Classic Spinach Salad with Bacon and Eggs – Spinach Salad Dressing Recipe

This Classic Spinach Salad consists of only three simple ingredients – fresh spinach, bacon and hard boiled eggs – and our homemade vinaigrette dressing. The combination of these ingredients is not only gorgeous but a match made in heaven.

This salad pairs perfectly with a simple homemade vinaigrette dressing of red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper.  This is a salad that will have your whole family going back for seconds.

Classic Spinach Salad dressing recipe

There’s something about this classic spinach salad that just makes us happy.  It’s an easy salad to put together with just three ingredients. Plus, the red wine vinaigrette is just as simple to make and it tastes so good over the spinach salad.

This hearty,  loaded spinach salad could very easily become the main course – especially if you add a couple of our Easiest Grilled Chicken Breasts. Or, use it as a side salad. We pair it with our favorite Baked Cranberry Pork Chops or 4-ingredient Baked Chicken Legs.

This spinach salad recipe with bacon originated from a favorite cookbook of Barbara’s called Vegetables on the Side. Many of her favorite dishes including Low-Carb Sesame Broccoli, Old-Fashioned Green Beans with Andouille Sausage and Spicy Roasted Zucchini have come from this same source.

Spinach Salad Recipes with Bacon

We love making this classic spinach salad in the summer when we have a bag of fresh spinach and eggs from the farmers market, but it’s great with a bag of spinach and a dozen eggs from the grocery store (we love Aldi for our groceries) any time of the year.

We used our favorite bacon from Rihm Foods in Cambridge City, Indiana. They have the most delicious bacon (among other favorites like bologna and pork bacon burgers) which we always have in the fridge.

The homemade dressing for this spinach salad is not complicated with only five ingredients. We usually have all of the dressing ingredients on hand in the refrigerator and pantry.

Using a mason jar with a lid makes it easy to prepare and transport the dressing.  Just shake up red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper in a mason jar until completely emulsified.

Ingredient List for Spinach Salad with Egg

• Fresh spinach: We prefer using baby spinach as it’s smaller and more tender than regular spinach.
• Eggs, hard boiled: You can make your eggs to your preferred yolk style. If you like a softer yolk, it would still work great with this salad.
• Bacon, fried and crumbled: While we loving making our own bacon, we have used the bacon crumbles from Costco when we are in a hurry. They work great and are definitely less messy than frying our own bacon.

Ingredient List for Spinach Salad Dressing

• Olive Oil
• Red Wine Vinegar
• Dijon Mustard
• Salt
• Black Pepper

How to Make Classic Spinach Salad with Homemade Dressing

1. Hard boil eggs. 
2. Fry up bacon in small pieces. Drain excess bacon grease onto paper towels.
3. Place spinach as a base in a salad bowl or platter.
4. Peel and quarter (or slice) hard boiled eggs. Arrange eggs and bacon that has been fried, drained and chopped over the spinach.
5. Pour spinach salad dressing over top with as much dressing as you desire.

How to Make Spinach Salad Dressing

Step By Step Instructions

1. Add red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, olive oil, salt and pepper to a small mason jar.
2. Right before serving, put a lid on the mason jar, seal and shake vigorously until the dressing is completely incorporated, or whisk together vigorously in a large bowl.
3. Dress salad right before serving with as much dressing as you desire.

For the full recipe steps and ingredient amounts for spinach salad with bacon, scroll to the recipe card at the bottom of this post. 

Recipe FAQs

• You can modify this recipe for one person or for as many as you need to feed. Just decrease or increase the amounts of spinach, hard boiled eggs and bacon.
• The red wine vinaigrette can be doubled or tripled.
• If you have more red wine vinaigrette than you need, store the remaining sealed up tight in the refrigerator. You will need to give it a good shake before using the second time.  The olive oil may even solidify in the refrigerator. Let it sit out at room temperature to loosen it up.
• Not a big fan of spinach, feel free to substitute a different lettuce such as romaine instead.
• You could easily add more salad toppings if desired. Tomatoes, chopped apples, glazed pecans or croutons would be yummy.
• Check out our Amazon Store for our favorite pantry and kitchen items.

Recipe Variations

• Add sliced mushrooms to the salad.
• Red onion slices make a beautiful presentation and add great flavor.
• Top with a grilled piece of salmon.
• Use turkey bacon for less fat.
• Instead of baby spinach leaves, use an arugula blend or regular romaine lettuce.