Spinach Salad with Bacon and Eggs
Here is my favorite recipe for Spinach Salad with Bacon and eggs. To make it, top a bunch of vibrant and crisp spinach, with bacon and eggs, and toss it with a rockin’ red wine vinaigrette. It is so easy and only 248 calories per serving!
I originally shared this recipe on June 3, 2010. I have updated the images and text today.
Table of contents
Why This is the Best Spinach Salad
I never get sick of this classic combination of spinach, bacon and eggs. It is a combination I grew up eating regularly. I make this hearty salad regularly and my kids and husband adore it too! The tangy red wine vinaigrette comes together in just a few minutes and brightens all the flavors, so you can have a delicious and healthy dinner on the table in just 30 minutes!
Love this recipe? Also try spinach salad with warm bacon dressing!
Ingredients For This Spinach Salad
- 12 cups spinach leaves: For this recipe you can use boxed baby spinach or you can use “mature” spinach. Today I bought a couple of bunches of mature spinach, but it was on the small side so I did not need to tear the leaves. I just tore off the stems before washing it. If you have large leaves of spinach, tear the pieces into large bite sized pieces. Make sure to wash the spinach well as it can be sandy. Sometimes washing it twice is necessary to remove the grit.
- 4 large eggs: The eggs in this salad are hard boiled. I have noticed that the fresher the eggs, the harder they are to peel. So if you have eggs that have been in your fridge for a week or so (not past their due date though) use them!
- 4 slices bacon: When cooked crisp, bacon is much lower in calories than you may think! We only use four strips for the entire salad, which gives it enough meaty smoky flavor, without adding too much saturated fat.
- 1 clove garlic: To season the dressing
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar: You can also use another vinegar, like apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Dijon: to emulsify the dressing
- 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
How To Clean Spinach
- Soak it in a salad spinner (that’s an affiliate link) filled with water.
- Lift the basket out allowing the grit to fall to the bottom of the spinner.
- Then pour out the water and grit.
- Repeat if necessary. Spin dry.
How To Make This Salad
Hard Boil The Eggs
- Place eggs in the bottom of a small saucepan, cover with cold water by several inches.
- Bring to a gentle boil over high heat.
- Boil for 10 minutes.
- Then remove from the heat, drain and then run cool running water over the eggs for several minutes until cool enough to handle.
Tip: Boil extra eggs and make our Deviled Eggs, Spicy Deviled Eggs or Egg Salad.
Cook The Bacon
I usually like to cook bacon in the microwave between several layers of paper towels.
You can also use a skillet (shown above.)
- If you are cooking the bacon in the skillet, make sure to keep the heat low enough to allow the fat to render out but not burn the bacon.
- I use medium to medium-high heat.
- As the bacon cooks, the pan will get hotter and hotter, so if the pan starts to smoke, you’ll want to turn down the heat.
- Turn the slices regularly so they brown evenly.
- To drain the fat, lay the cooked bacon on a paper towel lined plate to cool.Once the bacon is cool, crumble or chop it before adding to the spinach salad.
Make The Red Wine Vinaigrette
- The key to making this red wine vinegar salad dressing is the garlic mashing technique.
- The reason I like to do this is the garlic, if you press it and smash it with the side of your chef’s knife, will become a paste.
- There will be no big chunks of garlic, just a mellow overall garlic flavor.
- This is the same technique I use in my Egg Free Caesar Dressing, and it makes a big difference!
Scrape the garlic paste into a bowl and whisk it with the vinegar, oil, mustard and pepper to taste.
Toss the Salad
When you are ready to serve the salad. Combine the spinach, crumbled bacon and chopped hard boiled eggs in a large salad bowl.
Drizzle on the dressing and toss everything together to coat with the dressing. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
FAQs about This Recipe
Yes! To do so, cook the bacon and eggs as directed and chop them. Place the spinach in a salad bowl, and top with the bacon and eggs.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 24 hours.
The dressing can be made up to 5 days ahead. Place in a sealed jar and refrigerate up. Bring to room temperature in a bowl of warm water before pouring over the salad and tossing to serve.
12 cups of spinach weighs about 13 ounces.
Serving Suggestions
- Serve with Salmon in Foil with our Bacony Lentils
- Serve this salad along side pasta with pesto
- Pair with a simple chicken dish like our Crispy Baked Chicken Thigh recipe.
Variations To Try
- Alternative Bacon: You can try another non-pork bacon such as Turkey Bacon or Tempeh bacon. Or my favorite homemade vegan shiitake bacon. Add it just before tossing with the dressing.
- Mushrooms: Sautee mushrooms with sliced shallot or red onion and add them to the salad while they are still warm.
- Baby Kale: Toss in a few handfuls of baby kale.
More Spinach Recipes
- For a show-stopping vegetarian main course make my Spinach and Feta Filo Pie.
- Another salad to try is this Spinach Salad with Maple Ranch Dressing, Bacon and Beets.
- My Spinach and Egg Bake is a great way to start the day. It is a great meal prep recipe too.
- This Stuffed Shells with Spinach is a secretly healthy version of the comfort food classic.
- This Spinach Quesadilla is a fun twist on quesadillas or try the spinach pesto on top of this slow cooker barley and ham soup.
- Creamed Spinach with Cheddar is a side dish fit for any steak dinner!
- Bacon Spinach Breakfast Frittata Muffins by Running to the Kitchen
- You can also check out the spinach archives here.
At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie
Print
Spinach Salad with Bacon and Eggs
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 10 cups 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Spinach Salad with Bacon & Eggs! Wanna know how you make an entree salad that your family will devour: Top a bunch of vibrant and crisp spinach with bacon and eggs and toss it with a rockin’ red wine vinaigrette. It’s super easy to make and it’s dairy-free, only 248 calories per serving and only 15 minutes of prep.
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 4 slices bacon
- 1 clove garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon Dijon
- 3 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Freshly ground pepper to taste
- 12 cups spinach leaves
Instructions
- To Prepare The Eggs: Place eggs in the bottom of a small saucepan, cover with cold water by several inches. Bring to a gentle boil over high heat. Boil for 10 minutes. Then remove from the heat, drain and then run cool running water over the eggs for several minutes until cool enough to handle. Peel and chop.
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To Cook The Bacon in a Skillet: Place strips of bacon in cool large skillet. Heat over medium-high heat. Allow the fat to render out and the bacon to crisp. As the bacon cooks, reduce heat to prevent the skillet from smoking.. Turn the slices regularly so they brown evenly. Cook until the bacon is browned evenly. (Alternatively cook in the microwave, see notes below.) Transfer the crispy browned bacon to a paper towel lined plate. Cool and crumble.
- Make Garlic Paste: Smash and peel garlic clove. Mince and mash with the side of a chef’s knife with the salt to form a paste. Scrape into a medium bowl.
- Make Dressing: Whisk vinegar and Dijon into the garlic paste. Gradually whisk in oil. Season with pepper.
- Toss Salad: Place spinach, eggs and bacon in a large salad bowl. Pour dressing over the salad and toss to combine. Serve immediately.
Notes
To Cook The Bacon in The Microwave
- Lay the four slices of bacon on three sheets of paper towels on a plate. Top with another sheet of paper towels.
- Microwave 3 minutes.
- Look to see if it is cooked. Microwave in 30 second bursts until it is done.
To Make Whole30 Compliant
If you are doing Whole30 make sure to check that your Dijon doesn’t have wine in it and that your bacon is compliant.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: salad
- Method: stove top
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 2 1/2 cups
- Calories: 248
- Sugar: 0.8 g
- Sodium: 475.5 mg
- Fat: 20 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Carbohydrates: 5.3
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 12 g
I love spinach salad with bacon and eggs, but this one was even better than the others I’ve had. Although it sounds like an odd combination, I promise that this recipe is delicious!
What is the 1/2 tsp of salt for. Your directions don’t mention it?.
Use it in step three to form a paste with the garlic. Hope you enjoy!
Lovely salad. I use to make one long ago pretty much the same only the egg is grated over the spinach and croutons and parmesan added on top.
Looks yummy and healthy. I will try to make this for my family. Thank you so much. I love it.
I used packaged real bacon bits instead of cooking bacon…makes putting it together so easy. This is a great recipe!
Spinach Salad With Bacon Eggs is so delicious. It’s taste is so great. I made this recipe over the weekend following your recipe. My whole family complimented it. I will do it this weekend. Can I double this recipe? Thanks.
By far one of the best looked up recipes I’ve ever made. My salad was commented on more than the main meal! A definite keeper.
Awesome! Love your recipe, will try making it this weekend, hoping to enjoy the fabulous Spinach Salad with Bacon & Eggs. Thanks for sharing!
So psyched you found it Thomas. I’d love to hear what you think!
Great guide! To be honest, I’m not good at cooking but I like them, they give me joy and excitement every time I finish the dishes, which is a great thing. With your recipe, I just need to follow the instructions and the rest is simple. Thanks for sharing!
I haven’t tried spinach with eggs or bacons before but this recipe is so easy, I will make this on this weekend. Many thanks.
Good recipe, well presented. This has been a favorite over the years.
Tonight I covered our 12 inch plates with a bed of this salad, placed a small crab cake, some potato salad and some green beans atop and we had a great menu.
For the totally clueless, in your instructions specify what to do with the olive oil.
New to this site, I am happy to find someone again not hung up on avoiding foods as part of a diet. The trick is to include the foods, the right ones, many.
Hi Joe, That sounds so good. We were just on vacation, and I was so happy to see crab cakes on the menu everywhere. They are a favorite! You’re dinner sounds yummy! I am so glad you came across my website. And yes! That’s my thought too. It’s better focus on what to eat more of not what to avoid.
Spinach Salad with Bacon & Eggs is great! They look really attractive. I like the color as well as its taste, great. I don’t think it’s so simple to do it. Thanks for your recipe
Thanks so much for the comment and rating! I hope you love the recipe!
I love spinach in my eggs, but don’t usually have eggs in my spinach! Sounds amazing and the bacon makes it even better. Thanks for the recipe!
Haha- Annissa I know just what you mean. Try it this way. You won’t regret it! Thank you for the comment and rating also!
What a delicious salad! My family loves anything with bacon so this is perfect for us.
Sabrina- I hope that your family loves the recipe! Let me know! And thanks so much for the comment and rating.
I love spinach and I can only imagine how good it will be with eggs and bacon. This will be a popular salad at our house for sure. Thanks for sharing!
Kelly, trust me when I say that you will love the combination. Thank you for the comment and rating!