Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing is delicious with fresh baby spinach, hard boiled eggs, mushrooms, onions, and bacon, drizzled with a hot bacon dressing!
I first tried Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing at a local restaurant in San Antonio. When I ordered it I thought it sounded good but I didn’t really quite know what to expect.
However, when I tasted the warm spinach salad for the first time, it was like Whoah! Stop everything. This is fantastic! I don’t know what I expected but this was way better! It is now one of my favorite Salad Recipes, and the Bacon Dressing is a new favorite too!
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Why You’ll Love Spinach Salad With Hot Bacon Dressing
The freshness of the baby spinach, combined with the warmth of the hot bacon dressing and the taste of the mushrooms, onions, and eggs in that dressing was out of this world.
It was a warm earthy flavor but with fresh, wholesome ingredients. For me, it turned spinach salad into a wilted spinach salad, and a Southern comfort food, a bear hug in a bowl, and it was insanely delicious!
It is delicious with numerous recipes, including Beef Tips and Rice, Hasselback Chicken, and Blackened Chicken.
How To Make Spinach Salad With Warm Bacon Dressing
Below I discuss the ingredients that make this recipe unique. However, if you are looking for the specific measurements of all of the ingredient, be sure to scroll down to the bottom of this article, just above the comments, for the printable recipe card, which includes all all the ingredients and the specific amounts of each one.
Ingredients
Spinach Salad
- Fresh Baby Spinach – You will need fresh spinach. Frozen spinach will not work for this recipe.
- Sliced onion (Red or white onion) – I sliced a white onion, but you could slice up a red onion too.
- Sliced Mushrooms.
- Cooked Bacon pieces. Be sure to sure to cook the bacon just before serving.
- Hard Boiled Eggs.
- Prepared Warm (or Hot) Bacon Dressing (See Recipe Below)
Hot Bacon Dressing
- Bacon Drippings
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Spicy Brown Mustard
- Minced Garlic
- Maple Syrup
- Freshly Cracked Black Pepper
Directions
- Cook The Bacon. Cook the bacon in a hot skillet over medium heat just before you are going to serve because you want it to be hot when you serve.
- Cook the Hard Boiled Eggs. My favorite way to make Hard Boiled Eggs is in the Instant Pot because it is so easy and the eggs are easy to peel. I use the 5-5-5 method, which means that I pressure cook the eggs for 5 minutes, do a natural release for 5 minutes, and then put the eggs in an ice cold ice bath for 5 minutes. Peel and then slice the hard boiled eggs.
- Assemble the Spinach Salad.
- In a bowl toss together the baby spinach, sliced onions, sliced mushrooms, chopped bacon, and sliced hard boiled eggs.
How To Make Warm Bacon Dressing
- Make the Warm Bacon Dressing.
- After cooking the bacon in the skillet, remove the bacon and place on a plate covered with paper towels to drain.
- Drain about 1/4 cup of the bacon grease into bowl. Do this while it is still warm.
- Pour in about 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.
- Add about a 1/2 teaspoon of spicy brown mustard.
- Pour in about 2 tablespoons of maple syrup.
- Sprinkle with freshly cracked black pepper.
- Stir all ingredients together.
- Pour or drizzle the Hot Bacon Dressing over the spinach salad and toss.
Recipe Tips
- Be sure to use fresh baby spinach. Frozen spinach will not work in this recipe.
- Do not cook the bacon ahead of time. Cook it right before preparing the salad. You need the bacon drippings to be warm for the dressing.
- Serve immediately so the bacon dressing is still warm.
Recipe Variations
The nice thing about this salad is that it is easy to customize to your own personal taste. Here are a few variation ideas for the salad.
- Add crumbled Feta or Bleu Cheese.
- Add sliced avocado.
- Add store-bought rotisserie chicken or my Rotisserie Chicken Tenders.
More Salad Recipes
- Blueberry Gorgonzola Farmers Salad
- Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
- Mediterranean Chicken Bacon Spinach Salad
- Spinach Strawberry Champagne Salad
- Apple Walnut Cranberry Salad
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Recipe
Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing Recipe
Ingredients
Spinach Salad
- 4 strips bacon
- 6 cups baby spinach
- 1 small onion, sliced (red or white onion)
- 4 ounces sliced mushrooms
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
Warm Bacon Dressing
- 4 tablespoons bacon drippings
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (honey could be substituted)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
Spinach Salad
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, cook 4 pieces of bacon. When cooked, remove the bacon to a plate covered with paper towels to drain. Break bacon into small pieces. Pour the bacon fat into a medium bowl.
- Boil the eggs to make hard boiled eggs. See notes below for how I make mine.
- In a large bowl, add fresh baby spinach, sliced onions, sliced mushrooms, bacon pieces, and sliced hard boiled eggs.
Warm Bacon Dressing
- In the medium bowl with the bacon drippings, add 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic, 2 teaspoons spicy brown mustard, 2 tablespoons maple syrup, and salt and pepper to taste.
- Pour immediately over salad. Serve immediately.
Notes
- I recommend using Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs recipe to make the hard boiled eggs. Otherwise, you can cook eggs in boiling water until they become hard boiled.
- Use Fresh baby spinach. Frozen spinach will not work in this recipe.
- It is important to cook the bacon immediately before assembling the salad and the dressing because you need the bacon drippings to still be warm.
- If you like, add sliced avocado, or crumbled feta or bleu cheese.
Angelina says
Nice presentation, so I’ll try it this way. I usually make my Spinach Salad chopped, but not too finely. We like ours with crumpled Bleu or Stilton Cheese…..yum!
Robin Turner says
Sounds good!
Michele says
Thanks!
Michelle Guida says
I used to make this for a restaurant, but I would quickly warm all the dressing ingredients stove top, I love it, or switch out garlic for shallots
Karla says
OMG Best bacon dressing ever
Shannon says
This was wonderful! Added grilled shrimp for fun. Will make again! Love the maple syrup in the dressing.
Michele says
Hi Shannon,
Thank you so much. I’m glad you liked it.
Michele
Wendy says
This was a wonderful spinach salad, thanks for sharing the recipe!
Kim says
This is a beautiful looking salad! I haven’t had one in years. That picture is forcing me to make this tomorrow I hope. I love this salad. Can’t wait and thank you soo so much for sharing this recipe! I’m grateful to you
Pat says
A great, easy and tasty twist on a classic, I especially like the hot bacon dressing.
Michele says
Hi Pat,
Thanks so much for the nice comment. I’m happy you liked it. Be sure to check out some of our other salads also, such as Spinach Strawberry Salad, or Grilled Peach Tomato Salad.
Michele