The Breakfast Salad
The Breakfast Salad Recipe – Get your greens in the morning with eggs, bacon, cinnamon toast croutons, and maple vinaigrette!
An unconventional morning meal, The Breakfast Salad with Cinnamon Toast Croutons and Maple Vinaigrette. Who knew a salad for breakfast could be so good?
I’ve noticed a trend here in Asheville and on the menus of popular breakfast joints around the country… Salad for Breakfast.
Before you turn up your nose, let me clarify. These breakfast salads are not bland leafy side salads with bottled ranch dressing, but bold hearty meals. A good breakfast salad encompasses everything that makes breakfast so appealing: carbs, eggs, pork fat, and sweet accents.
After exploring these salads at several favorite breakfast hotspots, I decided to work on my own version.
Healthy Breakfast Salad
First, I wanted to put my family’s favorite morning flavors into the breakfast salad. That way, it would be hard for the kids to resist. My version had to include: bacon, maple syrup, cinnamon toast, and eggs.
The Cinnamon Toast Croutons were the first inspiration. Truly, I could eat a whole pan of these babies.
In fact, it’s important not to make them too far in advance, or there will not be any left for the salad. Maple Vinaigrette provides a sweet and poppy essence with apple cider vinegar and Dijon mustard. The addition of candied nuts and dried cherries offers a granola-like quality.
To complete The Breakfast Salad, prepare your morning eggs just the way you like them, and place them on a bed of crisp baby spinach.
This, my friends, is a great way to start the day!
Eat breakfast like a King, lunch like a Prince, and dinner like a Pauper. ~ Adelle Davis
What Ingredients You Will Need
For the Cinnamon Toast Croutons:
- 6 cups French bread cubes
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Pinch salt
For the Maple Vinaigrette:
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (or olive oil)
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Pepper to taste
For the Breakfast Salad:
- 1 cup candied nuts
- 3/4 cup dried cherries
- 12 ounces bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 6 cups baby spinach, packed (or baby kale)
- 12 large eggs, prepared to order
How to Make Our Breakfast Salad Recipe
Instructions…
For the Cinnamon Toast Croutons:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lay the bread cubes out on a rimmed baking sheet. Mix the melted butter, sugar, cinnamon, and salt together and drizzle over the bread cubes. Toss and bake for 5-10 minutes until toasted.
For the Maple Vinaigrette:
Whisk all the ingredients together until smooth. Set aside.
Assembling the Salad:
Cook and drain the bacon. Prepare the eggs to your liking—scrambled, poached, sunny-side-up.
Prepare each salad plate with a heaping cup of baby spinach, topped with cinnamon toast croutons, candied nuts, dried cherries, and crumbled bacon. Then top each with 1-2 eggs and drizzle with maple vinaigrette salad dressing!
You can add in other toppings or mix in other ingredients like avocado, roasted sweet potato, tomatoes/cherry tomatoes, lemon wedges, bacon, and breakfast sausage.
Get the Full (Printable) Breakfast Salad Recipe with Maple Vinaigrette Below. Enjoy!
Other Breakfast Recipes
- Easy Sheet Pan Pancakes
- Pumpkin Spice Overnight Oats
- Best Avocado Toast Recipe
- Egg White Frittata with Spinach and Peppers
- Cinnamon Swirl Bread
- Best Huevos Rancheros Recipe
- Better than Cinnabon Cinnamon Rolls
- Fluffy Strada Recipe (Overnight Casserole)
- Mean Green Budda Bowl with Broccoli
Check the printable recipe card below for the prep time, total time, and nutrition information including calories, carbohydrates, protein, saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium, potassium, fiber, vitamin c, and calcium percentages.
The Breakfast Salad Recipe
Ingredients
For the Cinnamon Toast Croutons:
Maple Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Pepper to taste
For the Breakfast Salad:
- 1 cup candied nuts
- 3/4 cup dried cherries
- 12 ounces bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 6 cups baby spinach, packed
- 12 large eggs, prepared to order
Instructions
For the Cinnamon Toast Croutons:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lay the bread cubes out on a rimmed baking sheet. Mix the melted butter, sugar, cinnamon and salt together and drizzle over the bread cubes. Toss and bake for 5-10 minutes until toasted.
For the Maple Vinaigrette:
- Whisk all the ingredients together until smooth. Set aside.
Assembling the Salad:
- Cook and drain the bacon. Prepare the eggs to your liking—scrambled, poached, sunny-side-up.
- Prepare each salad plate with a heaping cup of baby spinach, topped with cinnamon toast croutons, candied nuts, dried cherries, and crumbled bacon. Then top each with 1-2 eggs and drizzle with maple vinaigrette!
I love making my toddler scrambled eggs in the morning. Nothing really special just lots of love in them.
Never heard of breakfast salad before now. Creative…. I love to fry our fresh laid eggs in my fry pan – yum!
Tweeted and stumbled! I’ve got a US mailing address so please include me :) I think breakfast salads sound like an incredible idea, actually! The trend hasn’t made it to Cayman yet so maybe I can rock it 1st! Buzzed! And thanks for hosting such a clutch giveaway!
nice change up for the morning!
That’s such a cool idea. I use a lot of maple vinaigrette on apple and celery root-based salads, so i can already taste 90% of it. I’m thinking instead of pork or bacon, there are a lot of cool things you could do with smoke salmon as well — somehow get a cream cheese glaze to the french toast, then the rest of the assemble. dressing … will have to think about that one.
Cheers!
and you’re in my RSS feed.
and also on my Google Reader list.
and already get your email.
and shared the piece on FB.
(sorry … still fighting the urge to join the twitter crowd.)
FB: already like ya!
fry pan … favorite? … well, cop-out answer would be, anything i get to deglaze. i love deglazing. it’s the whole physics/chemistry thing. but if pressed, i’ll go with stir-fried spinach. it amazes me how it coooks down to nothing.
Breakfast salad – what a great idea. It looks really nutritious and delicious too.
(and unfortunately I won’t be entering your lovely giveaway ’cause I am moving soon and don’t want the shipping to be a hassle for you should I win).
I love the idea of salad for breakfast and all the requisite flavors are here! I use my frying pan every day, today it was a pineapple fried rice and pan-fried chicken breasts.
I love to cook huevos rancheros in my fry pan!
This salad is genius!! I have never had or seen such a thing. I often put an egg over my greens, but those cinnamon toast crutons make this extra special. I love ManPans !!
Havana prawns, the best
I love to cook eggs in my skillet. Cool pans! Brilliant idea with the cinnamon toast crutons.
Haha! My sister and I have been eating salads for breakfast for YEARS! I love that it’s a trend now :D. And my favorite use for a frying pan? Ah, grilled cheese of course :D
Your take on croutons is genius! Awesome job!