Your New Favorite Spinach Salad

Experience a nostalgic journey to the 1970s with our ultimate Best Spinach Salad Recipe, masterfully updated with modern culinary finesse. This isn’t just any salad; it’s a vibrant symphony of fresh ingredients, elevated by a luscious warm bacon dressing, and featuring perfectly sautéed mushrooms and onions that transform a classic into an irresistible contemporary delight.

For those who cherish the timeless appeal of a Wilted Spinach Salad, prepare to be captivated. While this Spinach Bacon Salad might demand a touch more attention in the kitchen, the effort is unequivocally rewarded with every forkful. It’s a truly unforgettable dish that promises to become a cherished favorite in your repertoire.

Best Spinach Salad close up in a white ceramic bowl, showcasing vibrant greens, crispy bacon, and perfect eggs.

Contents

Why This Spinach Salad Recipe Deserves a Spot on Your Table

My first encounter with a spinach salad was at Hickory Park, an iconic restaurant in my hometown of Ames, Iowa, which remarkably still thrives more than 40 years later. Back then, the concept of a spinach salad was groundbreaking, quickly becoming a local sensation. This recipe pays homage to that classic, yet elevates it for today’s palate.

A Harmonious Blend of Classic Flavors: This recipe embraces all the essential elements that made the original so beloved: fresh spinach, perfectly hard-boiled eggs, savory bacon, and a wonderfully rich bacon dressing. It’s a comforting taste of tradition that resonates with everyone.
The Modern Twist – Cooked Aromatics: The true innovation in this recipe lies in how we treat the onions and mushrooms. Instead of serving them raw, we gently sauté them. Many people find raw mushrooms unappealing due to their earthy texture, and raw onions can sometimes be too pungent. Sautéing them in a touch of bacon fat transforms their flavor, bringing out their natural sweetness and creating a more mellow, integrated taste that enhances the entire salad.
A Satisfying Standalone Meal: With the generous contributions of protein from both the crispy bacon and the hard-boiled eggs, this spinach salad is far more than just a side dish. It’s robust and filling enough to serve as a complete and satisfying lunch entrée, keeping you energized throughout the afternoon.
Unparalleled Dressing Experience: The warm bacon dressing is the soul of this salad. Unlike cold dressings, its warmth gently wilts the spinach, softening the leaves and allowing them to absorb the rich, savory, and slightly tangy flavors beautifully. This unique texture and flavor profile is what sets a true wilted spinach salad apart.

My initial memory of that classic spinach salad recipe involved a base of fresh spinach, hard-boiled eggs, rather insipid bacon bits, raw onions, and raw mushrooms, all lightly coated with a hot bacon dressing. While enjoyable, the raw mushrooms were never my favorite element. This contemporary adaptation, with its thoughtfully cooked components, truly hits the mark, offering a more refined and utterly delicious experience.

Salad bowl with a spinach bacon salad with a bamboo handle fork, ready to be enjoyed.

Crafting Your Perfect Spinach Salad: Expert Tips and Tricks

Achieving the perfect spinach salad, especially one with a warm bacon dressing, involves a few key techniques. These expert tips will help you master this delightful dish and impress your guests every time.

The Golden Rule of Bacon Fat: The secret to an exceptionally flavorful spinach salad lies in using bacon fat for the dressing, rather than defaulting to vegetable or olive oil. This renders a depth of savory flavor that cannot be replicated. When cooking your bacon, be sure to reserve every drop of that precious rendered fat!
The Magic of a Warm Dressing: Pouring the dressing warm over the spinach is crucial. The heat gently wilts the spinach leaves, tenderizing them and allowing them to absorb the rich flavors of the dressing more effectively. This unique texture is a hallmark of a classic wilted spinach salad.
PRO-Tip: Timing is Everything for the Dressing: Since bacon fat solidifies as it cools, it’s essential to add the warm dressing to the salad immediately before serving. This ensures a smooth, emulsified dressing and prevents any undesirable clumping. If you make your dressing ahead of time, simply rewarm it gently on the stovetop or in the microwave until it’s fluid again.
Building the Dressing in the Skillet: The dressing itself is conveniently made in the same skillet where you cooked the bacon. After rendering the bacon and setting it aside, simply rewarm the reserved bacon fat, then whisk in the vinegar, mustard, sugar, and seasonings directly into the warm fat. This infuses the dressing with even more bacon essence.
Making the Salad Ahead (with a caveat): While the dressing should be warmed just before serving, you can prepare many components of the salad in advance. Cook the bacon, hard-boil the eggs, and sauté the onions and mushrooms. Store them separately in the refrigerator. When ready to serve, gently rewarm the sautéed onions and mushrooms if they’ve congealed, assemble the salad, and then add the freshly rewarmed dressing.
Embrace the Wilt: Don’t be shy about the spinach wilting! This is not a crisp, crunchy salad. The tender, slightly softened spinach leaves are part of its unique charm and flavor experience, making it incredibly easy to eat and enjoy.
Adjusting Dressing Quantity: If you prefer a more heavily dressed salad, feel free to double the amounts for the dressing. If you find yourself short on bacon fat, a neutral oil like vegetable or canola oil can be used to supplement, though it won’t offer the same depth of flavor.
Perfectly Cooked Bacon: For the best results, cook your bacon to a perfect crispness. This provides a delightful textural contrast to the tender spinach and soft eggs. You can chop it before or after cooking, but ensure it’s in bite-sized pieces.

Frequently Asked Questions About Spinach Salad

Here are some common questions about spinach salad, helping you understand this beloved dish better.

What Do You Put in a Spinach Salad?

While there’s a vast array of spinach salad variations, the classic version, as featured in this recipe, typically includes fresh spinach leaves, hard-boiled eggs, crispy bacon, thinly sliced onions, and tender sautéed mushrooms, all brought together by a warm, savory bacon dressing. Beyond these staples, modern interpretations often incorporate ingredients like fresh berries (strawberries, blueberries), crumbled cheeses (feta, goat cheese, blue cheese), crunchy nuts (pecans, walnuts), and even cherry tomatoes or croutons. Spinach’s versatility means it can wonderfully replace lettuce in almost any green salad recipe you adore!

Is Spinach Salad Healthy?

This particular spinach salad, while incredibly delicious and rich in nutrients from the spinach itself, is not what one might typically consider a “light” or “diet-friendly” dish. It contains several healthy components, such as nutrient-dense spinach (packed with vitamins K, A, C, and folate) and eggs (an excellent source of protein and essential amino acids). However, the inclusion of bacon and the generous use of bacon fat in the dressing contribute significantly to its saturated fat and calorie content. If you’re looking to make it healthier, you could reduce the amount of bacon, opt for leaner turkey bacon, use less dressing, or supplement the bacon fat with a healthier oil like olive oil in the dressing. For a lighter version, consider a vinaigrette-style dressing with fresh herbs.

What Should You Eat with a Spinach Salad?

The ideal pairing for a spinach salad largely depends on whether you’re enjoying it as a main course or a side dish. For a satisfying lunch, it pairs beautifully with a warm, crusty roll, a slice of artisan bread, or a wholesome corn muffin. If you’re serving this spinach salad as a tasty side for dinner, it complements a wide variety of main dishes. Consider pairing it with grilled chicken, steak, or pork. Alongside your main protein, a simple vegetable side like roasted asparagus or green beans, and a starch like a fluffy baked potato, crispy sweet potato fries, or an aromatic Italian rice pilaf would create a well-rounded and delightful meal.

Explore More Delicious Salad Recipes

If you’re a fan of fresh, flavorful salads, you’ll love these other fantastic recipes from our collection and trusted culinary friends:

How to Make a Good Salad from Cooking on the Ranch – Essential tips for elevating any tossed salad.
Berry and Spinach Salad – A refreshing combination of sweet berries and tender spinach.
Spinach Strawberry Salad with Blue Cheese – A sophisticated blend of sweet, savory, and tangy notes.
Italian Chopped Salad – A hearty and flavorful salad packed with Italian-inspired ingredients.
Discover even More of the Best Salad Recipes for every occasion and craving!

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The Recipe:

Best Spinach Salad Recipe

Prep Time
10 minutes

Total Time
10 minutes

Yield
4 servings

This Easy Spinach Salad with Bacon, Eggs, and sautéed mushrooms and onions is tossed with a delightful warm bacon dressing for an unforgettable meal.

Ingredients

Salad Dressing (You may want to double the amounts. May supplement with vegetable oil if there’s not enough bacon fat).

3 tablespoons red wine or champagne vinegar
½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons sugar
3 tablespoons bacon fat (reserved from cooking bacon)
Salt and pepper, to taste

Salad:

8-ounce package baby spinach
1 small red onion, very thinly sliced, and cooked in reserved bacon fat until softened
6-8 slices meaty bacon, cooked until crispy and then sliced or chopped (reserve bacon fat for dressing and to cook onion and mushrooms)
8 ounces button mushrooms, trimmed, sliced, and cooked in reserved bacon fat until softened
2-3 hard-boiled eggs, cut into quarters or sliced

Instructions

Cook the bacon until crispy. Remove from skillet, drain on paper towels, and chop or slice. Reserve 3 tablespoons of the rendered bacon fat. Hard-boil and cool the eggs, then cut into quarters or slices. Set aside both the bacon and eggs.
In the same skillet with some of the reserved bacon fat, sauté the thinly sliced red onion until softened. Remove and set aside. Then, add a bit more bacon fat if needed and sauté the sliced mushrooms until tender. Set aside.
To make the dressing, rewarm the 3 tablespoons of reserved bacon fat in a small saucepan over low heat. Whisk in the red wine or champagne vinegar, Dijon mustard, sugar, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Keep warm.
Place the baby spinach leaves in a large serving bowl.
Arrange the hard-boiled eggs, chopped crispy bacon, sautéed red onion, and sautéed mushrooms over the spinach.
Just before serving, rewarm the dressing if it has cooled, and drizzle it generously over the assembled salad. Toss gently to combine, allowing the warm dressing to slightly wilt the spinach. Serve immediately.

Notes

The bacon fat used to cook the onions and mushrooms will congeal if refrigerated. If preparing ahead, you may want to keep them separate and gently reheat them before adding to the salad and serving for the best texture.

The dressing is best added warm just before serving as well, to prevent the bacon fat from solidifying and to achieve the desired wilted effect on the spinach. Double the amount of salad dressing if you prefer a more heavily dressed salad.

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