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Greens and bacon is the three-ingredient side that turns a pile of spinach into the dish everyone fights over: half a pound of nitrate-free bacon fried until almost crispy, then four cups of fresh greens tossed through the hot fat until just wilted and finished with pepper. It shows up at breakfast most often in this house, and there's never a leaf left.
Pro Tips
- Stop the bacon just short of crispy — it finishes crisping when the greens go in, and you want every drop of fat still in the pan.
- This is the place to use the beet and turnip tops you'd otherwise toss; they wilt exactly like spinach and add an earthier edge.
- Toss constantly for the full 3 minutes: the greens should wilt and shrink dramatically but never sit still long enough to burn in the hot fat.
- Add the pepper off the heat at the end, so it seasons the greens rather than frying in the grease.
- Watch the pan, not the clock — four cups of raw greens cook down to a shockingly small pile, and it happens fast.
Frequently Asked Questions
What greens can I use besides spinach?
Any fresh green works — the recipe's own suggestion is to reuse beet and turnip tops; chard and kale are fine too, they just need an extra minute or two to wilt.
Why eat greens with bacon?
Taste aside, the stable saturated fat from the bacon helps your body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins in the greens — the whole dish works as a package.
Can I use precooked bacon to save time?
You'd lose the pan of bacon fat, which is the entire cooking medium and dressing here. Start with raw bacon or there's no dish.
Do leftovers keep?
Not well — wilted greens turn watery and dull overnight. This is a cook-and-eat-immediately side, so make just what the table will finish.
Recipe Card
Ingredients
Method
- 1. Over medium heat, fry bacon until almost crispy.
- 2.
- Add spinach and toss quickly to coat with bacon grease.
- 3.
- Continue to toss and allow spinach to wilt but not burn, about 3 minutes.
- 4.
- Remove from heat and mix in pepper.
