Enjoy this salad for lunch or supper. I love to serve spinach salad as a main dish with warm crusty bread, like beer bread or Dutch oven bread. Spinach salad goes perfectly as a side dish with velvety soups, like smoky roasted tomato soup or creamy carrot soup.
Classic Spinach Salad
I love how the spinach wilts simply a little from the heat of the bacon dressing, not a lot, but simply enough. Lightly cooked spinach has so much more flavor than raw spinach.
Classic Spinach Salad
I hope you do not get the concept that this salad isnt good for you. Its an extremely wonderful way to include healthy dark leafy greens in your diet, plus mushrooms, onions, and tomatoes, all of which are great for you, too.
With tomatoes, mushrooms, red onion, and bacon bits, traditional spinach salad is topped with a warm bacon vinaigrette, and garnished with hard-boiled eggs.
Why youll enjoy it: Spinach salad is hearty enough for a lunch or light supper. Its healthy and filling.
For how long it takes: 30 minutesEquipment youll need: skilletServings: 4
This has always been one of my preferred salads. It appears a little indulgent with eggs and bacon. Instead of olive oil, the warm vinaigrette dressing incorporates the rendered bacon fat, which is so flavorful.
Recipe Overview
Whats more tempting than a traditional spinach salad with warm bacon dressing? The dressing is so excellent, you might consume it with a spoon: appetizing, salted, smoky, sweet, mouthwatering. It hits all the flavor bases.
A traditional spinach salad is a little unique. Its a warm salad. The majority of salads are made with a cold dressing, partially so that the tender greens remain crisp. A warm salad is made with greens that are more sturdy, maybe even a bit difficult. The greens are softened by a warm dressing.
About This Recipe
To conserve time, purchase a bundle of pre-washed, ready-to-serve spinach, and mushrooms that are currently cleaned up and sliced. It doesnt take long to slice the tomatoes and onion. The eggs can be made a day or 2 beforehand (we love making tough boiled eggs in the Instant Pot!).
This salad comes together pretty quickly. Youll require about a half hour to pull it together.
The recipe card near completion of the post has total directions, measurements, and nutrition information.
Ill go through the how-tos right here to get you started.
What Youll Need
Its pretty simple to slice hard-boiled eggs using a sharp knife. An egg slicer makes completely uniform pieces in one simple movement. You can likewise turn the sliced egg around 90 degrees and slice it again for perfectly chopped eggs. Believe egg salad sandwiches!
Egg Slicer
Baby Spinach: Baby spinach leaves are smaller sized and more tender than bigger spinach leaves. If you do use fully grown spinach, get rid of the difficult stems initially and cut the spinach or tear into smaller pieces.Cherry or Grape Tomatoes: These bite-sized tomatoes are often sweeter than a larger hothouse tomato. Cut them in half so they can take in the dressing more easily.Fresh Mushrooms: A classic spinach salad usually includes mushrooms. They supply good color and textural contrast. If youre not a fan, feel free to omit them.Red Onion: Thin slivers of red onion offer a mouthwatering balance to the salad. Hard-Boiled Eggs: The eggs can prepped ahead of time. Utilize the stovetop method or prepare them in your Instant Pot. Instantaneous Pot tough boiled eggs are always easy to peel. Thick Cut Bacon: The bacon is chopped into pieces and fried. Youll utilize the crispy pieces to garnish the salad and reserve the drippings for the dressing. I prefer thick cut due to the fact that the pieces are more significant and hold up better in the salad. While we usually like to bake bacon, youll want to pan fry this since youll be using the drippings for the dressing.Shallot: Thinly chopped shallots are softened in the bacon drippings and included to the dressing. Garlic: A little clove of garlic is prepared in the dressing to include an extremely mild garlic flavor.Red Wine Vinegar: Fermented red white wine vinegar is lightly acidic with a touch of sweet taste. Maple Syrup, Worcestershire Sauce, Dijon Mustard: These three active ingredients are taste enhancers. You dont require quite, simply a hint of all 3, along with Salt and Pepper.
Purchase on Amazon
How To Make It
Garnish the salad with the bacon and hard boiled egg slices. Toss once again, if desired. Serve right away.
Offer the dressing components a fast stir and pour them into the hot frying pan. Stir and cook for a couple of minutes until the vinaigrette is steaming hot. If youre not ready to serve the salad, turn the heat down and keep the dressing warm.
Next, prepare the salad active ingredients and put them in a large bowl. Stir together the dressing ingredients in a little bowl or measuring cup.
Begin by hard boiling the eggs if you have not prepped them ahead of time. If you utilize the stovetop approach, youll require 15 to 20 minutes to boil the eggs, or 10 minutes if you utilize your Instant Pot.
Pour the dressing over the spinach mixture, tossing gently until coated.
Include the shallot and briefly sauté it until its softened; add the garlic and cook for a quick minute or up until it smells excellent. Do not burn the garlic or it might taste bitter.
Get rid of the pieces to a paper towel lined plate to drain, scheduling the majority of the rendered fat (bacon grease).
Chop the bacon into half-inch pieces and fry the pieces until they are crisp.
Make It Your Own
Instead of spinach, serve the salad on strong lettuce, such as Romaine, or baby kale, dandelion greens, or arugula.Add crisp homemade croutons or toasted sunflower seeds to the salad. Spinach salad tastes terrific with feta cheese included, too.Cider vinegar, gewurztraminer vinegar, or balsamic vinegar can be replacemented for the red white wine vinegar. Each have distinct tastes that will change the salad in amazing methods.
Storage Tips
To get a start on the salad ahead of time, boil the eggs, peel, and chill them in the fridge up to 3 days in advance. When ready to serve the salad, reheat the dressing in a little frying pan until steaming hot.
As soon as the salad has been topped with the warm dressing, its finest served immediately. Store the salad and dressing separately in the fridge if you do not prepare on serving it right away. Reheat the dressing right prior to serving
Make-Ahead Ideas
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @rachelcooksblog on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Prep Time: 15 minsCook Time: 15 minsTotal Time: 30 minutes
4 servings
Prepare ModePrevent your screen from going dark
This website offers approximate nutrition details for benefit and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is collected primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever readily available, or otherwise other online calculators.
InstructionsHard boil eggs, if you have not done that yet. See the notes listed below for stovetop method or use your preferred technique. Slice or chop the eggs and set aside.In a big bowl, toss together spinach, tomatoes, mushrooms, and red onion.Whisk together red wine vinegar, maple syrup, Worcestershire sauce, Dijon mustard, salt and pepper in a small bowl or determining cup.In a medium sized skillet over medium heat, fry sliced bacon until crisp. Get rid of to a paper towel-lined plate to cool. Reserve 3 tablespoons of drippings in skillet.Over medium heat, sauté shallot until softened, 1 to 2 minutes; include garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Offer the dressing components a fast whisk and after that include to the pan. Continue to prepare up until dressing is steaming hot, about 1 to 2 minutes.Pour warm dressing over salad. Toss until coated. Garnish with sliced hard-boiled eggs and bacon. Serve instantly.
With tomatoes, mushrooms, red onion, and bacon bits, classic spinach salad is topped with a warm bacon vinaigrette, and garnished with hard-boiled eggs.
Did You Make This?Be sure to publish a photo & & tag me at @RachelCooksBlog. I love seeing what you made!
Notes
To hard boil eggs (stovetop method): Place eggs in a single layer in the bottom of a pan. Cover with cold water, a minimum of one inch over the top of the eggs. To avoid breaking and to help the eggs peel more easily, add 1/2 teaspoon salt or sodium bicarbonate when the water starts to boil.Over high heat, uncovered, bring water and eggs to a complete boil. Turn the heat off, cover the pan, and let the eggs sit for 10 to 12 minutes.Drain water from eggs, and right away put them in a bowl of ice water for 4 to 5 minutes or up until totally cooled.Peel the eggs carefully under running water); pat the eggs dry with paper towels.
Nutrition InformationCalories: 224kcal, Carbohydrates: 8g, Protein: 10g, Fat: 17g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 7g, Trans Fat: 0.1 g, Cholesterol: 117mg, Sodium: 479mg, Potassium: 530mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 4g, Vitamin A: 3784IU, Vitamin C: 17mg, Calcium: 67mg, Iron: 2mg
Whats more appealing than a classic spinach salad with warm bacon dressing? Think egg salad sandwiches!
Garnish the salad with the bacon and tough boiled egg pieces. Rather of spinach, serve the salad on tough lettuce, such as Romaine, or infant kale, dandelion greens, or arugula.Add crisp homemade croutons or toasted sunflower seeds to the salad. To get a start on the salad ahead of time, boil the eggs, peel, and chill them in the fridge up to 3 days in advance.
