Bitter Greens Warm Bacon Dressing (Print Version)

Hearty bitter greens coated in a warm bacon vinaigrette, perfect for a simple and elegant starter or light meal.

# What You Need:

→ Greens

01 - 4 cups mixed bitter greens (escarole, frisée, dandelion, radicchio, or chicory), torn
02 - 1 small red onion, thinly sliced

→ Bacon Dressing

03 - 6 slices thick-cut bacon, diced
04 - 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
05 - 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
06 - 1 teaspoon honey
07 - ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
08 - ⅛ teaspoon salt
09 - 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

→ Garnish (optional)

10 - 2 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and quartered
11 - ¼ cup toasted walnuts or pecans

# How To Make:

01 - Thoroughly rinse and dry the mixed bitter greens. Place them in a large salad bowl along with the thinly sliced red onion.
02 - In a large skillet over medium heat, cook the diced bacon until crisp, approximately 7 to 9 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel–lined plate, leaving the rendered fat in the skillet.
03 - Reduce heat to low. Add red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, black pepper, and salt to the bacon fat. Whisk thoroughly, scraping up browned bits from the skillet bottom.
04 - Slowly whisk in the extra-virgin olive oil until the dressing is emulsified and warm.
05 - Immediately pour the warm dressing over the greens and onions. Add the crisp bacon pieces. Toss lightly to slightly wilt the greens and evenly coat the ingredients.
06 - Plate the salad and garnish with quartered hard-boiled eggs and toasted walnuts or pecans, if desired. Serve warm.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • The warm dressing wilts the greens just enough to mellow their bitterness without turning them to mush.
  • Bacon fat is doing all the heavy lifting here—you barely need any oil, and the flavor becomes unmistakably savory and rich.
  • It comes together in 30 minutes flat, which means you can make it on a weeknight without feeling like you've spent your whole evening cooking.
02 -
  • The temperature matters more than you'd think—if your dressing cools before it hits the greens, you've lost the magic of that gentle wilt.
  • Don't rinse the skillet after cooking the bacon; those browned bits are flavor compounds that will make your dressing taste like something special.
03 -
  • The best-kept secret is that you don't need much oil at all—the bacon fat does most of the work, and adding the olive oil slowly means you use less of it and get a silkier, more elegant dressing.
  • Save the bacon grease in a glass jar in your fridge; it's liquid gold for flavoring soups, roasted vegetables, or scrambled eggs all week long.
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