Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing is a classic salad made with a vinaigrette that uses bacon drippings instead of oil. 

Some days I feel like everything old is new. Just like this classic Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing. My Mom used to make this salad for special occasions and it always screamed fancy to me which also made me think it was difficult to make.

Truth is that’s it’s not difficult – at all! In fact, it’s an easy salad for any weeknight dinner.

Salad ingredients

• Baby Spinach – I used a 5-ounce bag of baby spinach for this salad
• Hardboiled Eggs
• Bacon
• White Button Mushrooms

Warm Bacon Dressing ingredients

• Bacon Drippings – the bacon drippings replace the oil that you would usually use in a salad dressing
• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Sugar
• Dijon Mustard
• Shallot

krazy kitchen mom tips

• Here’s a tip I learned recently on how to cooking bacon in the oven.
  • Use a cookie sheet and a large piece of aluminum foil.
  • Preheat the oven to 375°, crinkle the foil into a ball and then stretch it out to fit the cookie sheet.
  • Lay the bacon on the crinkled foil and cook it for 25 minutes (cook it 5 minutes longer if you like really crispy bacon as I do).
• Make-Ahead – This is an easy salad to make the day before:
  • Cook the eggs and store them in the refrigerator. When you’re ready to make the salad, peel and slice them.
  • Cook the bacon ahead of time. I just store mine in a small dish on the countertop for up to 8 hours. 
  • Make the dressing 1-2 days ahead of time and store it in a covered jar or dish in the refrigerator. To serve it warm, microwave it for 15-20 seconds.

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing is a classic salad made with a vinaigrette that uses bacon drippings instead of oil.

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Course: Dinner Salad/Week Night Meal

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bacon dressing, spinach and bacon salad, spinach salad

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 large servings

Author: Laura Franco

Ingredients 

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• 1 5- ounce package fresh baby spinach
• 1/2 pint white button mushrooms - sliced
• 3 hard-boiled eggs - quartered
• 6 slices of bacon - cooked crispy and crumbled
• 2 TBS bacon drippings from cooked bacon
• 1/3 cup red wine or apple cider vinegar
• 2 TBS sugar
• 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped shallot

Instructions

Warm Bacon Dressing

• Cook the bacon and reserve the bacon drippings.
• Add bacon drippings, vinegar, sugar, dijon mustard, and shallot to a mason jar and shake until it's mixed.
• To serve the dressing warm, microwave it for 15-20 seconds.

Salad 

• Crumble or slice the cooked bacon.
• Slice the mushrooms.
• Slice the hardboiled eggs.
• Arrange the spinach, eggs, bacon, mushrooms in a bowl and drizzle with warm bacon dressing.

Notes

You can assemble this salad ahead of time, but add the dressing right before serving while the bacon drippings are still warm.