Can I just say that I’m so happy we live in a world where something called “bacon dressing” exists? I mean…what is this life? The fact that we can douse our salad in hot bacon dressing and call it a meal makes my heart the happiest it’s ever been.

This takes dressing to a whole new level. We literally use the fat rendered from the bacon as the oil in this dressing. Is that even legal? It’s happening.

What we end up with is the most savory, complex, bacon-y (word? Should be), slightly sweet, and slightly tangy dressing that is staring you deeply in the eyes and BEGGING you to pour it liberally over any and every salad you can find.

Here’s the details on this delicious combo:

First what we’re going to do is chop up some bacon and cook it until the fat has rendered and the bacon is crispy. From there, we set aside the bacon and add the rest of our goodies.

Rest of our goodies = some garlic and red onion sauteed in the bacon fat and then apple cider vinegar, whole grain mustard, and a little sweetener whisked in at the end.

Throw some of that crispy bacon back in there and you’re ready to dress any salad and knock it up approximately 10,000 notches on the scale of deliciousness.

Y’all – it is getting SUMMERY here in Charlotte. It’s in the low 90s all week, and it feels even hotter thanks to our friend, Mr. Humidity. Our two little boys are about as fair skinned as it gets, aka Ford gets flushed from a lukewarm breeze.

When we lived in Kansas, it got super hot in the summer, but Ford wasn’t ever old enough to go play outside since he wasn’t walking, so it wasn’t really an issue I had to address.

Now that we’re here and Ford is very much so walking and ALWAYS wants to be outside, it’s a new territory that I’m trying to navigate. Once the pool opens full time, we will have more outside options, but for now it’s tough to balance letting him play outside with also making sure he doesn’t get heat stroke 🙄.

Ah, the complications of summer in the South…I still love it though.

Perfect weather for a delicious, fresh salad tossed with Hot Bacon Dressing!

Author: Annie Chesson
Prep Time: 5 mins
Total Time: 5 minutes
Yield: 5 servings 1x

Ingredients

Scale

10 slices bacon
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon minced red onion
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/4 teaspoon liquid stevia sweetener (1/4 t honey or 1/2 t of regular sugar work too)

Instructions

Dice your bacon up and cook over medium heat until crispy. Remove it from the pan, leaving the bacon fat in there, and let the bacon drain over paper towels
Add the garlic and onion to the bacon fat and saute until softened
To this, add your apple cider vinegar, mustard, and sweetener. Whisk to combine and simmer for about about 15 seconds or so, just so everything is totally combined
Stir in about 2 tablespoons of the bacon crumbles, saving the rest for the salad or another recipe