This is a simple spinach salad with bacon and an easy homemade spinach salad dressing with ketchup on fresh baby spinach. You can add toppings of your choice and other greens like kale. Make it your way, or follow my suggestions. Use it as a side dish or load it with protein for a delicious summer lunch.
🥣Ingredients
Baby Spinach—fresh, cleaned well
Bacon
Spinach salad dressing—ketchup, sugar, olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, Kosher salt
Suggested topping—hard-boiled eggs, bean sprouts, red onion, water chestnuts, mushrooms
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Featured Comment by Pat :
"I've been making this for decades. Originally saw the recipe as a winner of a contest. It was called Sedona Spinach Salad. It is delicious."
There are many fresh spinach salad recipes, but this basic recipe has a lot going for it. The base is tender baby spinach and a simple homemade vinaigrette dressing made with ketchup. You get to load it up with the toppings of your choice or use mine.
✔️Optional ingredients and variations
Our version has bacon, hard-boiled eggs, and a touch of China with bean sprouts and water chestnuts. We skip mushrooms due to food allergies.
You can keep it vegetarian or even vegan with veggies like slices of avocado, mushrooms, cucumber, bell pepper, and crunchy celery. Try other greens like kale, or add fruit like apple chunks, sliced strawberries, blueberries, or raspberries.
Load it up with protein to make a complete meal. Try some chicken or shrimp in addition to the eggs and bacon. You can top it with blue cheese, feta, or goat cheese. Add some crunch with chopped pecans, almonds, walnuts, or pine nuts,
While the star of this recipe is the ketchup-based vinaigrette dressing, you can substitute Italian, balsamic, or poppy seed dressing.
👨🍳How to Make This Simple Spinach Salad—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Mix spinach salad dressing, then wash, trim, and dry the spinach.
2. Wash, trim, and dry spinach. Prepare any toppings, like chopping the red onion, cooking bacon, draining cans of bean sprouts, and water chestnuts. Slice hard-boiled eggs.
3. Add all non-dressing ingredients to a large bowl and toss to combine.
4. Serve with the dressing on the side and drizzle with the dressing.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
Other favorite summer recipes
Take advantage of these other favorite summer recipes, like Fresh Strawberry Pie, Corn on the Cob, Single Serving Lemonade, and Mango Salsa with Pineapple.
🥬How to buy the best fresh spinach
- You want dark green leaves with crisp texture and aroma.
- Prefer the young baby spinach that will have thin stems.
- Buy freshly picked if possible, but avoid bunches with wilted, slimy, or discolored leaves.
- If you are buying bagged, look at the buy-by date and by the freshest.
- Don’t overbuy. While you can store it for up to 10 days, it is better consumed in 3-4 days, so buy right and buy late.
How to serve fresh spinach salad
Serve the dressing on the side so you can store the leftovers better.
If you load your salad with protein, it is a meal by itself. Perfect for a summer lunch with friends.
Serve it as a side dish with these gas grill recipes, like Grilled Chicken Thighs or Grilling a Whole Chicken on a Gas Grill . Or with a great steak like Grilled Porterhouse Steaks or Seared and Baked Strip Steaks.
❄️How to store leftover spinach salad
The salad with store better without dressing. Seal the salad in an airtight container in the refrigerator. It is delicious in 1 day, OK for two days, and by day three should be consumed or destroyed. The salad dressing will be good refrigerated and airtight for a week.
This is not a good dish to freeze. Most components will lose texture.
❓FAQs
Yes. But be sure that it is adequately washed like you would any raw vegetable.
When fresh, baby spinach is bite-sized, tender, and sweet, with just the right amount of crunch. Older spinach is bigger and tougher.
Fresh spinach can be stored sealed, dry, and cold for up to 10 days in the refrigerator's crisper drawer wrapped in paper towels. Wash only the spinach you are using now. Moisture is the enemy of freshness.
A vinaigrette is usually a combination of oil and vinegar. A standard ratio is 3 parts oil to 1 part vinegar, which this dressing approximates.
The vinegar part is usually apple cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or balsamic vinegar. The tomato in the ketchup adds a bit of acid here, also.
Almost any oil can be used, but we use extra virgin olive oil.
📖 Recipe
Simple Spinach Salad with Bacon
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Ingredients
- 1 lb baby spinach - cleaned and dried
Our favorite toppings—many more in the recipe post
- 4 hard-boiled eggs
- 3-4 strips bacon - chopped, fried, and drained
- 14 oz bean sprouts - drained
- 8 oz sliced water chestnuts - drained
- 1 medium chopped red onion - optional
- ½ cup sliced fresh mushrooms - optional
Spinach Salad Dressing
- ⅓ cup ketchup
- ½ cup sugar
- ¾ cup olive oil - or other vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
- 3 tablespoons red vinegar - or other vinegar
- ½ to 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Combine all dressing components in a shaker, small jar, or bowl and shake or whisk to mix well.
- Wash, trim, and dry spinach. Prepare any toppings, like chopping the red onion, cooking bacon, draining cans of bean sprouts, and water chestnuts. Slice hard boil eggs.
- In a large bowl, combine all non-dressing ingredients and toss well.
- Serve with dressing on the side to drizzle when serving.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips
- Pick out fresh baby spinach with a good dark color and thin stems—more tips in the post.
- The water chestnuts and bean sprouts are the limiting factors in the size of this recipe. You can cut the size if you are okay with wasting the extra.
- Many other toppings are suggested in the recipe post.
- Serve the dressing on the side since this salad will store better without the dressing.
- Refrigerate leftovers sealed for up to 3 days, but the third day is not the best.
- The dressing has lots of taste from Worcestershire sauce and ketchup, so it can tolerate using different vinegar or oil if you want.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Editor note: This is a republishing of a recipe originally published on May 24, 2010. That was the first year of the blog, and I just took a few pictures and tossed up the recipe so my kids would stop calling mom for it. It was updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
Sherry says
Thank you Dr Dan
I had no idea your response would be so quick - greatly appreciate it. Salad coming to my kitchen soon!
Sherry says
Love the variety of veggies in this recipe. One question; can you use fresh bean sprouts instead of canned? I find the canned ones have an off-putting smell that just doesn't make me want to eat them even after rinsing. Thank you.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Sherry,
Welcome to the blog.
Sure, fresh bean sprouts are fine.
Dan
Deborah Lein says
Dr. Dan, I have Swiss Chard in the garden which I usually cook / wilt to use with pastas. I find it pretty tough to eat without a little cooking. Can Swiss Chard be substituted for fresh spinach?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Deborah,
The spinach is soft, tender, and a bit sweet if you get nice baby spinach. Not at all like the chard I have had so I would not substitute for it.
Dan
Leslie says
Since I cook for one, my slow cooker is only a 1 quart size. However, I think it runs a lot hotter than the larger cookers, 2 qt.+, and it's difficult to time recipes correctly. Is this generally true of all small slow cookers or does mine need to be replaced?
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Leslie,
I have a hard time recommending the very small crockpots. The last time I looked at them, none had thermostats but used reostats. The longer the were turned on, the higher the temp. And high is way uncontrollable.
Cuisinart generally wins reviews of small crockpots and Kitchaid usually wins full-size reviews. But honest reviews that are not just click-bate to sell a product are hard to find anymore. Mostly behind a paywall at Cooks Illustrated.
So I would look at 3-4 quart Kitchenaid or Cuisinart. More expensive is the All-clad. I have had their pots for years with good results but they are generally not included in the roundups due to price.
Remember when you are shopping, You want a timmer, digital control. You will have it for yeqrs so don't skimp too much.
Dan
Leslie says
Thanks so much for the advice on small slow cookers but due to your answer, I have another question...I’ve read that slow cookers must be at least half full to operate as the manufacturer intended. If this is true, it doesn’t make sense for me to even use this cooking method for small amounts. And please don’t suggest I freeze leftovers...I have a freezer full now and I’m not crazy about them. I find cooking for one difficult when preparing soups, stews, casseroles, etc.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
The 50% has been around some but is wrong. The best results are between 25% and 66%. I stretch that some and will go up to 75% on the high end. On the low end, underfilled will cook faster but still can be used. Decide on the endpoint of your cooking (say chicken at 165 degrees or tender potatoes) and check a few times like at half and 3/4 time. Also, if underfilled, don't use high.
Dan
Kathleen says
Dr. Dan, you are my " go to guy" for alot of my meals. The pork tenderloin with potatoes and carrots, the crock pot ribs, baked chicken thighs - - delicious! And my husband agrees! Thank you!
Pat Thompson says
I've been making this for decades. Originally saw the recipe as a winner of a contest. It was called Sedona Spinach Salad. It is delicious.
anne says
I love seeing the old recipe card
Going to make this tomorrow, Looks yummy !
You always have the best recipes
I look forward to your posting them
Thank you Dr. Dan
DrDan says
Hi Anne,
I think the card is classic. You can't even read part of it due to the food stains. I still have it but now I look on the blog when I need it.
Thanks for the note
Dan
Joan says
I used to make this or a version of it some years ago. I liked the flavors, but disliked chewing the spinach leaves which, to me, have an odd texture. I wonder how the salad would do with romaine lettuce instead of the spinach?
DrDan says
Hi Joan,
Try "baby" spinach. The smaller the leaves, the more tender. You can try it with romaine. Most of the flavor does come from the other ingredients.
Thanks for the note
Dan
adriana says
Quick ?, for the dressing it asks for vinegar... is it apple cider vinegar, white wine vinegar or regular distilled vinegar?
Thank you,
Adriana
DrDan says
I like apple cider but white will do. By regular distilled I believe is the same thing as white.
DrDan
Martha (MM) says
Yummy! Sounds totally delicious! Thanks so much for linking this up at this month's salad round up! It's still open if you have others :-)
Christine says
No, no. He meant the only copy on a card. I pulled it out of the recipe box and the thing felt like it was going to fall apart in my hands!
Greg says
It wasn't the only copy, I had mom e-mail that to me years ago and I still have it printed out in my kitchen. But yes rescue missions are good here.