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This homemade Hot Bacon Dressing recipe is made from rendered bacon fat, sugar, and vinegar. It’s a little sweet, a little salty, and totally addictive over a bed of fresh greens or a classic Spinach Salad.
This Hot Bacon vinaigrette salads were a popular side dish at my grandma’s house. She always made this salty-sweet dressing to eat over a bed of fresh romaine lettuce, and it hit all the right texture and flavor notes.
While my grandma used just bacon, vinegar, and sugar in her hot bacon salad dressing, I love the extra flavor and crunch a little bit of red onion adds. Feel free to leave it out if you don’t love red onion.
I still love to eat warm bacon dressing with shredded romaine, but it’s also absolutely delicious with fresh spinach leaves and a few hard-boiled eggs on top. If I had to create the ideal breakfast salad, this would be it!
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Olive oil: If you don’t render enough fat from your bacon, just add olive oil until you reach ¼ cup.
- Red onion: Minced shallot works too.
- Sugar: This dressing is sweet. If you don’t like overly sweet dressings, feel free to start with 1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar and increase as you see fit. Or, substitute honey or maple syrup (the flavor will change).
- Vinegar: I always use white vinegar, but cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or white wine vinegar are also good.
Step-by-step instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, cook the chopped bacon until crispy. Transfer bacon to a plate with paper towels with a slotted spoon to drain (do not discard bacon drippings).
- Pour the fat into a liquid measuring cup. If you have more than ¼ cup fat, discard the extra or save it for another batch. Or, add olive oil to hit the ¼ cup. Add the bacon fat back to the skillet and heat over medium high heat until shimmering. Add the rest of the ingredients: chopped red onion, sugar, and vinegar.
- Cook until the onion is soft and the sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper (I like ¼ teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper).
- When you’re ready to toss the salad, pour the warm vinaigrette over the greens and sprinkle with the cooked bacon.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This warm bacon vinaigrette recipe makes 2 ½ cups of dressing (approximately 1 ½ cups vinaigrette + 1 cup chopped bacon).
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in a small skillet to 165 degrees.
- Make ahead: The bacon can be fried up to 24 hours in advance. Cover and refrigerate the bacon and rendered fat separately. Reheat the bacon grease in a skillet and proceed with the recipe. The bacon can be reheated in the microwave or oven (or bring to room temperature and serve).
- Spicy: For an extra kick, whisk in Dijon mustard to the dressing off heat. Fresh garlic adds a lot of flavor, too.
- Market salad: Build the salad of your dreams with kale, dandelion greens, cherry tomatoes, fresh mushrooms, diced avocados, toasted walnuts, or creamy goat cheese.
- Serving: This recipe makes enough dressing for 1 pound (or more) baby spinach, romaine lettuce, or other greens. If you use less than ½ cup sugar, you’ll have less dressing. Hot bacon dressing is also delicious over shredded Brussels sprouts, blanched green beans, boiled potatoes, and wilted Spinach Salad (below).
Frequently Asked Questions
Hot bacon dressing is made with bacon fat, vinegar, and sugar. My version also adds red onion. You can use regular or thick-cut bacon, and I suggest reserving the bacon to add to whatever salad you’re making (extra protein right?).
Stir cooked bacon into Ranch Dressing and let the flavors blend in the refrigerator. The bacon will infuse the ranch with its smoky, salty flavor.
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Hot Bacon Dressing
Ingredients
- 16 ounces bacon finely chopped
- Olive oil as needed (see note 1)
- 1/2 medium red onion minced (1 cup, see note 2)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar or less to taste (see note 3)
- 1/2 cup white vinegar (see note 4)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- In a medium skillet over medium heat, fry bacon until crisp, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
- Pour rendered bacon fat into a measuring cup. Pour off all but ¼ cup, or add olive oil to reach ¼ cup. Return fat to skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.
- Add onion, sugar, and vinegar. Cook until onion is softened, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper (I like ¼ teaspoon salt and a pinch of pepper).
- To serve, either toss the vinaigrette with greens and sprinkle with bacon, or stir the bacon into the dressing and toss with the salad. Both ways are tasty!
Recipe Video
Notes
- Olive oil: If you don’t render enough fat from your bacon, just add olive oil until you reach ¼ cup.
- Red onion: Minced shallot works too.
- Sugar: This dressing is sweet. If you don’t like overly sweet dressings, feel free to start with 1 or 2 tablespoons of sugar and increase as you see fit.
- Vinegar: I always use white vinegar, but cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, or white wine vinegar are also good.
- Yield: This recipe makes 2 ½ cups of dressing (approximately 1 ½ cups vinaigrette + 1 cup chopped bacon).
- Storage: Store leftovers covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Reheat in a small skillet to 165 degrees.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
How long can you keep this dressing?
Hi Lincoln, store leftover dressing in the refrigerator up to 4 days. Reheat leftover dressing before using it. Take care! – Meggan
As written this did not make the amount of dressing you stated.
Hi Deb, thank you so much for your feedback. I’ll be making this recipe to check its yield. – Meggan
Omgosh DELICIOUS! Thank you for the recipe!! 🙂
You’re welcome, Angel! Glad you loved it! 🙂 – Meggan
Awesome dressing! We put it on spinach salad with tomatoes, feta, and toasted pine nuts. This dressing will be good on so many things!
That sounds delicious, Jill! I’m so glad you loved it! – Meggan