This Shrimp and Bacon Spinach Salad Recipe is made with fresh baby spinach, avocado, and tomatoes and topped with perfectly seasoned shrimp and crispy bacon with a red wine vinaigrette on top.

shrimp and bacon salad on plate with spoons on the side

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Full Recipe/Instructions are available in the
recipe card at the bottom of the post.
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blog post.

This salad has quickly become a favorite, full of flavor and fresh ingredients. Who doesn’t love a salad with beautiful, flavorful, plump shrimp and crispy bacon?

This recipe is an adaptation of an Applebee's salad on their menu. The first time I made this recipe, I skipped the bacon and avocado and opted for walnuts. It was good but the addition of bacon just takes this salad over the top. I also added avocado because it’s fantastic and fits right in with the other ingredients of this recipe.

I top this salad with a homemade vinaigrette for the perfect weeknight meal or lunch.

Ingredients Needed

Ingredient amounts and full recipe instructions are on the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.

Salad Dressing: Red wine vinegar, granulated white sugar, salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika, black pepper, extra virgin olive oil.
Seasoned Shrimp: large raw shrimp, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, ground sage, onion powder, smoked paprika, granulated sugar, olive oil.
Salad Base: baby spinach, red onion, avocado, roma tomato
Bacon for topping

ingredient photo for shrimp bacon salad recipe 1

How to make Shrimp and Bacon Spinach Salad

First prepare your vinaigrette. I add red wine vinegar, white sugar, salt, smoked paprika, black pepper, garlic powder, and olive oil in a small mason jar and shake vigorously to combine. Using a mason jar is such an easy way to create salad dressings, and I can store leftover dressing in the same jar.

Set aside the vinaigrette to prepare the other ingredients.

Next, season your clean peeled and deveined shrimp with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, sugar, smoked paprika, sage, and onion powder and set aside.

Next, grab a salad bowl and place baby spinach, red onion, tomato, and avocado and toss until combined. Set aside.

Grab a cold skillet and place your bacon in the skillet and cook over medium heat. You'll want to cook your bacon until its crisp on both sides. Remove bacon and drain on paper towel.

Remove excess bacon grease from the skillet, leaving about 2 tablespoon in the skillet. Add shrimp to skillet and cook on medium-high heat until both sides are cooked through, about 3-4 minutes.

Place bacon and shrimp on top and serve with prepared vinaigrette. Enjoy 🙂

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.

How to Prepare Ahead of Time and Store

This salad is perfect for making ahead. Store the salad portion, the salad dressing, and the shrimp and bacon separately. Reheat the shrimp and bacon when ready to serve.

Tanya's Top Tips

I've used spinach as the base in this salad, but feel free to add or substitute other greens, like kale, arugula, or romain lettuce.
If bacon isn't your thing, omit it. I've subbed walnuts instead before, and it was still delicious.

Wanting more salad recipes? Try these out:

Kale and Broccoli Salad with Sweet and Sour Dressing
Vietnamese Chicken Salad Recipe
Sweet Chili Thai Cucumber Salad
Cranberry Pecan Apple Salad Recipe

Watch this video tutorial and see how I make this Spinach Salad from start to finish.

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4.75 from 4 votes

Shrimp and Bacon Spinach Salad Recipe

This Shrimp and Bacon Spinach Salad Recipe is made with fresh spinach, avocado, and tomatoes and topped with perfectly seasoned shrimp and crispy bacon with a tangy vinaigrette on top.

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Keyword spinach salad recipe

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Total Time 25

Servings people

Calories 599kcal

Author Tanya

Ingredients

4 slices Bacon

Salad Dressing

¼ cup Red Wine Vinegar
3 Tablespoon White Granulated Sugar
½ teaspoon Salt
¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder
¼ teaspoon Smoked Paprika
¼ teaspoon Black Pepper
6 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Shrimp

1 lb Large Shrimp peeled and deveined
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Black Pepper
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
½ teaspoon Ground Sage
½ teaspoon Onion Powder
½ teaspoon Smoked Paprika
½ teaspoon White Granulated Sugar
2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Salad

8 cups Baby Spinach
½ Red Onion thinly sliced
1 Avocado pitted and chopped
2 Roma Tomatoes chopped

Instructions

Add red wine vinegar, white sugar, salt, garlic powder, smoked paprika, black pepper and extra virgin olive oil in a small mason jar and shake vigorously to combine.
Next, season your clean peeled and deveined shrimp with salt, black pepper, garlic powder, ground sage, onion powder, smoked paprika, and sugar. Set aside.
Next, grab a salad bowl and place spinach, red onion, tomato, and avocado and toss until combined. Set aside.
Grab a cold skillet and place your bacon in the skillet and cook over medium heat, flipping halfway, until it's crisp on both sides. Remove bacon and drain on paper towel.
Remove excess bacon grease from the skillet, leaving about 2 tablespoon in the skillet. Add shrimp to skillet and cook on medium-high heat until both sides are cooked through, about 3-4 minutes.
Place bacon and shrimp on top of salad and serve with prepared vinaigrette.

Video

Notes

I've used spinach as the base in this salad, but feel free to add or substitute other greens, like kale, arugula, or romain lettuce.

Nutrition

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Although myforkinglife.com attempts to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Under no circumstances will myforkinglife.com be responsible for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on nutritional information.

This post was first published on July 2, 2019. It has been updated with new photos and information.