BLT Coleslaw is a colorful side dish that is perfect for serving at BBQ’s and potlucks.
I love this unique take on traditional coleslaw. It’s a collaboration of coleslaw and the classic bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. Of course, there are some liberties taken to create a most awesome tasting BLT salad. Once of those additions is adding in a bit of smoky barbecue sauce.
Ingredients needed for making BLT Coleslaw:
- Mayonnaise: Use any kind of mayonnaise that you’d like for this recipe. If you like full fat mayonnaise, great. Light mayonnaise may be used as well. You can even use avocado mayonnaise or Miracle Whip.
- Barbecue Sauce: I suggest using your favorite barbecue sauce. My favorite is Sweet Baby Rays!
- Cider Vinegar: Look for “apple cider vinegar” in your market’s vinegar aisle.
- Honey: This is going to add some great sweetness to the coleslaw.
- Celery Seeds: Please use seeds and not celery salt or even real celery. It will make a difference.
- Salt: Regular table salt or sea salt is just fine.
- Cooked Bacon: Most markets sell “cooked bacon,” but I suggest you buy a package of bacon and bake it all in the oven (see instructions for how to cook bacon in the oven further down in this post).
- Coleslaw Mix: For the photos in this post, we used a purple cabbage coleslaw mix. You can certainly use traditional coleslaw mix that includes green cabbage, shredded carrot and purple cabbage.
- Grape Tomatoes: To keep things colorful, choose grape tomatoes that have a variety of colors. You can certainly use all red cherry tomatoes, if that’s all you have access to.
How to make BLT Coleslaw:
The first thing you’ll do is combine the coleslaw dressing ingredients in a bowl (mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, cider vinegar, honey, celery seeds and salt). Whisk those together, and let the dressing sit while you gather the rest of the ingredients.
Sprinkle the coleslaw mix into a medium bowl. Pour the dressing on top, and stir to combine. Mix in the tomatoes and bacon. Cover and chill until ready to serve.
How to cook bacon in the oven:
This recipe calls for cooked bacon. I always make my bacon in the oven because it’s so easy to do, and there is very little clean-up or mess involved. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil. Lay the strips of bacon on the foil. Bake until the bacon is browned and crispy, 13 to 16 minutes. Time in the oven will depend on how thick your bacon is. Let the bacon cool and drain on a paper towel lined plate, and then chop it into smaller pieces.
Recipe Tips:
- The mayonnaise that you choose to use for the coleslaw salad dressing will have a pretty big impact on the flavor of the BLT coleslaw. Choose wisely… choose a mayonnaise that you like the flavor of!
- Double the recipe if you wish to have a more dressing-heavy coleslaw. It will be nice and creamy.
- Store any extra cooked bacon in the fridge. Place it in a small zip baggie, you and can warm it up in the microwave later to serve with scrambled eggs or add to salad.
- Make Ahead Tip: It’s okay to make this BLT coleslaw salad ahead of time. I suggest making it in the morning and refrigerating it all day before you serve it. I’d leave out the bacon and add it in just before serving.
Favorite Recipes to Serve at a Barbecue:
BLT Coleslaw
Ingredients
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon barbecue sauce
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon honey
- ½ teaspoon celery seeds
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 6 slices cooked bacon, crumbled
- 5 cups coleslaw mix (bagged shredded cabbage with carrot)
- 1 cup halved multicolor grape tomatoes
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, barbecue sauce, cider vinegar, honey, celery seeds and salt.
- In a medium bowl, combine the coleslaw mix with the sauce. Toss to coat. Gently stir in the bacon and tomatoes. Garnish with a little of the bacon and tomato. Chill and serve!