Bacon Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Caramelized Pears

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BaconDoneWright #CollectiveBias

BACON SALAD WITH ROASTED SWEET POTATOES AND CARAMELIZED PEARS IS A FANTASTIC SALAD FOR FALL AND WINTER…ACTUALLY IT’S GREAT ANY TIME OF YEAR!

This is absolutely my favorite time of year. Holiday season, sweater weather and more family time as the kids get out of school for Thanksgiving and Winter break. It also tends to be the season of overeating with those delicious, big, traditional holiday meals. Keeping that in mind, I try to make my family week night meals quick, tasty and not too heavy. I created this salad with hearty greens, bacon for rich flavor and roasted sweet potatoes and pears to add sweetness and fiber.

I do LOVE good bacon, you might know that already if you’ve read some of my previous posts like this one for Bacon Cheddar Buns. I usually cure and smoke my own but sometimes I run out and it takes quite a long time to cure and smoke it. Who wants to wait for bacon, not me! I want my bacon immediately so I look for a brand with good smoky flavor and thick slices, I use Wright® Brand Bacon that I pick up from my local Kroger store. Wright® Brand Bacon is premium meat-hand trimmed, thick cut and expertly smoked giving me the flavor I’m looking for.  When I stopped by Kroger to pick up my groceries I got a pleasant surprise. Wright® Brand Bacon was on special, only $4.99 for a 24 ounce package, that’s a really great savings on such good quality bacon.

This Bacon Salad with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Caramelized Pears is perfect for a week night and can be put together rather quickly. I don’t peel the sweet potato or the pear (I was going to peel the pear by the red skins were so beautiful I couldn’t bear to remove them). Vegetable and fruit skins are loaded with nutrients so its almost always a good idea to leave them on. Just give them a good scrubbing, dry them off and slice them.

For easy cleanup I line two rimmed sheet pans with foil-one pan for the bacon and shallots, one pan for the sweet potatoes and pears. Baking the bacon makes life so much easier, you can cook more bacon in one sheet pan in the oven than you can with one skillet on the stove top. It’s much less messy as well. If you add an egg to the salad that’s the only thing you’ll have to pay a lot of attention to on the stove.

Would you like MORE DELICIOUS BACON RECIPES? Check out these fantastic Wright® Brand Bacon recipes. 

Start by heating your oven to 350 degrees. Cut the sweet potato into 1/4 inch slices ( the sweet potato I used weighed about 1 pound). place it onto half of the foil lined sheet pan, toss with oil, salt, rosemary and cayenne pepper. Cut the two pears into halves, remove the core. Slice the pears into 1/2 inch slices and place on the other half of the sheet pan, drizzle with maple syrup or sorghum. Place the pan into the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping once

Next, lay the bacon strips onto the other foil lined sheet pan. Slice the shallot and sprinkle the shallot slices on top of the bacon. Place the bacon into the oven and cook for 20 minutes

Fry the eggs while the bacon, sweet potatoes and pears are roasting in the oven. Drizzle the the greens with a little red wine vinegar and layer with the warm bacon, sweet potatoes and pears.

What are some of your favorite ways to serve bacon? Tell me in the comments below!

Bacon Salad with Roasted Sweet Potato and Caramelized Pears

Demetra Overton

Line 2 rimmed sheet pans with foil for easy clean up

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  

• 8 slices of thick cut bacon
• 1 pound sweet potato
• 2 red pears
• 4 tablespoons canola or olive oil divided
• 1 shallot
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh chopped rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 2 teaspoons maple syrup or sorghum syrup
• 2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• 4 eggs
• 6-8 cups of hearty salad greens like spinach baby kale and baby romaine lettuce

Instructions

 

• Heat the oven to 400 degrees
• Wash and dry the sweet potato and pears
• Coat one foil lined sheet pan with 2 tablespoons of oil
• Slice the sweet potato into 1/4 inch slices toss with rosemary, cayenne and salt
• Place the sweet potato slices on one half of the sheet pan
• Slice the pear in half and remove the core. Slice the pears into 1/2 inch slices
• Place the pear slices on the other half of the sheet pan and drizzle with syrup
• Place the sweet potatoes and pears in the oven and roast for 20-25 minutes, until tender
• Flip the sweet potatoes and pears once during cooking
• While that is cooking place the bacon strips on the other foil lined sheet pan
• Slice the shallot and sprinkle on the bacon slices
• Bake the bacon in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes or until cooked to your liking
• While the bacon, sweet potatoes and pears are cooking, fry the eggs in 2 tablespoons of oil
• Drizzle the salad greens with red wine vinegar and sprinkle with fresh cracked black pepper
• Layer the warm bacon, sweet potatoes and pears onto the salad
• Divide between 4 plates. Top with a fried egg and serve