Spinach, Bacon & Egg Salad with Creamy Honey Mustard Dressing is perfect for a lunch or light dinner or to be served as a side salad. The sweet & salty combination of spinach, honey mustard, bacon, mushrooms, hard-boiled eggs, and cheddar cheese makes this one of my family’s favorite salads ever!
If you are looking for an excellent side salad, this one fits the bill! Some of our other favorites are Caprese Salad and this Easy Orange Pomegranate Salad!
This Spinach, Bacon & Egg Salad with Creamy Honey Mustard Dressing is not rocket science. Spinach, mushrooms and bacon are a classic salad combination, and adding hard-boiled eggs isn’t exactly revolutionary so it’s not like I’m really going out on a limb here, but I wanted to post it because it is one of my favorites.
And the creamy honey mustard dressing is so delicious and sweet and tangy, but lightened up a bit with greek yogurt instead of mayo.
The salad & dressing together has that little bit sweet, little bit salty thing going for it, thanks to the honey and mustard and bacon and cheese working together, and some extra savory wonderfulness thanks to the chopped hard-boiled eggs and sliced mushrooms that I can hardly get into the salad before Clara & Rose steal them from right under my nose as I’m prepping dinner.
Those girls. I’m not saying this to be all braggy or anything, but if I’m chopping cold crisp veggies, my two loveable little goofballs are right there hovering, snitching whatever they can.
Chocolate chips I understand, but it feels like I’m living in the Twilight Zone when I find myself swatting their tight little fists away with an admonishment not to have one more taste of spinach or raw mushroom because I need it for the salad, only to have them giggle like little fiends, snatch some more, and then squeal as I pretend to chase them out of the kitchen.
The great thing about salad is that it can really be whatever you want it to be. Oftentimes spinach salad will have red onions or croutons thrown into the mix or there is no cheese or tomatoes in it.
And a spinach salad like this is often paired with a warm bacon vinaigrette instead of a creamy honey mustard like I have done here. It’s all good.
This is just the way I make it when I’m taking the quick & dirty approach to getting a side salad prepped to go with dinner. Or to be dinner alongside some warm and fresh out of the oven Cheesy Garlic Mozzarella Swirl Rolls.
It’s easy-peasy, especially if I have a bowl of hard-boiled eggs in the fridge already and some leftover bacon from breakfast earlier in the week stashed in the fridge so that I don’t have to cook it specifically for dinner.
If I was making it for company, I might consider caramelizing some onions to go with it or sauteeing the mushrooms, but for just us on a regular weeknight, this is perfect as is.
Oh, and while the “recipe” below (it feels weird calling a list of salad ingredients a recipe but whatevs) calls for cremini mushrooms, white mushrooms would work just as well.
I just like the slightly firmer, slightly more flavorful creminis which are also sometimes called “baby bellas” or “baby portabello” mushrooms. They are basically in between a white mushroom and a portabello mushroom with a dark brown outer skin.
And the creamy honey mustard dressing comes together in 3 minutes since it’s just a matter of measuring, dumping, and whisking to combine. It would also be wonderful over chicken, as a dipping sauce, on burgers, etc.
If you have visited the Recipes page of this blog, then you might have noticed that while the Main Dish and Dessert categories are pretty well filled out, the Salad Recipes category is woefully underrepresented. (UPDATED: actually it’s looking pretty good now!)
It’s not because we don’t eat vegetables – we totally do!
It’s more just that when it comes to blogging about food, I just get more inspired and excited about the sweet stuff or the super savory dinnertime staple stuff, rather than the supporting dishes. But I’m going to work on that! I’m serious!
Unless I get carried away posting about all the holiday sweets and savories that I am so looking forward to making.
How to make this spinach salad with bacon and hard-boiled eggs with honey mustard dressing
- In a large serving bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients together and toss.
- In a medium-sized bowl combine all of the dressing ingredients and whisk thoroughly. You want the dressing to become smooth and creamy. Feel free to add salt and pepper to taste and pour the dressing into a serving ar to serve alongside the salad.
How long does honey mustard dressing last?
Believe it or not, but if properly stored within your fridge you could get this dressing to last up to 3 weeks. But for best results, I honestly recommend no more than 1 week. This helps to give you the best “fresh” taste every time you enjoy a salad.
How do you prepare spinach for salad?
Using fresh spinach is a great way to get added health benefits for this salad, but preparing spinach can be seen as a daunting task. Here are a few easy steps for getting those leaves prepped for your salad.
- Separate all of the leaves and remove the leaves from the stems (optional)
- Fill a bowl with water (to the top rim) and place a colander inside. Put your spinach inside the colander and swish them around until the colander and spinach look clean.
- Remove colander, drain water and the soil that settled to the bottom and repeat as needed.
More Salad Recipes You’ll Love
- Olive Garden Salad Dressing Recipe
- Tex-Mex Doritos Taco Salad
- Spring Salad with Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Fall Panzanella Salad
- Chopped Kale Salad
- Persimmon, Pomegranate, and Spinach Salad
- Homemade Caesar Salad Dressing
- Winter Pear, Pomegranate & Swiss Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
- Papaya Seed Dressing
Did you make this recipe?
Let me know what you thought with a comment and rating below. You can also take a picture and tag me on Instagram @houseofnasheats or share it on the Pinterest pin so I can see.
Spinach, Bacon & Egg Salad with Creamy Honey Mustard Dressing
Ingredients
Salad
- 10 ounces baby spinach
- 8 slices bacon cooked and chopped
- 8 ounces cremini mushrooms sliced
- 6 hard-boiled eggs peeled and chopped
- 2 Roma tomatoes halved and sliced
- 1/2 cup shredded medium cheddar cheese
Dressing
- 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
- 1 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large serving bowl, combine all salad ingredients and toss.
- In a medium bowl, combine all of the dressing ingredients. Whisk thoroughly to incorporate until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Pour into a serving jar to serve alongside the salad and store any leftovers in a sealed container in the refrigerator for 1 week.
In this season of rich foods and excess eating, mixing in a salad makes so much sense. This is a great combination of flavors!
I have been feeling the same way, Lisa!
It’s been an absolute age since I last had a spinach and bacon salad – I need to remedy this! This recipe sounds fab!
It’s an oldie but a goodie, for sure!
I’ve been binging on comfort food lately, and I really need a break, this salad looks so refreshing!
Haven’t we all!
The dressing sounds absolutely delightful – particularly how you swapped mayo with greek yogurt – i really need to cut down on mayo!
Greek yogurt is one of my favorite substitutes in lots of recipes!
This is my kind of salad! Looks delicious!
We love a substantial salad, one you where you can make a meal out of it. This looks very tasty.
We love a substantial salad, one you where you can make a meal out of it. This looks very tasty.
Spinach and bacon salad is one salad that I can always count on for consistency! Love your version which is much healthier, Yummy!! Appetizing pictures 🙂
Thanks, Rosemary! Yes, it’s definitely a good standby salad to have in your arsenal!
When we are eating pizza we usually have the classic caesar salad as a side dish. I would love to try your spinach and honey mustard dressing next time. 🙂
I love a good salad with pizza too!
Honey mustard dressing is such a classic and does not go out of style. And I just love hard boiled eggs. What a great salad!
Great flavor!