This Walnut & Blue Cheese Steak Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette is the perfect addition to your quick and easy week night meals. This is a great dinner salad and with the addition of creamy, flavorful blue cheese crumbles it really packs in all the protein!
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Jump to RecipeThis is one of my favorite salads. Perfect for a lighter dinner or a lunchtime meal prep for the week. I love whipping this salad up for a savory light meal anytime.
I absolutely love blue cheese, and it really is the star of this salad. Paired with the deliciously tender, perfectly cooked skirt steak, what’s not to love!
Start with the Steak
You start this recipe by preparing the steak and allowing it to come to room temperature for at least an hour on your counter. I only season this with salt and pepper so I am not masking the beautiful meatiness of the steak with anything else.
When you go to cook the steak, you want to make sure that the pan is nice and hot to get that perfect sear on your meat.
I let it cook for about 4 minutes on both sides, then I place on a cutting board to rest for at least 10 minutes to make sure it stays nice and moist throughout.
I then slice the steak into thin strips and cut the strip into smaller bite size pieces. This makes eating in your salad easier and that way you’re not trying to cut your steak in your beautiful salad.
Prepping the Walnut & Blue Cheese Steak Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
I like to prep all my salad ingredients and put them in bowls so my family can just come to the kitchen counter and assemble their salad bowls however they prefer.
I chop my lettuce up nice and finely, then I slice my grape tomatoes in half the long ways. I like to slice my onions into slices instead of dices, but that is really a personal preference.
I am not a big fan of croutons, and I love using nuts instead of them in most salads. The toasted walnuts in this salad go perfectly with the delicious blue cheese vinaigrette and steak. They are really a great topper for this salad.
The Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
I love vinaigrette, they are so versatile and simplistic. This is one of my favorites, mostly because I love blue cheese, but also because it is so simple to put together.
This vinaigrette pairs canola oil with apple cider vinger for just the right tang. Then you add a little dry mustard, salt, garlic and paprika.
The paprika and garlic go so well with the blue cheese, each element highlights each other for a bold, creamy, delicious dressing.
This vinaigrette is finished with actual blue cheese in it, so you do need to refrigerate it, but always leave it out for at least an hour or so before using.
Putting it together…
The assembly of this salad is easy, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, walnuts, steak, and top it with your added blue cheese crumbles and add your vinaigrette.
The important thing here is to make sure you have a nice big salad bowl to be able to toss and blend everything together without flinging it out of your bowl.
These Beautiful Porcelain Salad and Serving Bowls are perfect for this big dinner salad.
Check out some of my other healthy-ish recipes!
Walnut & Blue Cheese Steak Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette
Course: DinnerDifficulty: Easy4
servings30
minutesThis Walnut & Blue Cheese Steak Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette is the perfect addition to your quick and easy week night meals.
Ingredients
4 cups Iceberg Lettuce or Romaine chopped
1 small red onion sliced
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes halved
1 cup chopped Walnuts
Crumbled bleu cheese to garnish
1 lb skirt steak
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
- For the Vinaigrette
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp paprika
3 tbsp crumbled bleu cheese
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
Directions
- Begin by sprinkling the steak with a good amount of salt and pepper and allowing the steak to rest at room temperature for about an hour.
- Prepare the Vinaigrette
- In a large jar add one cup of canola oil.
- To that add the minced garlic.
- Followed by the salt, dry mustard, paprika, and apple cider vinegar.
- Add in 3 generous tablespoons of crumbled bleu cheese.
- Shake vigorously.
- Prepare the Salad
- Begin by lightly toasting the Walnuts on the stove in a small frying pan. You just want to heat them enough to start smelling them.
- Next slice your tomatoes in halves.
- Slice the onion and cut the rings in half.
- Finely chop the lettuce.
- Cook the Steak
- Preferably using a large cast iron, heat pan on medium high. Add a tablespoon of olive oil
- Once pan is very hot, add the steak and cook about 4 minutes on each side.
- Allow steak to rest on cutting board for at least 10 minutes before slicing.
- Slice steak into bite size pieces good for topping salad.
- I typically use the steak only slightly warm or room temperature because I don’t care for hot meat too wilt the lettuce.
- Assemble the salad beginning with the lettuce then add your topping and sprinkle with a little extra bleu cheese crumbles (optional).
Notes
- You can use sirlion steak for this recipe as well.
- Strawberries go very well in this salad.
- White onion can be substituted for the red onion.
- Romaine lettuce goes very well with this salad as well.
