Hot Bacon Dressing (2024)

This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, please see our affiliate policy.

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!

Recipe ingredients

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

1. 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).

2. 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.

3. 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).

4. 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).