A special take on a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing. Chewy farro, jammy eggs and crispy chickpeas make this a super filling meal and elevate it from the classic spinach salad we all know (and love!), with the same warm bacon dressing.
Spinach salad with farro, crispy chickpeas and warm bacon dressing
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
Description
A special take on a spinach salad with warm bacon dressing. Chewy farro, jammy eggs and crispy chickpeas make this a super filling meal and elevate it from the classic spinach salad we all know (and love!), with the same warm bacon dressing.
Ingredients
- 4 large eggs
- 1 cup dry farro
- 6 slices bacon, diced
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary
- 1 small shallot, finely chopped
- 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 8 cups baby spinach
- 1 oz goat cheese, crumbled (optional)
Instructions
- Bring a pot of water to a boil.
- Add eggs and boil for 7-9 minutes (depending on how jammy you like your eggs). Remove eggs and put in a bowl if ice water to cool down.
- Add 1 cup farro to water (yes same pot. It's fine!) and a pinch of salt. Let cook for 20-25 minutes, until farro is cooked through but still a tiny bit chewy. Drain.
- While farro is boiling, add 6 slices chopped bacon to a cold skillet. Place over medium heat and cook until bacon crisps up. Remove onto a paper towel to drain. Pour off bacon fat, but don't throw away!
- Place skillet back over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of bacon fat back into the pan, along with the chickpeas (dry them off first if you JUST drained them). Let cook, stirring occasionally, until chickpeas brown and start to get crisp. If pan starts to get dry, add a little more bacon fat (or olive oil if you prefer). Add 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary and cook for an additional minute. Remove from pan and set aside with bacon.
- Add another 2 tablespoons bacon fat to pan, along with 1 diced shallot. Cook for one minutes, until shallot softens and starts to brown. Add 2 teaspoons mustard and 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar and stir to combine. Add ¼ cup olive oil and whisk everything together. Add ¼ teaspoon black pepper.
- Assemble salad: Put spinach in a large bowl (or divide among individual bowls) and toss with a few spoonfuls of dressing. Top with bacon and chickpeas. Add another couple of spoonfuls of dressing to farro and toss to combine. Add farro and sliced eggs. Top with goat cheese if desired. Serve!
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
Every year around this time, when the weather just starts to get a little warmer (or here in Texas, summer is suddenly HERE), I promise to myself I'm not going to share a salad recipe just because it's apparently what's expected.
Yet, here I am basically yelling YOU WANTED A SALAD, RIGHT?! To be fair, last year was this number, which continues to be one of my favorite salads of all time. There was also this fruity one, which is only just reminding me that Rosé Week 2020 is right around the corner (yay!). And let's not forget this kale salmon situation that actually brought this blog back from a five (?) year hibernation.
Anyway! We all love a good spinach salad with warm bacon dressing, yes? Yes. Somehow warm bacon salads never went away, yet I still want them to make a comeback.
And while I love it as a start to a meal, I also wanted a version that IS the meal. Enter farro, beautiful jammy soft-boiled eggs and crispy chickpeas.
SWOON.
Salad Meals
You guys know I love a BIG salad. A meal salad, you know? This is that. Honestly, the only thing that would make this better is a side of french fries (salad + fries = my FAVORITE meal).
With the farro and eggs and chickpeas, plus SO much bacon, this is a seriously filling salad. But you know I'm not going to stop you if you feel the need to add some chicken to the equation. Some slow-baked salmon would be great too!
Meal Prep Ideas
I've found this warm bacon salad holds up quite well in the fridge so is great to prep for lunches - but, of course, you'll lose the "warm" from the "warm bacon salad" part. Not a big deal, and more importantly, still delicious.
However, you can absolutely prepare everything ahead of time and either keep all the components in the fridge separately to assemble day-of, or combine all the ingredients except the dressing and do it that way. Either works!
Even if you're not someone who suddenly dives into salads when the weather goes above 70 degrees, I think you need to trust me with this one.
Warm bacon salad, it's your time to shine (again)!
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