A wilted spinach salad, simple and nourishing, offers an excellent way to incorporate fresh winter greens onto your supper table during the long, dark days of winter when hardy spinach is plentiful. Heating the spinach very slightly, as in this wilted spinach salad recipe requires, provides a dual purpose: not only does it make the dish more suitable for cold days when fresh, raw greens can be unappealing, but it also helps to mitigate the effects of oxalic acid – an antinutrient naturally found in spinach and other greens.
Wilted Spinach Salad
Fresh spinach and chicken combine with the smokiness of bacon and sweetness of apples for a satisfying winter salad.
Wilted Spinach Salad: Ingredients
- 4 slices bacon
- ¼ cup prepared honey mustard dressing*
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1 small red onion, sliced into rounds
- 1 small apple, sliced thin
- 1 cup cooked chicken, chopped into bit-sized pieces
Wilted Spinach Salad: Method
- Fry four slices bacon over medium heat until crispy. Remove bacon from the pan, turn off the heat and gently stir ¼ cup honey mustard dressing into the rendered bacon grease. Set aside to cool slightly.
- Toss remaining ingredients together, garnish with fried bacon and dress with the mixture of bacon grease and honey mustard dressing.
Yield: 4 servings
Time: 10 minutes (preparation)
*This recipe was prepared for the Family Bites Section of FoodBuzz sponsored by Newman’s Own, using Newman’s Own® Lighten Up Honey Mustard Dressing. If you wish to avoid soybean oil, as I do, you may prepare your own honey mustard dressing by combining ¼ cup raw honey, 2 tablespoons Dijon-style mustard, 2 tablespoons unrefined extra virgin olive oil and 2 tablespoons raw cider vinegar.
Where in the recipe does the spinach get wilted?
I never realized I needed to wilt spinach (always ate it raw), so I’m not sure how to do it. Do you put fat in the pan first, how long do I leave the spinach in there, etc?
Thank you!
Yummy! I love wilted spinach salads and I will definitely be making this variation soon!
Karla
I think the spinach will get slightly wilted from the warm dressing?
It sounds so good, it makes me wish I had some leftover chicken since I have all of the other ingredients.
This looks like a delicious take on my usual wilted spinach salad. Love the honey mustard variation!
My Dad used to wilt all kinds of greens for salad by pouring HOT
bacon grease over them. But he mixed a little cider vinegar into
the bacon grease.
My mother used to make this… great memory and lovely recipe!
Love it! It’s been awhile since I’ve had this type of salad and it’s going on the menu for next week, thanks!
Devin -
The spinach in this salad will become slightly wilted when the warm dressing is added. It doesn’t cook the greens through; rather, it just wilts them very slightly. So what you’ll do is prepare the salad and set it aside then heat the bacon grease and honey mustard dressing until well-combined and pour that mixture over the spinach.
Hope that helps -
Jenny
Ohhh thanks, that does help! Don’t know how I missed that.
Absolutely heavenly recipe! Made this with the homemade honey mustard dressing and it was a huge hit! Thanks!