Hot Bacon & Chicken Salad

This salad is a great way to use the leftover eggs from Easter! Besides that, there’s the bacon…from Denise Geelhart of Jayhawk Mommy.

Every once in a while, I discover a fabulous salad. I will order it over and over at the restaurant or make it repeatedly. One salad that comes to mind is the salad at a local chain restaurant, the Pasta House. While I was pregnant with my oldest, I craved that salad. There were many days when I looked at my husband and said, “I need that salad.” He knew what I meant and took me there multiple times over the course of those 9 months.

One of my all-time favorite salads, though, is this recipe for Hot Bacon and Chicken Salad that I discovered while in graduate school. I don’t remember how I found it, probably because it has been over 20 years. (Yikes! That isn’t possible…is it? Oy.) All I know is I love it.  Heck, the first time I had my parents over at my apartment, back in the day, I made this for them.

What I love most about this salad is the simplicity of the flavors combined with the ease in making it. I hope you enjoy it as well.

Ingredients

1/3 C. Italian dressing
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
8 slices bacon
1 Tbsp sesame oil (or other cooking oil)
2 green onions, sliced
10 oz sliced mushrooms
Kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in bite-size pieces
3 cups torn Romaine lettuce
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut into wedges

Directions

Before I make the salad, I work on the dressing for it. I combined 1/3 cup of Italian salad dressing with 1/4 tsp dry mustard. Once the dressing is mixed (I do it in a measuring cup), I set it to the side while I make the salad.

I preheated my wok over medium-high heat then added 8 slices of bacon that I had cut into smaller pieces. I stir fried the bacon until it was crisp (about 4-5 minutes). Using a slotted spoon, I moved the bacon to a plate lined with a paper towel. Then, I drained the fat from the wok.

Stir frying the bacon

Next, I added some sesame oil to the wok. I let it heat for a minute then added 10 oz of sliced mushrooms and 2 sliced green onions. I stir fried theses until the mushrooms were a nice pretty brown. Once they were ready, I removed them, sitting them to the side.

Beautiful mushrooms!

Now it was time to cook up the chicken. Before I threw the diced up chicken into the wok, I lightly seasoned it with kosher salt and fresh cracked black pepper. I cooked the chicken in the wok for a few minutes until it was lightly browned.

Browning the chicken.

I then added the vegetables to the wok as well as the dressing that had been sitting to the side.

As the chicken and vegetables heated through, I placed the 3 cups of torn Romaine lettuce and the crumbled bacon in my large salad bowl.

Greens and bacon just waiting for the rest.

By this time the contents of the wok were ready so I added them, dressing included, to the salad. I tossed the salad to make sure it was well coated. Then, I added egg wedges on top and served.