Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

This salad flips the script on salads. Instead of keeping everything chilled and crunchy, a warm dressing starts out with bacon drippings and then glosses over baby spinach leaves and red onion segments, wilting and softening them just enough. The whole dish is a harmonious balance: the leafy greens, the tangy dressing and the indulgent fattiness of the bacon.

A warm dressing might sound unusual at first, but once you become a fan, it’s one you’ll come back to again and again. Soon, you’ll be checking out warm dill potato salad, warm roasted beet salad and warm asparagus salad.

Ingredients for Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

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• Bacon: Bacon plays a dual role in this salad. The cooked pieces offer big flavor scattered into the finished salad, and the warm dressing comes together in the bacon cooking pan, where the residual heat helps to cohere the flavors.
• Red wine vinegar: Sharp and tangy vinegar is a necessary counterpoint to the rich bacon. You can substitute white wine, sherry or apple cider vinegar if you prefer.
• Garlic: A small clove of minced garlic adds savory pungency to this rich dressing.
• Brown sugar: Though it’s a small amount, the caramel sweetness of 1/2 teaspoon of brown sugar offsets the sharpness of the vinegar and mustard in the dressing and helps soften its flavor and texture.
• Dijon mustard: Mustard helps emulsify the oily ingredients, the bacon fat and olive oil, and the watery vinegar together while bringing a piquant flavor all its own.
• Nutmeg: A whisper of nutmeg adds a pleasant warming aroma to the dressing. Grated fresh nutmeg will have the most complex aroma, but a pinch of pre-ground nutmeg from the spice cabinet works too.
• Red pepper flakes: Though not enough to make the dressing spicy, a pinch of crushed chile adds warmth to the dressing. Feel free to omit this, or add more, according to your preference.
• Olive oil: Olive oil carries the flavor of the bacon drippings and creates a harmonious dressing with the other elements.
• Baby spinach: Tender baby spinach leaves soften slightly when dressed in warm, bacony dressing. This spinach salad is an instance where buying bags of pre-washed baby greens is a big time saver.
• Red onion: Like the spinach leaves, thinly sliced red onion also softens slightly in the warm bacon dressing, but the pieces hold a nice crunchy bite.
• Eggs: Something about bacon and eggs together always works, and the pairing holds true in this salad. Chopped hard-boiled eggs offer textural variety, and the yolks crumble slightly and make the salad feel creamy.

Directions 

Step 1: Cook the bacon

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In a skillet, cook the bacon over medium heat until crisp, stirring occasionally. Using a slotted spoon, remove the bacon to paper towels to drain. Discard all but 1 tablespoon of the drippings.

Step 2: Make the dressing

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Add the vinegar, garlic, brown sugar, mustard and seasonings to the pan with the drippings, and heat through, stirring to blend. Transfer the dressing to a small bowl and gradually whisk in the oil. Stir in half the bacon.

Step 3: Assemble the salad

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Place the spinach, onion and eggs in a large bowl, then toss with the warm dressing. Sprinkle with the remaining bacon and serve immediately.

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Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing Variations

• Swap the spinach: Though baby spinach is a classic for this type of salad, you could replace it with another type of sturdy, small salad greens. The best candidates would be baby kale, baby Swiss chard or arugula. You could also try it with chopped romaine or little gem lettuce, but steer clear of leaf lettuces for this one, as their soft texture is not likely to hold up well with warm dressing.
• Add mushrooms: Sliced button mushrooms seem at home in a steakhouse-style salad in the same way chopped hard-boiled egg does. Before making the dressing in Step 2, cook sliced mushrooms in some of the extra bacon drippings and then add them to the salad along with the pieces of bacon.
• Caramelize the onions: Before making the dressing in Step 2, cook additional red onion in some of the extra bacon drippings and then add it to the salad along with the pieces of bacon. The combination of some raw and some cooked onion would make a lovely sweet-and-sharp combination.

How to Store Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

Because the warm dressing begins to wilt the spinach on contact, this salad does not store very well once assembled. If you do have leftovers, make sure they’re completely cool before storing them in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Any residual warmth from the dressing, once trapped in a container, will hasten the wilting of the greens.

Can you make spinach salad with warm bacon dressing ahead of time?

Yes. Cook the bacon and mix the dressing as in Steps 1 and 2 above. Then once you’re ready to assemble and serve the salad, you can rewarm the dressing slightly in the microwave, if you like, or just toss the spinach, dressing, bacon, onion and eggs together at room temperature.

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing Tips

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What other toppings can you add to wilted spinach salad with warm bacon dressing?

You can add anything you like to the greens and dressing. A couple of nice options would be cherry or grape tomatoes, raisins or dried cranberries, sliced cucumber, toasted sunflower seeds, grated cheese, toasted almonds, olives or sliced mushrooms.

Can you use turkey bacon to make spinach salad with warm bacon dressing?

You can absolutely use turkey bacon as a stand-in for pork bacon from a flavor perspective, but be advised that turkey bacon is leaner than pork bacon, so you may have to supplement the drippings in the pan with additional olive oil to help make up the difference. Add the oil to the pan and swirl it around to pick up the remaining flavor.

What else should you serve with spinach salad with warm bacon dressing?

A robust salad needs little more than some crusty bread alongside to make it a meal, and this recipe for warm spinach salad with bacon dressing is no exception. Alternatively, you could add a cooked grain such as farro, quinoa or wheat berries to the salad itself to round it out with more fiber and nutrition.