Warm Spinach Salad
This warm spinach salad features baby spinach, hard-boiled eggs, mushrooms, caramelized onion, and crisp bacon in a warm maple mustard vinaigrette dressing. It’s a satisfying side salad or light meal that’s sure to become your favorite way to eat more spinach.
If you like to eat your greens raw as a salad instead of cooked, you might love my kale apple salad, fall harvest salad with kale, and fig salad with arugula too!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s a satisfying, higher protein, low carb salad, and the tastiest way to enjoy spinach.
- It’s fast and easy to make.
- It’s perfect all year but it really hits the spot when the weather is cool and you want a salad that also stands in for a cooked vegetable side dish.
Recipe Ingredients
Here are the main ingredients needed to make this salad. Substitutions and variations are in the section below.
Be sure to check out the recipe card below for the complete list of ingredients with measurements.
Spinach. I usually use baby spinach because it’s easiest to find, but larger-leaf spinach also works in this recipe. You’ll have to wash and trim it.
Mushrooms. I recommend portobello mushrooms for their meaty flavor and texture.
Eggs. Two or three hard-boiled eggs add a nice amount of protein, and they taste so good with the bacon.
Bacon. Choose a lean, center-cut bacon with more meat and less fat, and use just a few slices for flavor (or skip it if you prefer). Nitrate-free or uncured bacon is made with naturally-occurring nitrates instead of sodium nitrate, but whether that makes it healthier is debatable.
Maple syrup. Use real maple syrup, not pancake syrup. This adds a nice touch of sweetness and a rich flavor to the dressing.
Substitutions and Variations
- Substitute crumbled goat cheese for the Parmesan, or omit the cheese for a dairy-free option.
- Swap a few slices of crisped prosciutto for the bacon.
- Skip the eggs and mushrooms and add a diced apple for a flavor variation.
- Use red wine or balsamic vinegar instead of apple cider vinegar for the dressing.
Step-By-Step Instructions
1. Cook the onions and mushrooms. Slice the onions thin. Cut the portobello mushrooms into strips and then cut the strips in half. Saute them until the onions turn golden. Add the garlic.
2. Make the dressing. While the vegetables cook, combine the olive oil, vinegar, maple syrup, mustard, salt, and pepper in a small jar or bowl. Shake or whisk well to combine. Set this aside.
3. Add the crisped bacon and dressing to the hot pan. Use a spatula to scrape up any browned onion bits. Once the dressing is warm, turn off the heat.
4. Add the spinach. Turn the spinach using tongs, to coat it with the dressing and combine all the ingredients. Add the chopped eggs and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
Expert Tips
To make this salad as fast and easy as possible, cook the bacon in the microwave and boil your eggs ahead of time, up to a day or two in advance.
If your dressing comes to a boil in the pan, remove it from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes. If it’s too hot, the spinach will wilt too much, and you’ll end up with cooked spinach instead of a salad.
What Goes With a Warm Spinach Salad?
Serve this tasty salad just as it is or with:
- Pistachio crusted salmon
- Grilled chicken tzatziki or lemon garlic chicken
- Creamy white bean and fennel soup
- Stuffed tomatoes
- Sun-dried tomato olive focaccia bread
- Raspberry oatmeal bars or lemon olive oil cake for dessert
Recipe FAQs
To prep this in advance, cook the bacon, eggs, onions, and mushrooms, and make the dressing. Keep these in the refrigerator. Don’t combine these with the spinach until you’re ready to serve the salad. When you’re read to eat, reheat the onions and mushrooms. Then, add the dressing, warm it in the pan, and add the spinach.
You can keep any leftovers, but this salad tastes best served immediately. Once you combine the ingredients, the spinach will start to wilt.
Other Delicious Salad Recipes
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star rating on the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Warm Spinach Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons olive oil divided
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- pinch salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Salad
- 2-3 large eggs boiled for 10-12 minutes
- 3 strips lean bacon cooked for 3 minutes or until crisp in the microwave
- 1/2 medium sweet onion
- 2 Portobello mushrooms
- 1 medium garlic clove minced
- 4 cups baby spinach lightly packed
- 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
Instructions
- Fill a small saucepan with water, add the eggs, and bring them to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer the eggs for 10-12 minutes, depending on how firm you like the yolk. When cooked, drain and fill the pot with cold water and let the eggs cool. Once the eggs are cool enough to handle, peel and chop them.Cook the bacon in the microwave on a microwave-safe plate lined with paper towels for about 3-4 minutes or until crisp. Set aside to cool. Crumble the bacon when it is cool enough to handle.
- Slice the onion into very thin strips. Cut the portobello mushroom caps into 1/2-inch slices. Then, cut the slices in half.
- Heat about 2 teaspoons of olive oil in a saute or frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the sliced onions and mushroom and let them cook for about eight to 10 minutes or until the onions turn golden. Add the minced garlic and saute for one more minute.
- While the vegetables sauté make the dressing. Combine the remaining olive oil, vinegar, maple syrup, Dijon mustard, and a pinch of salt and pepper in a jar with a lid. Cover and shake well.
- When the onions and mushrooms are golden, add crumbled bacon and dressing to the pan and use a spatula to scrape up any browned onion bits. Turn off the heat when the dressing is warm.
- Add the spinach to the pan, and using tongs, gently toss the spinach with the dressing and vegetables. Add the chopped egg.
- Garnish the warm salad with Parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
