BLT prepared as a finished dish — Photo: jeffreyw, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ABLT%20sandwich%20(2).jpg

1900s-present - American lunch-counter cooks adapting club-sandwich ingredients into a simpler bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich

BLT

Name: BLT
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2 sandwiches
Ingredients: 6 slices bacon; 4 slices white, wheat, or sourdough sandwich bread; 1 ripe large tomato, sliced; 4 lettuce leaves, preferably iceberg, romaine, or leaf lettuce; 3 tablespoons mayonnaise; Kosher salt and black pepper, to taste

The BLT became a lunch-counter and diner standard in the early 20th century as sliced bread, commercial mayonnaise, bacon, lettuce, and ripe tomatoes converged in American kitchens. Its simplicity is the point: crisp bacon, juicy tomato, cool lettuce, toast, and enough mayonnaise to bind the sandwich.

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Difficulty

Easy

Prep time

10 minutes

Cook time

10 minutes

Total time

20 minutes

Servings

2 sandwiches

Region

United States diners and lunch counters

Era introduced

1900s-present

Introduced by

American lunch-counter cooks adapting club-sandwich ingredients into a simpler bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich

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The Story

The BLT is often treated as timeless, but its familiar form depends on modern convenience foods: sliced sandwich bread, ready mayonnaise, year-round lettuce, and bacon sold for quick pan cooking. The sandwich likely grew out of late-19th and early-20th-century club sandwich habits and became common as a shorter diner and lunch-counter order. It is also seasonal in spirit: the best BLTs are built around ripe summer tomatoes.