This sautéed spinach with bacon is the ultimate quick and flavorful vegetable side dish. Tender spinach, crispy bacon, and savory mushrooms (if you want them!) come together in one pan for an easy, weeknight-friendly recipe that’s packed with umami.
Bacon makes everything better!
If you’re looking for the best sautéed spinach with bacon, this foolproof method delivers perfectly wilted greens and crispy bacon every time. It’s fast, simple, and way more delicious than any restaurant version.
Once upon a time, you couldn’t eat bacon until your Whole30 was over. Nowadays, you can easily find Whole30-compatible —and delicious—bacon at most supermarkets, so you never need to take a break from bacon. All joking aside, you just need a few bacon slices to elevate a standard pan of sautéed spinach to company-worthy fare. (Psst! If you’re not doing a Whole30, just use your favorite bacon brand.)
A super quick spinach side dish!
This 30-minute dish is a riff on a recipe from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food website for sautéed spinach and bacon. After surveying the contents of my crisper, I modified the dish by adding some sliced shallots and cremini mushrooms. After all, who can say no to more umami?
Ingredients
The best thing about this simple recipe is that you can make it with commonly found ingredients at the supermarket!
- Whole30-compatible bacon: some of my favorite brands include Pederson’s, Wellshire Farms, Keller Crafted Meats, and Applegate. No matter what brand you purchase, read the labels to make sure there’s no sugar or weird additives.
- Shallots: sliced onions or leeks also work! I don’t add any garlic to this recipe, but feel free to add thinly sliced garlic (3 to 4 cloves) if you don’t have any shallots, onions, or leeks.
- Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- Cremini mushrooms (optional)l: Adds extra umami, but the dish is still fantastic without them. If you do want to add mushrooms but don’t have cremini, you can also use thinly sliced shiitake, oyster, or mixed mushrooms.
- Organic spinach or baby spinach: make sure you wash and spin dry the spinach!
- Aged balsamic vinegar: sherry, white balsamic, and red wine vinegar (Banyuls is especially nice) are all great in this dish.
How to make sautéed spinach with bacon
Toss the bacon bits into a cold 12-inch skillet and crank the heat to medium.
Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon bits are crispy, around 10 to 12 minutes.
Once the bacon bits are crispy, use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon bits to a paper towel-lined platter.
Toss the shallots in the pan with the reserved bacon grease. Sauté the sliced shallots until they’re translucent and softened.
Add sliced mushrooms to the pan.
Season with kosher salt and black pepper and cook until they’ve developed some brown bits and the liquid has cooked off.
Stir in handfuls of the spinach in batches, adding in more spinach as the previous batch wilts.
Once all the spinach has been added, season the dish salt and pepper.
Continue stir-frying the spinach until it has just wilted. Turn off the heat and mix in the vinegar.
Transfer the spinach to a plate and sprinkle the bacon bits on top.
Enjoy!
How to Store Leftovers
Got leftovers? Lucky you—this sautéed spinach with bacon reheats beautifully (and might even taste better the next day).
- Refrigerate: Transfer cooled spinach to an airtight container and store in the fridge for up to 3 to 4 days.
- Reheat: Warm gently in a skillet over medium heat or microwave in short bursts until heated through.
- Bacon note: The bacon won’t stay crispy after storing, but it’ll still be deliciously smoky and savory. If you want crisp bits, cook a little fresh bacon in the microwave in minutes and sprinkle it on top before serving.
- Don’t freeze: Spinach gets watery and mushy after freezing, so I don’t recommend it.
Pro tip: If there’s extra liquid after storing, just drain it off or quickly sauté to evaporate before serving.
What main dish can you serve with this?
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
Easy Sautéed Spinach with Bacon
Ingredients
- 3 bacon slices cut crosswise into ¼-inch slices
- 2 large shallots thinly sliced
- ¾ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt divided
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper divided
- ¾ pound cremini mushrooms thinly sliced
- 1 pound spinach washed and ends trimmed or baby spinach
- 2 teaspoons aged balsamic vinegar or Banyuls vinegar
Instructions
- Toss the bacon bits into a cold 12-inch skillet and crank the heat to medium. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the bacon bits are crispy, around 10 to 12 minutes.
- Once the bacon bits are crispy, use a slotted spoon to transfer the bacon bits to a paper towel-lined platter.
- Toss the shallots in the pan with the reserved bacon grease. Sauté the sliced shallots until they’re translucent and softened, about 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the mushrooms into the pan. Season with ¼ teaspoon kosher salt and ⅛ teaspoon black pepper and cook until they've developed some brown bits and the liquid has evaporated, about 5 to 7 minutes
- Stir in handfuls of the spinach in batches, adding in more spinach as the previous batch wilts.
- Once all the spinach has been added, season the dish with ½ teaspoon salt, and ⅛ teaspoon pepper. Continue stir-frying the spinach until it has just wilted. Turn off the heat and mix in the vinegar.
- Transfer the spinach to a plate and sprinkle the bacon bits on top. Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Love this dish! So easy to make and so much flavour. I put a clove of garlic in with the shallots as I only had one shallot on hand.
I don’t usually get excited about spinach but I’m trying to work in more leafy greens so I gave this a try. I could eat this breakfast, lunch and dinner. Sooooooooo amazing!
Could I use Swiss Chard instead of spinach? I have a bumper crop of Swiss chard and need some ideas for a recipe.
Yes!
I’m always looking for a new spinach recipe and I found it! Just so happen to have fresh baby spinach and white button mushrooms on hand. Used 1/4 white onion instead of shallots. Used fat drippings instead of bacon. Still delicious.
If you have just a small amount leftover, I refrigerate it, then use it in an omelet for another meal. 🤗. Really really good.
I made this recipe tonight with dinner and must say it is now my favorite spinach recipe! The whole family loved and I will be making it often. Thank you!
I felt that the 2 large shallots in the dish were overwhelming. I would use 1 medium shallot and some garlic instead.
Good recipe, we enjoyed it, I used vidalia onions instead of shallots. I thought it needed a little flavor boost, next time I will add some minced garlic, the basic recipe is a keeper!