Baby Spinach Salad With Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

Spinach salad topped with sliced bard boiled eggs, mushrooms and crumbled bacon on a white plate with a patterned napkin in the background.

5 from 8 votes

Baby Spinach Salad With Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

This hearty spinach salad is topped with crispy bacon, thinly sliced mushrooms and hard boiled eggs and dressed with a warm and tangy bacon vinaigrette. It's the perfect main course salad for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

Prep Time10

Cook Time15

Total Time25

Course: Appetizer, Main Course, Salads, Side Dish

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 383kcal

Author: Jessica

Ingredients

5 ounces baby spinach leaves
2 hard boiled eggs sliced
4 slices bacon preferably thick cut
4 small white mushrooms thinly sliced
1 medium shallot, minced see recipe note about substituting red onion
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1.5 teaspoons dijon mustard
2 teaspoons honey
1 tablespoon olive oil
black pepper to taste

Instructions

Start by hard boiling the eggs. Add raw eggs to a sauce pan and completely cover them with water. Bring them to a rolling boil, then turn the heat off and let them stand for 10-12 minutes. Immediately plunge into ice water to stop the cooking process and cool them down. Peel and slice.
Wipe the mushrooms clean with a wet paper towel. With a sharp knife, slice them as thin as possible.
Finely mince the shallot.
Place bacon strips in a cold skillet (preferably cast iron) and place over medium low heat. Cook low and slow for about ten minutes, turning every few minutes until fat is rendered and bacon is crispy. Remove from skillet and place on a paper towel-lined plate to drain.
While the bacon is cooking, whisk together red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, honey and olive oil.
Place the spinach and thinly sliced mushrooms in a large bowl.
Keeping the bacon grease over low heat, carefully add the minced shallots and cook for 1-2 minutes until softened and translucent.
Spoon the cooked shallots and about half of the bacon grease into the dressing and whisk to combine. Taste the dressing and add more bacon grease or red wine vinegar to taste.
Pour about ⅓ of the warm dressing over the salad and toss with tons to thoroughly coat all of the vegetables. Season with black pepper to taste.
Transfer to serving dish and top with hard boiled eggs and crispy crumbled bacon. Serve immediately with extra dressing on the side.

Notes

This recipe makes a hearty main course for 2 people and a side dish for 4.

If substituting red onion for shallot, finely mince and add to dressing ingredients. Do not cook the red onion, just add some bacon grease to dressing as directed.

Nutrition