Wilted Mixed Green Salad with Bacon and Blue Cheese

This wilted mixed green salad with bacon and blue cheese is a fabulous salad to bring to a family reunion or barbecue. Plus, it's a delicious way to get more dark leafy greens onto everyone's plate. 

This salad will feed a crowd, and can easily be doubled. All you need is a really big salad bowl to toss everything together. 

This salad is a take on warm spinach salad, but instead it is loaded with all kinds of "power" greens such as kale, red and green chard, spinach, arugula, and other dark leafy greens. I like to buy the packages of mixed power greens that have already been washed and trimmed. 

You dress this salad with a hot bacon dressing, which wilts the greens just enough, but not too much. 

How to make hot bacon dressing:

First, fry bacon slices in a skillet until they are fully cooked, and drain the slices on a paper towel lined plate, leaving the rendered fat in the pan. 

Next, once your salad is assembled, reheat the bacon drippings in the skillet over medium heat and add cider vinegar, sugar, salt, and pepper, and cook for a couple of minutes to bring out the flavors and emulsify the dressing. 

Finally, pour the dressing over the salad and toss. Serve the salad right away. 

I haven't quite mastered the art of tossing a salad in the serving bowl (I get salad everywhere), so I like to use a giant bowl for tossing the salad and then move it to the serving bowl. 

According to Toni Tipton-Martin, the author of the amazing cookbook, Jubilee: Recipes from Two Centuries of African American Cooking, the warm spinach salad actually a descendant of salads featured in early twentieth-century African American cookbooks, where bitter greens were tossed with a warm dressing mixed rendered bacon fat. 

This salad also includes radishes, red onions, hard-boiled eggs, tomatoes, and crumbled bacon. Once you've tossed everything together, sprinkle the top with crumbled blue cheese. 

It will be your new favorite salad. Serve it with potato salad, homemade baked beans, and pulled-pork for a delicious backyard party menu. Don't forget the margaritas. 

Can you make this salad in advance?

You can prepare and toss all of the greens and vegetables in advance. Set aside the sliced eggs, chopped bacon, and crumbled blue cheese until you are ready to finish the salad. 

When it's time to serve the salad, reheat the bacon drippings and mix up the dressing in the pan. Transfer the dressing to a heat proof jar or glass measuring cup, and pour half of it over the greens and toss. Taste and add more dressing to taste and toss in the eggs and crumbled bacon. Sprinkle on the blue cheese to finish the salad. 

More delicious green salads:

Mixed greens, peach, and corn salad with maple vinaigrette

Cabbage salad with applies and spiced pecans

Zucchini salad with queso fresco

Fennel, pomegranate, and arugula salad

Overnight layered salad

Welcome to BBQ Week, where fellow food bloggers share recipes perfect for summer parties and cookouts. 

Friday #BBQWeek Recipes

Appetizers and Drinks

• BBQ Deviled Eggs by The Spiffy Cookie
• Lemonade Margarita by Cheese Curd In Paradise
• Mojitos with Grilled Strawberries and Mint by Our Good Life

Side Dishes

• Caprese Salad by House of Nash Eats
• Classic Broccoli Salad by Family Around the Table
• Cowboy Caviar by Devour Dinner
• Grilled Peppers and Potatoes by Jolene's Recipe Journal
• Wilted Mixed Green Salad with Bacon and Blue Cheese by Karen's Kitchen Stories

Main Dishes

• Grilled Shrimp Skewers with Tropical Fruit Salsa by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Summer Steak Salad by Kate's Recipe Box

Desserts

• Blueberry Ice Cream Recipe by SueBee Homemaker
• Copycat Dole Pineapple Whip by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
• Grilled Strawberry Shortcake by Blogghetti

Be sure to follow our Pinterest board for more summer BBQ ideas. Thank you to Christie from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures and Ellen from Family Around the Table for hosting the event.

Wilted Mixed Green Salad with Bacon and Blue Cheese

Yield: 10 servings

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

This wilted mixed green salad with bacon and blue cheese is a fabulous salad to bring to a family reuntion or barbecue. Plus, it's a delicious way to get more dark leafy greens onto everyone's plate.

Ingredients

• 1 pound mixed greens such as kale, spinach, chard, and spinach
• 4 radishes, thinly sliced
• 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
• 1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
• 8 slices bacon
• 2/3 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/3 cup crumbled blue cheese

Instructions

1. Toss the greens, radish slices, onion slices, eggs, and tomatoes. 
2. Cook the bacon in a skillet until crispy, and drain the bacon on a paper towel lined plate. Chop or crumble the bacon and toss it into the salad. 
3. Reheat the bacon drippings in the pan and add the cider, sugar, salt, and pepper and cook over medium heat for about two minutes until slightly thickened and emulsified, about two minutes. 
4. Pour half of the dressing over the salad and toss. Taste and add more dressing as necessary to taste. Sprinkle the salad with the blue cheese. 

Nutrition Facts

Calories

121.79

Fat (grams)

5.87

Sat. Fat (grams)

2.31

Carbs (grams)

10.20

Fiber (grams)

2.64

Net carbs

7.56

Sugar (grams)

5.57

Protein (grams)

7.84

Sodium (milligrams)

719.64

Cholesterol (grams)

49.75

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2021/05/wilted-mixed-green-salad-with-bacon-and.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

wilted green salad

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