so now that i know that i actually like hard boiled eggs, i’m all about adding them to salads, like this spinach salad with bacon and hard boiled eggs! for years, whenever i saw a salad with hard boiled eggs on a restaurant menu, i would skip right past it. now when i’m making salads for myself at home, i’m adding eggs to turn the salad into a filling (and delicious) meal.
and that’s just what i did with this spinach salad with bacon and hard boiled eggs. when composing this salad in my mind, i wanted to create a hearty, late winter/maybe-early-spring-if-we-squint-hard-enough salad that had a variety of textures and flavors.
i started with baby spinach for a nice, mild leafy green base. then i layered in thinly sliced red cabbage (total fridge staple, by the way: it keeps well for weeks and adds such a nice crunch to salads, burgers, tacos, sandwiches… everything! i use it at least once, if not more, every day.) and radishes for crunch. if radishes have appeared at your farmers’ market, grab ‘em! if not, the grocery store can fill in the gaps for those of us in the more northern climates. they probably won’t have that peppery bite of good, fresh radishes, but at least we’ll have some crunch and color.
next, the hard boiled eggs provide a creamy contrast to the crunchy bits and the cherry tomatoes add little pops of bright flavor. then i added crumbled bacon (which you could skip if you’re vegetarian) and sliced olives for a briny kick. i’ve been adding sliced olives to my giant lunch salad everyday recently and i’m totally into it.
my usual go-to salad dressing is extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, and dijon mustard but this time i veered slightly – just slightly – from my standard and used red wine vinegar in place of the lemon juice. keeping the dressing simple and bright helped to balance out all of the creamy (eggs) and bold (bacon and olives) flavors that we have going on.
in the end, we have a filling entrée salad for two people or fun side salads for four people. or you could scale up if, say, you had a dozen hard boiled eggs laying around (literally) and a bunch of people coming over for dinner. i think this spinach salad with bacon and hard boiled eggs would look great sharing the table with whatever it is that people put on the table at easter. lamb? ham? i’ve never been clear on the food protocol for easter, beyond chocolate bunnies and jelly beans.
anyway, spinach salad with bacon and hard boiled eggs is a good complement for any and all of those things. or, you know, in my case, on a random wednesday night when i want a healthy and hearty dinner that won’t take a year and a half to make. whiiicch is basically every wednesday night, come to think of it.
did you make this recipe? i’d love to know what you think of it! leave a comment below and share a picture on instagram with the hashtag #tastyseasons.
spinach salad with bacon and hard boiled eggs
Save to BigOven 
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups ice cubes
- 2 cups cold water
- 4 slices of bacon
- 2 cups (43 g. / 1 ½ oz.) baby spinach
- 1 cup (96 g. / 3 3/8 oz.) thinly sliced red cabbage
- 4 radishes, thinly sliced (1 cup / 93 g. / 3 ¼ oz.)
- ½ cup (86 g. / 3 oz.) halved cherry tomatoes
- ¼ cup (36 g. / 1 ¼ oz.) thinly sliced, pitted black olives
- ¼ cup (2 fl. oz. / 60 ml) extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
Instructions
- in a pot large enough to hold a steamer basket, heat 1” (2.5 cm) of water over high heat so that it comes to a roiling boil. put the eggs in a single layer in the steamer basket and transfer the basket to the pot. cover the pot and lower the heat to medium-low. cook the eggs for 13 minutes. when the eggs are nearly done cooking, combine the ice cubes and water in a medium, metal mixing bowl. using a large, slotted spoon, transfer the eggs to the ice bath. let the eggs sit in the ice bath for 15 minutes. peel the eggs in the bowl of water or under running water to rinse away little bits of shell. also, if you can get a hold of the thin membrane between the white and the shell, you can use that to pull off the shell more gently. slice the eggs lengthwise into ¼” (0.6 cm) slices, wiping the blade between cuts.
- while the eggs are cooking and cooling, heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. cook the bacon for a few minutes per side, to your preferred level of crispiness. drain on paper towels. chop/crumble and set aside.
- in a glass jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the olive oil, mustard, and vinegar. shake well.
- combine the spinach, cabbage, and radishes in a large mixing bowl. pour about one third of the dressing over the vegetables and toss well.
- transfer the dressed vegetables to a serving platter and top with tomatoes, olives, and bacon. arrange the sliced eggs on the salad. pour another third of the dressing over the salad. taste and add more dressing, if desired. serve immediately. (you could make parts of this salad in advance: cook and eggs and bacon, slice the cabbage, and make the dressing. i wouldn’t assemble the salad and i certainly wouldn’t dress it until it was time to eat. a preassembled, undressed salad keeps for a day by easy-leftovers-for-lunch standards but since the radishes and cabbage sometimes bleed onto the egg whites, i wouldn’t preassemble this to serve to others.)
Nutrition Facts
spinach salad with bacon and hard boiled eggs
Serves: 2 entrée or 4 side salads
| Amount Per Serving: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Calories | 654 | |
| % Daily Value* | ||
| Total Fat 58 g. | 89.2% | |
| Saturated Fat 14 g. | 70% | |
| Trans Fat 0 g. | ||
| Cholesterol 223 mg. | 74.3% | |
| Sodium 813 mg. | 33.9% | |
| Total Carbohydrate 21 g. | 7% | |
| Dietary Fiber 8 g. | 32% | |
| Sugars 4 g. | ||
| Protein 18 g. | ||
| Vitamin A | Vitamin C | |
| Calcium | Iron | |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
tasty seasons
