Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
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This spinach salad combines crispy thick-cut bacon, mushrooms, and soft-boiled eggs with a warm bacon vinaigrette. Pair with a rotisserie chicken and dinner is done!
If there’s one thing that gets everyone in my family circling the kitchen like sharks at dinnertime, asking “Whatcha makin’?” it’s the smell of bacon sizzling on the stovetop. This spinach salad with crispy thick-cut bacon, boiled eggs, mushrooms, and warm bacon vinaigrette pairs well with a store-bought rotisserie chicken or pan-seared salmon. It’s also wonderful with potato leek soup. To save time, use pre-washed baby spinach, pre-sliced mushrooms, and even pre-cooked boiled eggs, if you like — and pick up a fresh baguette to round out the meal.
What you’ll need to Make Spinach Salad with warm Bacon dressing
Step-by-Step Instructions
Before making the salad, you’ll need to boil the eggs. I especially love runny soft-boiled eggs for this salad, but hard-boiled eggs are also delicious.
Begin by frying the bacon in a nonstick skillet, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes. While the bacon cooks, start the dressing: in a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, honey, mustard, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
When the bacon is done, use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel–lined plate.
Pour the bacon fat into a heatproof bowl, then return 4 tablespoons of the bacon fat to the skillet. Add the shallots to the skillet and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Do not brown.
Add the bacon fat and shallots from the skillet to the vinegar mixture and whisk to combine.
Add the spinach and mushrooms.
Toss to coat evenly, then taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, if necessary.
Divide the salad between 4 plates or bowls; evenly divide the egg and cooked bacon among them. Serve immediately.
YOu may also like
- Cobb Salad
- Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, Walnuts and Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette
- BLT Salad with Chicken
- Baby Kale Salad with Lemon, Parmesan and Crispy Roasted Chickpeas
- Spinach Salad with Berries, Pecans, and Goat Cheese in Raspberry Vinaigrette
- Peaches, Burrata, and Prosciutto with White Balsamic Vinaigrette
Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
This spinach salad combines crispy thick-cut bacon, mushrooms, and soft-boiled eggs with a warm bacon vinaigrette. Pair with a rotisserie chicken and dinner is done!
Ingredients
- 8 slices bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces
- ¼ cup finely chopped shallots, from 1 to 2 shallots
- 2½ tablespoons cider vinegar
- 1½ tablespoons honey
- 1½ teaspoons Dijon mustard
- Heaping ¼ teaspoon salt
- Several grinds fresh black pepper
- 6 oz (about 8 cups) baby spinach
- 8 oz white button or baby bella mushrooms, thinly sliced (about 2 cups)
- 3 hard or soft boiled eggs, thinly sliced or cut into wedges
Instructions
- Place the bacon in a medium nonstick skillet and fry over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until crisp, 8 to 10 minutes.
- While the bacon cooks, start the dressing: in a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, honey, mustard, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cooked bacon to a paper towel–lined plate.
- Pour the bacon fat into a heatproof bowl, then return 4 tablespoons of the bacon fat to the skillet. (You can discard the remaining bacon fat or save it if you'd like it for cooking.) Add the shallots to the skillet and cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Do not brown.
- Add the bacon fat and shallots from the skillet to the vinegar mixture and whisk to combine. Add the spinach and mushrooms and toss to coat evenly. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper, if necessary. Divide the salad between 4 plates or bowls; evenly divide the egg and cooked bacon among them. Serve immediately.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 338
- Fat: 26 g
- Saturated fat: 9 g
- Carbohydrates: 13 g
- Sugar: 9 g
- Fiber: 2 g
- Protein: 14 g
- Sodium: 505 mg
- Cholesterol: 157 mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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This is an amazing recipe and reminiscent of one I had at a favorite downtown restaurant once upon a time. It’s really perfect, I did hard boiled eggs. The next time I make it will be with soft-boiled eggs. I also followed your egg guide, thanks for the link! My brother introduced me to your site and I have been happily cooking one recipe after another. My family raves over each one. You leveled up my cooking.! I just pre-ordered your new cookbook and am looking forward to see what other magic you’ve got cooking.
💗
First, I acknowledge that you are a serious chef. From your pics, I can see that your stovetop is clearly a Viking, and there are no better appliances for those of us who like to be meticulous about what we eat and how we cook. Second, basically, the recipe is extremely good in terms of overall concept and approach. Third, however, I honestly cannot fathom why you feel that a recipe that includes both bacon as well as bacon fat needs to add additional salt… That makes the recipe not only amazingly unhealthy, but also pretty much unpalatable. I guess “Big Salt” would be proud of you, though your followers will all be dead from heart attacks pretty soon if your recipes are all as dangerous as this one is. Please explain why you tell your fans to add additional salt?
Hi Bruce, sorry to hear you found this unpalatable! Feel free to cut back or omit the added salt if you make this again.
Wow Bruce! Get a life…
somewhere besides this wonderful website!
I made this for dinner tonite and my husband and I loved it. Will definitely make it again!
To the person who criticized the salt…you are rude!! People normally adjust salt in a recipe, but maybe you should just “pound yours”.
Bruce,
You really should read James DiNicolantonio’s book titled “The Salt Fix”, published in 2017. He references all his sources and presents irrefutable evidence that salt is absolutely NOT the enemy.
Don’t just drink the koolaid, research it for yourself.
Ruth on 4 May 2021
If the recipe was called low salt or salt free you may have a case, but it isn’t and if you don’t want added salt don’t add it. This is a free recipe, you can do what you want. You need to save your complaints for for those of us who really care what you think which is nobody.
This is a delicious recipe. Next time I will swap in red wine vinegar, I prefer a tart dressing. Make the soft cooked egg, perfect addition!
You know when you have a craving and make the thing you’re craving but it ends up being a bit of a letdown? THIS was the complete opposite, it exceeded every expectation of a spinach salad I had been imagining for a few days. I made the dressing as-is, only omitting the salt, and it really was incomparable (even though I accidentally browned the shallots). So much flavour. Brava! A new favourite!
This recipe takes me back. My mom used to make this all the time when I was a kid. I made it last night and it was delicious. My hubby even commented how good the dressing was. I used red onion instead of shallots (I didn’t have any on hand) and just poured the dressing on top of everything instead of mixing it all together.
So delicious! I didn’t have any mushrooms, so I added some diced yellow onion and feta cheese, and it was fantastic. This will definitely become part of my regular dinner rotation.
Loved the recipe. It’s classic and delish. I thought that there wasn’t going to be enough dressing but there was the perfect amount. It’s not nice to have a soggy salad…the amount was perfect after tossing it around.
Sadly, I cooked bacon yesterday and didn’t keep the fat, but I do have plenty of leftover bacon… Would it be possible to use olive oil to saute the shallots instead? Or would you recommend waiting and using this recipe when I have the bacon fat?
Sure – that’ll be fine. 🙂
Love this recipe! The dressing is so good. I have tweeked it a bit and here is what I did: I put about 5 TBSP bacon grease (saved from cooking bacon and refrigerated, good to have on hand) and sauteed the onions, and added some finely chopped garlic. (Could use the tubed) Just until soft, not browned, about 1 minute. Poured that mixture into the other dressing ingredients, Yum~! One time didn’t have real bacon so used the bagged bacon bits from Costco, but regular bacon I’m sure would be better! Thanks for sharing, love this salad.
Very, very good! I had some organic spinach in the fridge not getting any younger…….Simple ingredients; I am “that person” though who likes my boiled eggs well-done! I was tempted to add some leftover purple onion but it probably would have been overpowering. Thanks for sharing it : ) Delish!
Absolutely delicious.