Supper Club Cottage Cheese Snack
Your Wisconsin Supper Club Fix, At Home
This Supper Club Cottage Cheese Snack is the perfect meal when you do not feel like cooking. It’s made of creamy cottage cheese and some savory components like sharp cheddar cheese, tangy French dressing, and salty bacon with something pickled and some crumbled blue cheese if you are feeling fancy.
As you may or may not know, we have a second home in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, specifically in the Western Upper Peninsula only about eight miles over the Northernmost Wisconsin border. When we are “up North” we spend a lot of time going to both new supper clubs and some old favorites.
Everyone is usually pretty familiar with the supper club scene. Their dedication to the Friday Night Fish Fry, Brandy Old Fashioned’s and Prime Rib Dinners is unsurpassed, but little attention is paid to the Classic Wisconsin Supper Club Salad Bar.
I love a good salad bar at a supper club. This “recipe” is something I always build from the salad bar when I am dining in a true supper club.
While this isn’t a recipe per se, it is a food combination a lot of people would not think to put together. I have posted videos of me making this in the past and many people are fascinated by the combination of ingredients.
Therefore, I decided to put it all together in a recipe card, which you will find below.
A Few Unique Ingredients
You will see the recipe card is pretty straightforward. There is a recipe for a homemade French dressing with two ingredients I need to link and also my classic go-to store bought dressing I keep on hand at all times.
I will quickly highlight those for anyone who needs help finding these items.
The Old West, In Salad Dressing Form
Western French Dressing is something I have been using for years. I use it in my Midwest Taco Salad, as well as in this Grilled Chicken Recipe.
It has been hiding in plain site at your grocery store if you think you have not seen it. There is just usually one visible bottle of it on the shelf.
If you cannot find it in the store, I have it linked in my Amazon Shop.
*Reminder that if you buy it from my Amazon link, it is an affiliate link which means Amazon pays me a small commission. This does not cost you anything extra.*
What Does French Dressing Taste Like?
A lot of people ask me what French dressing tastes like and what makes it special. The best explanation that I can come up with is that it tasted like if a red French dressing had a baby with a barbecue sauce.
It is just so good.
Black Pepper Lovers Unite
One of the things I love most about this Supper Club Cottage Cheese Snack is all the black pepper I add. I am obsessed with putting black pepper on everything.
In all seriousness, the black pepper really adds a lot of zip to the Western French Dressing. It just makes the best flavor combination.
I usually try to use the fresh cracked black pepper when I can.
Make Your Own Dressing
You will see on the recipe card that there is a recipe for homemade French dressing. I talk about using a tomato powder in the recipe if you have it.
You do not need to buy it, but if you want to, there is one on my Amazon Shop (*again this is an affiliate link so we get a small commission) that I love and use regularly. I also use this tomato powder to make my Tangy Tomato BLT Pasta Salad.
You can also search my website using the words ‘tomato powder” and all the recipes I use the powder in will come up for you to peruse.
The second optional ingredient I use for the dressing is the Worcestershire Powder. Again, this is not required, but it does add some nice zing to things.
There are many brands on Amazon you can choose from. The one I linked above in my Amazon Affiliate Shop (as stated above, we get a small commission for purchases) is the big boy I get because I use it in a lot of recipes, including my Salisbury Steak.
You can also search “Worcestershire Powder” on my site and all the recipes I use it for will come up.
You can also use liquid Worcestershire sauce, the powder just adds a nice texture and some extra zing to recipes. The flavor of the powder is much more powerful than any liquid I have had.
I think you will enjoy using it if you decide to buy it.
Shred Your Own
I cannot stress enough to shred your own sharp or super sharp cheddar for this recipe. It makes such a difference in the flavor of the cheese.
I love the Extra Super Sharp Cheddar for this snack. I just think the flavor combinations hit all the right notes for taste and texture.
If you are in a pinch, ready shredded will be just fine.
Get Creative
I listed in the recipe card my favorite toppings for this Supper Club Snack, but you can certainly add any ingredients that you choose. Have fun with it and make a mini supper club salad bar for dinner.
Have everyone make their own salad plates. Just don’t forget to make some Brandy Old Fashioned’s too!
Supper Club Cottage Cheese Snack Recipe
An afternoon snack or side salad made with cottage cheese, shredded sharp cheddar, and classic Western French Dressing. This is a satisfying and easy to create snack that hits all the right notes.
Ingredients
- 1 cup of Cottage Cheese
- 1/4 cup of freshly grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese or Super Sharp Cheddar Cheese
- 1 teaspoon of Coarse Salt
- 1 teaspoon of Black Pepper
- 2 tablespoons of Frozen Peas *optional
- 6 slices of Red Onion sliced thin *optional
- 2 tablespoons of Banana Pepper Rings *optional
- 3 tablespoons of Western French Dressing *or see below to make homemade dressing **Western French Dressing pictured and linked in post
- 2 cups of chopped Iceberg Lettuce, *optional
- 2 tablespoons of Bacon Bits *optional
- 2 tablespoons of Crumbled Blue Cheese
- For The Dressing:
- 1 cup of Salad Oil (light tasting oil of your preference, do not use olive oil)
- 1/3 cup of White Sugar
- 1/3 cup of Cider Vinegar
- 1/3 cup of Ketchup
- *1 to 2 teaspoons of Tomato Powder if you purchased this for other recipes
- *1 teaspoon of Worcestershire Powder if you purchased this for other recipes
- Tomato Powder and Worcestershire Powders are linked in the post
Instructions
- Add the cottage cheese to a bowl, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a drizzle of French dressing.
- Shred your sharp cheddar cheese from a brick of cheddar. Top the cottage cheese and then add another drizzle of French dressing. Top with more black pepper.
- If you would like to make this the deluxe supper club way, add the iceberg lettuce to a salad plate and top with the cottage cheese. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Top with the frozen peas and the red onion. Add a drizzle of French dressing. Top with the freshly shredded sharp cheddar then the bacon bits and banana peppers. Add another drizzle of French dressing. Sprinkle with more black pepper and salt then top with crumbled blue cheese.
- To make the homemade French dressing, combine the four ingredients and whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Let sit covered in fridge overnight if possible.