Salad seems like an odd choice for breakfast, but hear me out and see if you don't end up thinking that's just what you're looking forward to this weekend. Salads are just a collection of a lot of different fresh - and in this case, cooked - ingredients assembled together to highlight complementary textures and flavors. And breakfast is a great place for leaning into both of those things. Beyond that, some of our breakfast favorites are sorely lacking in vegetables and healthier ingredients and making a morning salad can help set you up to begin your day a bit healthier without sacrificing flavor and your morning favorites.
This particular salad conjures a marriage of BLT sandwiches and eggs benedict. Now, if that's got your attention, consider how fancy you'll feel when you make your own croutons -- it's easy, I promise -- and work items like crumbled bacon and goat cheese alongside blistered tomatoes and poached eggs into the mix. We're really only a step or two away from heaven, people.
I like having muffins or scones and coffee and juice with this salad, but I can skip the muffins or scones if I'm planning to have a bigger meal later in the day. But if I'm planning to go hiking later, it might well be a scone and extra bacon. After all, this salad is all about helping to fuel you for the day!
BLT Breakfast Salad
- 3 strips of thick cut bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 4 slices of artisan bread, cut into cubes
- 6 oz. grape tomatoes
- 2 eggs
- 8 oz. red lettuce
- 2 oz. crumbled goat cheese
- 2 oz. hollandaise sauce
Fry the bacon in a large nonstick skillet and remove it to paper towels to drain while leaving the rendered fat in your skillet. Add the cubed bread and toss and toast over medium heat until the bread cubes are a bit crisp and coated with the bacon fat. Remove the cubes from the skillet and set aside. Add the tomatoes to the skillet and cook over medium heat until warm and slightly blistered; remove the skillet from the heat and set the tomatoes aside.
Place a small saucepan filled with water over medium-high heat and bring to a strong simmer. Poach the eggs until they reach your desired consistency. Carefully remove them to a small bowl.
Arrange the red lettuce on two serving plates and sprinkle with crumbled goat cheese, crisp bacon, toasted croutons (bread cubes), and tomatoes evenly over the lettuce. Add a poached egg to the top of each salad and drizzle the top of each salad generously with hollandaise sauce before serving immediately.
- Yields: 2 servings
- Preparation Time: 30 minutes