The Secret to Getting your Kids to Eat Spinach

By Marilyn Hunter
For The Family Table, a blog for busy families

Want to know how to get your kids to eat spinach? Simple: add a little crispy bacon. I don’t know about you, but my boys literally vibrate when they can smell bacon cooking. They would eat just about anything with bacon crumbled on top. This old school salad is perfect for finicky kids and not bad for adults, too.

I stopped frying bacon in a pan years ago … now I bake it in the oven. For those of you who don’t know this trick, place a baking rack on top of a sheet pan, then arrange the bacon slices in rows on the rack and bake in a preheated oven at 350°F. The bacon won’t shrink as much as in a pan, the rack keeps the bacon from soaking in fat and most of all, there’s no splattering grease, making clean up so much easier.

I’ll cook a whole package of bacon at once and then use the cooked slices throughout the week. You can chop it up and toss in a salad or crumble it over soup or even a grilled chicken breast to make the mundane delicious without blowing the day’s fat grams.

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Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

8 slices bacon
2 bunches spinach
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 to 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 small onion, sliced thinly
Freshly ground black pepper

1. Place a baking rack on top of a sheet pan, then arrange the bacon slices in rows on the rack; bake in a preheated 350°F. oven until crisp, about 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the thickness of the bacon.
2. Remove bacon from pan and place on a double thickness of paper towels to drain. Reserve ½ cup of bacon drippings and set aside for the dressing. Chop two slices of bacon and set aside for the salad. Refrigerate the remaining six slices of bacon for other uses throughout the week.

3. While the bacon is baking, wash the spinach leaves in a large bowl with lots of cold water. Transfer to a colander and rinse again with lots of cold water until all sand is washed away. Spin spinach dry and transfer to salad bowl.
4. Add the bacon fat to a sauté pan over low heat; add the oil, vinegar, sugar and salt. Whisk well. Taste and adjust with more vinegar if more tartness is desired. Add sliced onions to vinaigrette and cook over very low heat for 3 minutes.
5. Whisk dressing again to combine, pour over spinach and toss. Divide equally among four plates and garnish with bacon. Season with pepper and serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings

Note: Here’s Katie’s version of oven-cooked bacon.

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