Spinach Salad with Hot Bacon Dressing

This spinach salad with hot bacon dressing is one of the most flavor-packed healthy salads you’ll ever eat! Add this easy salad recipe to your next meal prep lineup for a filling lunch option. Savory bacon and sweet caramelized shallots make the perfect topping to this nutritious salad.

What Makes This Salad So Good

• The bacon has two purposes in this salad dressing! Crisp up pieces of bacon in a pan and use the bacon itself as a crunchy topping for your salad, and then use the bacon fat as the main ingredient to your delicious salad dressing.
• It really is full of flavor and extremely satisfying! Savory gorgonzola cheese, tangy apple cider vinegar, and a touch of dijon mustard make this spinach salad with hot bacon dressing super flavorful. And protein-packed additions such as hard boiled eggs and avocado will keep you full until your next meal.
• It’s the perfect make-ahead lunch. I like to make the dressing and boil a few eggs at the start of my week and have this ready-to-go healthy lunch option waiting for me in the fridge!

Key Ingredients

Bacon – You can use either standard or thick-cut bacon in this recipe. Standard bacon will cook up a little crispier than thick-cut bacon, making it my personal favorite. Though both cuts of bacon will yield enough fat for your dressing, so go with whichever you like best!

Maple Syrup – The hot bacon dressing needs a little sweetness to curb all of it savory components, and that’s where maple syrup comes in. I find the flavors of maple syrup and dijon mustard to compliment each other perfectly! Though you can use honey in place of the maple syrup in this recipe.

Gorgonzola Cheese – Gorgonzola cheese is the perfect crumbly, creamy cheese for this spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. Gorgonzola cheese is a product of blue cheese, so you can definitely swap out the gorgonzola cheese for any cheese in this same family. You can even leave the cheese out entirely, as a dairy-free option!

Chef’s Tips

• When eating leftover spinach salad with hot bacon dressing, remove the dressing from the fridge at least 30 minutes before using. The bacon fat will solidify in the fridge and needs to be brought back to room temperature before it’s liquid enough to serve again.
• For perfect hard boiled eggs every time, drop two eggs in a small saucepan of boiling water. Then cover the saucepan and maintain a gentle boil for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, transfer eggs to a bowl of ice water before peeling and using in this recipe.
• Once your bacon is done cooking, transfer it to a paper towel-lined plate while you work on the rest of the spinach salad with hot bacon dressing. The paper towel will help to soak up the grease that cooked bacon releases while it cools.

More Easy and Healthy Salad Recipes

• Kale Caesar Salad
• Cucumber Tomato Salad
• Avocado Salad
• Heirloom Tomato Salad
• Keto Broccoli Salad
• The Best Spinach Salad with Apples, Cranberries, and Maple Vinaigrette
• Steak Salad with Creamy Balsamic Dressing
• Crisp Apple Salad with Raisins and Pecans