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This classic Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing is so easy to make! With sweet red onion, hard-boiled eggs, and tender mushrooms.

Spinach salad with warm bacon dressing in a shallow white bowl.

Are you asking yourself what you can eat for lunch, a snack, or a light dinner that is easy to make, satisfying, and tastes incredible?

Spinach salad with warm bacon dressing is the answer!

It’s a year-round classic made with vibrant green spinach leaves, tender mushrooms, tissue-thin slices of sweet red onion, and hard-boiled eggs, tossed in a warm vinaigrette and topped with crunchy, meaty bacon.

You just can’t beat it!

I could seriously just eat nothing but salad recipes and be happy as a lark!

And I’ve been doing my best to show that here on the site, with as many salads as I can dream up! Be sure to check out my chicken salad, fall salad, and Cobb salad recipes if you’re a salad-lover like me!

Table of Contents

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What You’ll Love About This Recipe

  • Tastes amazing: The flavors here are so on point!
  • Few ingredients: You’ll only need a few items to make it.
  • Easy to make: It comes together in minutes.
  • Satisfying: The meaty bacon and protein-rich eggs make this salad really stick to your ribs!

Ingredients You’ll Need

Ingredients for making spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, with text labels.
  • Bacon: Cook up some smoked bacon. You’re going to use both the crispy bacon as well as the fat that’s rendered.
  • Dijon: Dijon mustard is made by combining ground mustard seeds and white wine. It has a sharp, distinctive flavor all its own. I like smooth Dijon mustard here but the grainy kind would work too.
  • Sugar: Granulated white sugar balances out all the savory flavors in the dressing. Any kind of sweetener will work, as long as it subs 1:1.
  • Vinegar: I like red wine vinegar here, but apple cider vinegar works well too!
  • Seasonings: Kosher salt and ground black pepper.
  • Spinach: Washed and dried spinach leaves or baby spinach are best.
  • Mushrooms: Thinly sliced white button mushrooms are classic, but feel free to get creative with more exotic kinds!
  • Eggs: Hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced, add richness to this salad that’s so satisfying! And they go great with the bacon!
  • Onion: Thinly sliced sweet red onion gives a pop of juicy sweetness to every bite.

Helpful Equipment & Tools

In Photos: How To Make Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

This easy spinach salad recipe comes together in just 5 simple steps.

Step 1: Cook Bacon

Place your bacon in the skillet and cook it over medium-low heat (turning so it cooks evenly) until crisp.

Removing cooked bacon from the pan and placing it on paper towels to drain.

Then use your tongs to remove the bacon from the pan and drain it on paper towels.

Step 2: Make Vinaigrette

While the drippings in the skillet are still warm, measure the Dijon mustard, sugar, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper into the salad bowl.

Dijon mustard, sugar, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper in a large glass bowl.

Whisk these ingredients together until blended, then start drizzling in the bacon fat in a slow, steady stream.

Whisking hot bacon fat into vinaigrette.

Whisk vigorously while drizzling, so you can really emulsify the vinaigrette smoothly.

Step 3: Assemble

Add your spinach leaves to the bowl, along with the sliced mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs, and ribbons of sweet red onion.

Step 4: Dress

Toss everything together until everything is evenly coated with the hot bacon dressing.

Step 5: Garnish

The last step is just to crumble the bacon in!

Spinach salad with bacon dressing on a distressed white tabletop.

How To Serve This Recipe

Serve this salad as soon as it’s been dressed. It’s great for lunch, a snack, or a light dinner.

To bulk up your meal, consider adding some homemade bread on the side. A slice or two of buttered Irish brown bread, rye bread, or beer bread would be fantastic!

So would a steamy bowl of soup! Cioppino, pumpkin soup, or creamy chicken and wild rice soup would make a great complement.

Expert Tips

  • Use a hand blender: If you can’t get your bacon dressing to hold together without separating, break out the hand blender! It’s so powerful it will whip everything into a smooth, thick emulsion.
  • Use a mandoline: A mandoline slicer is great for consistently thin slices of red onion, mushrooms, and/or hard-boiled eggs. It gets things way thinner than a regular kitchen knife would!
  • Soak the onions: If you’re sensitive to the sharp sting that raw onion can have, slice it tissue-thin and then soak the slices in a bowl of ice-cold water. It takes the burn right out!

Recipe FAQ

Doesn’t the hot bacon dressing wilt the salad?


It does a little bit, which is actually nice!

The spinach leaves go a little more tender, and the red onion loses some of its sting. Even the mushrooms cook slightly!

Can spinach salad be made ahead?

All of the components can be prepped ahead, and the salad can be assembled. You can also make the dressing up to a day or so ahead of time.

But I’d suggest waiting until the last minute to dress the salad. That way things don’t wilt down too much.

Why did my bacon dressing separate?

Fat doesn’t get along too well with more watery ingredients like vinegar! It likes to separate and rise to the top as it sits.

This is fine, it won’t hurt anything if your dressing splits. Just whisk it back up again!

But if you prefer a more smoothly homogenized vinaigrette, you really have to whisk it hard and long! Or you can follow my expert tip above and use a blender.

Why did my bacon vinaigrette solidify?

Bacon fat is liquid while warm, but it hardens as it cools down.

This is totally normal and fine!

Allow it to sit in a warm place for a few minutes, and it should whisk right back together again.

What is the serving size?


This bacon spinach salad serves 4 generously as a lunch or light dinner.

The nutritional info below reflects a serving size of 1/4th the whole recipe, and it includes the dressing.

Spinach bacon salad with mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs, and sweet red onion.

More Savory Recipes

Spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, served in a white ceramic bowl with copper salad serving utensils.
5 stars (1 rating)

Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

Servings: 4 people
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
A true classic, this spinach salad features hard-boiled eggs, red onion, mushrooms, and a mouthwatering bacon and red wine vinaigrette.
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Ingredients

For the Warm Bacon Dressing

For the Spinach Salad

  • 16 ounces (453.59 g) spinach, fresh
  • 16 ounces (453.59 g) mushrooms, thinly sliced
  • 9 (396 g) eggs, large, hardboiled & sliced
  • 1 (110 g) red onion, thinly sliced

Instructions
 

To Make the Warm Bacon Dressing:

  • Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, then remove it from the pan to drain on paper towels, leaving the fat behind.
  • In a small bowl, whisk the Dijon mustard, sugar, red wine vinegar, salt, and pepper together until smooth.
  • Vigorously whisk in the warm bacon drippings in a slow, steady stream.

To Assemble the Salad

  • Place the spinach, mushrooms, sliced hardboiled eggs, and red onion in a large salad bowl.
  • Crumble the cooked bacon and sprinkle it on top.
  • Just before serving, dress the salad with the warm bacon dressing.
Serving: 0.25recipe, Calories: 449kcal, Carbohydrates: 25g, Protein: 26g, Fat: 28g, Saturated Fat: 9g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g, Monounsaturated Fat: 12g, Trans Fat: 0.1g, Cholesterol: 397mg, Sodium: 1567mg, Potassium: 1291mg, Fiber: 5g, Sugar: 17g, Vitamin A: 11197IU, Vitamin C: 36mg, Calcium: 192mg, Iron: 6mg
Cuisine: American
Course: Main Course, Salad, Side Dish
Tried this recipe?Mention @bakingamoment on Instagram or tag #bakingamoment.

Author

  • Allie is the creator and owner of Baking a Moment. She has been developing, photographing, videographing, and writing and sharing recipes here since 2012.

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