delicious with a spicy kick!

Stovetop Popcorn: Old fashioned homemade popcorn that is delicious and crunchy. Easy to make with just a pot on the stovetop!

Ingredients for 7 Layer Salad

• Lettuce: I prefer the iceberg lettuce in this, but you could also use Romaine or a mix of Romaine and iceberg

• Celery: 1 or 2 nice crisp stalks should be all you need, chopped in small pieces

• Green Bell Pepper: 1 small green bell pepper should give about 1/2 cup, chopped in small pieces. You could swap out a red, yellow, or orange bell pepper but I prefer the tartness of the green pepper in this salad.

• Onion: I used the tops of green onions, chopped finely, however red onion or all of the green onion (the white and green parts) could be used in this salad. Also feel free to use a little more onion in your salad if you are onion lover. You could up it about 1/2 cup instead of the 1/4 that I used.

• Peas: Frozen peas are needed for sure in this recipe. They stay together better than the canned and they add a pop of cold to each bite. You will need about 10 ounces or about one small bag.

• Tomatoes: (optional) Tomatoes are not added in the original recipe but I wanted to add them for flavor and color. I used cherry tomatoes, halved, but any kind of tomatoes diced up would work in this.

• Shredded Cheese: sharp cheddar cheese tastes amazing in this, but you could use a mild cheddar, or a mild white cheese.

• Bacon: you will need to cook the bacon separate, then crumble it on top of the salad. Make sure to get the bacon a little overdone (not burnt though!) so that it crumbles up nice. I used about 6 slices but you could add more or take it out completely.

• Miracle Whip: The original recipe used all Miracle Whip for the dressing, but I opted for a healthier take on it and only used 1/2 cup.

• Greek yogurt: For the dressing, I swapped in 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt instead of Miracle Whip.

• Milk: Used in the dressing to thin it out to the consistency that you want

• Sugar: Used in the dressing to sweeten it up a bit

What type of onions in a 7 Layer Salad?

The original recipe from my family has red onions in it, which would taste great! However, I am not a huge onion fan to begin with and the only kind I can tolerate is the green tops of the green onions. So therefore in this recipe I swapped the red onion for the green onion top, you do you though, and use whatever kind you like, or none at all!

How to make 7 Layer Salad

Chop up the 1/2 head of lettuce and place in the bottom of the dish you will be serving it in.

Chop up the green pepper, celery, and green onions. Layer these one at a time on top of the lettuce.

What kind of peas in a 7 Layer Salad?

I really do think you need frozen peas and it seems weird to add them frozen straight to the salad. However, they defrost pretty fast and they seem to keep the salad cold and also add a fresh pop while you are eating the salad. They also stay put together while you are mixing the dressing in, I think that canned peas would get mushed up.

Layer the frozen peas on top of the veggies.

To Layer or not to Layer

Here you have the option to keep the dressing off until serving and layer the tomatoes, cheese, and bacon on top. Then mix everything together with the dressing before serving.

The other option is to mix the dressing with all the ingredients except the cheese and bacon, then layer the cheese and bacon on top of the mixed salad.

How to make the dressing for 7 Layer Salad

Mix your dressing together, 1/2 cup Miracle Whip and 1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt, 1-2 Tablespoons milk depending on how thick you want it, and 1 Tablespoon sugar.

Mix everything together and pour over the salad.

This can be made in a bowl or a 9×13 dish.

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