Spinach is a leaf that doesn’t have a particularly good reputation when it comes to flavor. We all know that it’s good for us – Popeye has served as ideal PR in that regard – but people tend to also assume that it’s going to be a bland and dry flavor. Like broccoli, spinach is boring and plain, right?
Wrong! Actually, spinach comes in a variety of different forms. Not only can you cook spinach, but you can eat it raw in the form of baby leaf spinach and others. In both forms, it goes fantastically with a range of different toppings and sides – making it far more versatile than most leaves. After all, what another salad leaf can you use as the main veg next to a plate of fish or as the basis for a cold salad?
You can enjoy spinach with everything from apples, to nuts, to bacon, to Caesar dressing. In short, if you’re not enjoying your spinach, then there’s actually a good chance you’ve just got it wrong!
In this post, we’re going to look at 14 creative ways that you can use your spinach salad and turn it into something interesting, tasty, and refreshing.
1 Bacon and Egg Spinach Salad
For this very simple recipe, you are going to take some spinach leaves – baby spinach ideally that is warm but not wet – and then cover it in quartered hardboiled eggs, some thinly sliced raw red onion, and some pieces of bacon (smoked lardons work extremely well here). On top of that, you will then add the oil that has become infused with the bacon from the pan. Toss it nicely, and the result will be something that is filling, satisfying, and certainly not ‘boring’.
If you want to make this recipe a little healthier, then go easy on the bacon and increase the amount of egg. The egg is extremely healthy and has a huge number of benefits. Not only is egg one of the only ‘complete’ sources of protein (meaning that it provides 100% of the essential amino acids that you need in your diet), but it is also a great source of the healthy types of saturated fat, choline (which is amazing for the brain), B vitamins, and much more.