Warm Spinach Salad Recipe | Mark’s Daily Apple

“Warm” and “salad” may not be two words that you often associate, but we promise you this warm spinach salad recipe is in stock!

This protein-rich salad boasts colorful, nutrient-dense vegetables and healthy fats. Chopping the greens ensures that you get mouth-watering greens in every delicious bite, and the crispy bacon, crisp apples, and buttered squash are all delightful when combined.

It is also very flexible and customizable. Spinach salad is a classic, but any green vegetable – baby kale, Swiss chard, beet greens or a combination – works here. Instead of buttered pumpkin, substitute squash or kabocha. Trade walnuts for pecans or pine nuts and goat cheese for Feta. Try it with ranch dressing instead of honey mustard. You can’t go wrong. Once you get your hands on a warm spinach salad experience, you’ll want to try a multitude of different variations.

Warm spinach salad

Serve: 4

Time in the kitchen: 50 minutes

Ingredient

• 5 oz. young spinach
• 5 oz. baby arugula
• 8 slices (about 6 oz) bacon
• 3 cups pumpkin cubes
• 1 purple onion, thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 1 lb. shredded or shredded cooked chicken
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and sliced ​​or halved (see hard-boiling instructions below)
• 1/4-1/3 cup Primal Kitchen Honey Mustard Sauce
• Optional: 1 apple, cubed
• Optional: 4 oz. goat cheese, crumble

Direction

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Place your bacon on a rimmed pan and bake in the oven until it reaches the desired crispiness. This may take about 20 minutes, but start checking in 15. Use tongs to remove the bacon onto a plate lined with a towel. When cool enough to handle, shred bacon and set aside.

Meanwhile, carefully toss the cubed pumpkin into the bacon grease in the baking tray. Arrange the pumpkin in a single layer, then return the pan to the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Flip the squash and bake for an additional 5 to 10 minutes or until the squash is golden brown. Place the squash in a bowl large enough to mix all the salad ingredients.

Add the chopped bacon back to the pan and place the pan back in the oven for a few minutes to warm up the bacon again. While the bacon is heating up, chop the young spinach and arugula leaves in batches to make them bite-sized pieces.

Add warm bacon, thinly sliced ​​onion, walnuts, chicken, applesauce, and/or cheese if you’re putting them in the bowl with the squash. Gently mix ingredients with Primal Kitchen Honey Mustard sauce.

Add the chopped greens and eggs and gently toss to combine everything. When you mix the salad together, the arugula and spinach will wilt a bit. Enjoy immediately or save leftovers for the next day.

Give advice:

• You can use shredded grilled chicken breast, leftover chicken, roast chicken, or whatever protein you want.
• To keep the carbs lower, you can use beets or turnips in place of the pumpkin.
• While mixing the greens with the warm elements will wilt a bit, you can also lightly sauté the veggies before putting them in the mixing bowl if you’d like!

How to boil eggs

I have an entire post on How to Cook Perfect Eggs, all the time. Here are the highlights:

1. Fill the pot half full with water and a pinch of salt. Boil.
2. Carefully place the eggs in the hot water.
3. To fully cook the yolks, cook the eggs for 10 minutes.
4. Transfer eggs to bowl of ice water. Peel them when they’re cool enough to handle.

Check out other articles for more detailed instructions. For this warm spinach salad, you can also omit the hard-boiled eggs and top the salad with poached eggs. Instructions for stealing eggs are also included in that article. Interesting!

Nutrition Facts (¼ recipe):

• Calories: 446
• Fat: 25 grams
• Total carbs: 22 grams
• Net Carbs: 17 grams
• Protein: 35 grams

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Information about the Authors

A Missouri-based food blogger, recipe developer, and personal chef, Priscilla specializes in low-carb, Paleo, gluten-free, keto, vegetarian, and low-FODMAP cooking. See what she’s cooking on Priscilla Cooks and follow her culinary adventures on Instagram and Pinterest.

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