| |

Bacon Spinach Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette #ComeBackNew

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my Disclosure and Privacy Policy.

Last month my husband and I were literally whisked away by Princess Cruises for an amazing 5 day Caribbean  vacation. We didn’t have a lot of time to plan, but we didn’t hesitate when asked. Our honeymoon was a week long Caribbean cruise, and we couldn’t wait to go back. We loved our trip! It was a fabulous combination of adventure and relaxation for just the two of us. Over the next month I’m going to be sharing with you all aspects of our experiences, but today I have to share with you a recipe I made last week. This Bacon Spinach Salad was created by a Princess Cruises chef and features a homemade red wine vinaigrette. And let me tell you, it is absolutely amazing.

Bacon Spinach SaladAboard the Caribbean Princess ship, we received some amazing food and service. When I think back to my cruise, my mind immediately goes to the top-notch food and fun excursions.  One of our unique experiences included a special Chef’s dinner. I’ll share more about the to-die-for courses in an upcoming post, but we walked away with this beautiful cookbook, Courses: A Culinary Journey.
.

Princess Cruises Culinary Courses JourneyA wide variety of dishes inspired by the worldwide  ports of call are included. After browsing through, the Tender Baby Spinach Salad caught my eye.

Princess Cruises Culinary Courses Cookbook CaribbeanIt appeared to be a wonderful addition to any family meal and my mind went to my next upcoming celebration with family, Thanksgiving of course. I typically bring a dessert or appetizers while my mom slaves over the main meal. A refreshing salad would be the perfect touch and help my mom with the main courses for a nice change of pace. I knew I wanted to test it out first to make sure it was Thanksgiving worthy.

Spinach Bacon and Mushroom Salad

5 from 3 votes
Print

Bacon Mushroom Spinach Salad

Course Salad
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 6 servings
Author Princess Cruises Chef

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds baby spinach leaves
  • 2 eggs hard boiled
  • 8 slices applewood-smoked bacon
  • 1 1/2 cups fresh button mushrooms washed and sliced
  • 1/4 red onion diced
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes
  • DRESSING
  • 3/4 cup olive oil
  • 1/4 cup bacon fat
  • juice from one lemon
  • 1/2 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon garlic chopped
  • 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Prepare hard boiled eggs and cool.
  2. Cook bacon until crisp, reserving bacon fat. Crumble bacon.
  3. Combine all dressing ingredients in a food processor or small blender at least 30 minutes in advance to allow flavors to combine. Blend until fairly smooth. Adjust seasoning if necessary and hold at room temperature. Stir the dressing before serving and adjust the seasoning again if necessary.
  4. To serve, toss spinach with light coating of dressing Season with salt and pepper if desired. Arrange leaves on plate and garnish with bacon, egg, mushrooms, onion and tomatoes.

Oh boy, I couldn’t stop eating this salad. I had around three servings until my husband came home from work and polished off the rest. I would say that I’m sorry my kids aren’t vinaigrette fans so they would eat it too, but I’m not. Because my husband and I got this huge salad all to ourselves.  Salad is a favorite food of mine, and this one allows me to eat bacon and egg at the same time. Score!

Bacon Spinach Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

I did alter the recipe slightly by adding the cherry tomatoes. They add so much color and flavor. You can skip them if you want, but tomatoes are a favorite of mine so they aren’t going anywhere but my belly. I waited to top the salad off with egg until I plate it so my egg didn’t get squashed. And because I love vinaigrette, I tossed everything in the dressing except for the bacon and egg. You will have plenty of dressing leftover. We’ve been putting it on our salads at dinner. Just be sure to rest the dressing in some warm water before using. The dressing gets firm in the fridge because of the delicious bacon fat so it needs to be warmed up a bit.

Caribbean Princess Grand Cayman

If you love food like we do, Princess Cruises is sure to delight your tastebuds with their wide variety of options on board.  You’ll find such treasures as Chocolate Journeys, a one-of-a-kind chocolate experience created by Norman Love on board their entire fleet starting in January 2015.  (Some ships like the Princess Regal have it already.) We sampled some of these decadent chocolate desserts and they are truly special.

Watch for more updates regarding our Princess Cruise experience coming soon!

 

A big thank you to Princess Cruises for inviting us on board their beautiful ship with travel expenses paid. All thoughts are my own.

 

 

15 Comments

  1. This salad sounds incredible with the bacon, mushrooms and all the rest of these great ingredients. Looks super!

  2. This sounds ABSOLUTELY delish….I printed the recipe and I’m picking up the ingredients when I go to the grocery store tomorrow!!

  3. This looks absolutely delicious!! Thank you for the great post and posting the recipe! I can’t wait to give it a try this weekend!

  4. This looks and sounds wonderful. I love all the colors. I would leave out the red onion though, I’m not a fan of raw onion.

  5. 5 stars
    I love making salads! Especially with spinach. I have never really had mushrooms in a salad before. I will try out this recipe! It looks so yummy.

  6. My mom makes a version of this except the dressing it more of a french style. I can’t wait to try the vinaigrette. It sounds so yummy . I love bacon and spinach togheter!

  7. All my favorite things in a salad! Good choice for Thanksgiving! I think my kids might even eat it too. Because, bacon. 😉

  8. This sounds amazing, my two favorite ingredients mushrooms and bacon. I love finding new ways to jazz up a salad.

  9. This looks delicious! I love making salads and appetizers for the holidays. I’ll definitely be giving this a try!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating