Spinach-Bacon Salad with Warm Dressing

This is the steakhouse spinach salad before steakhouses got ideas. Baby spinach, sliced mushrooms, red onion, and crisp bacon get tossed with a warm vinaigrette made right in the bacon skillet from the rendered drippings. The hot dressing wilts the spinach just enough to soften it without turning it into compost.

The bacon fat is the whole point. Those five tablespoons you reserve are the salad’s main flavor, stitched together with Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, sugar, Worcestershire, and a lemon squeeze. Stir everything into the warm fat off heat so the emulsion holds and pour it immediately over the salad. A few seconds too long and the dressing cools; the bacon fat congeals into flecks instead of coating every leaf.

Dry your spinach aggressively. Wet leaves repel warm oil-based dressing, and you will end up with a watery puddle at the bottom of the bowl. A salad spinner or a clean tea towel both work. Tear the spinach into bite-size pieces rather than leaving them whole; it makes every forkful easier.

Chef Tips

• Use thick-cut bacon for the most flavor and the biggest crumble. Thin grocery bacon disappears under the dressing.
• Slice the red onion paper-thin. Thick slices overwhelm the salad with raw sulphur bite.
• Wipe the skillet once to remove any burnt bits before building the dressing. Burnt fond will turn the vinaigrette bitter.
• Serve immediately. This salad does not hold. Wilted spinach is fine, slimy spinach is not.

Variations

• Add sliced hard-boiled eggs on top for the full mid-century spinach salad experience.
• Crumble in blue cheese or feta for a sharper, saltier finish.
• Swap half the spinach for frisee or curly endive for a crunchier bite that holds up to warm dressing longer.