Spinach Salad

This spinach salad leans Mediterranean with a combination of crumbled feta cheese, chopped black olives, sliced red onion, and hard-boiled eggs over a bed of fresh spinach. A simple oil and vinegar dressing is all it needs.

The ingredient list reads like a deconstructed Greek salad built on spinach instead of romaine. Feta brings salty, tangy creaminess. Black olives add briny depth. Red onion gives a sharp bite that wakes up the milder spinach leaves. Hard-boiled eggs make it substantial enough to work as a light lunch on its own.

Two pounds of fresh spinach is a generous base that wilts slightly under the dressing, so don’t worry about the volume looking excessive before tossing. The vinaigrette should be light enough to coat the leaves without pooling at the bottom of the bowl.

Kitchen Tips

• Wash and dry the spinach thoroughly. Gritty spinach ruins a salad, and wet leaves dilute the dressing. A salad spinner is your best tool here.
• Slice the red onion thin. Thick rings of raw onion overpower everything. Paper-thin slices distribute the flavor without dominating.
• Crumble the feta by hand for irregular pieces that vary in size. Pre-crumbled feta from the package tends to be dry and chalky.
• Dress just before serving. The acid in the vinegar wilts spinach faster than sturdier greens.

Variations

• Add cherry tomatoes for color and juicy sweetness that rounds out the salty feta and olives.
• Kalamata olives instead of regular black olives for a more authentically Greek, more intensely briny flavor.
• Warm bacon dressing: Skip the oil and vinegar and pour a warm bacon vinaigrette over the spinach for a wilted salad version.