I've been dubbed the salad person for any family or social gathering. And, I don't mind because I love a good salad and also feel assured knowing the guests can get their greens in! I brought this brunch salad to Easter brunch with my family. It was inspired by the delicious breakfast salad at Kingside Diner which I reviewed on the blog! This salad feels like the perfect amount of 'healthy indulgence' if that makes sense - you don't feel deprived because of the bacon (I mean, bacon!) as well as the healthy fats from avocado and sunflower seed kernels.

For simplicity sake, the night before I wanted to serve this salad, I prepped the hard boiled eggs to have them ready to go. But, I wish I would've the time and resources to prep soft boiled eggs. If you have an instant pot (I don't, should I get one?), I would love for you to try soft boiled eggs in the instant pot and report back! The soft yolk as a dressing for the salad is what made it so delicious at Kingside Diner. Therefore, I had to compensate with an interesting vinaigrette. I found the maple bacon vinaigrette below. I ended up loving the slightly sweet addition.

Snapped the pic before I added the avocado!

Ingredients - serves 5-6 meal portions and 10-12 side portions

16 oz baby kale or mixed greens

2 lbs carrots

12 oz or 12 strips bacon

10 hard boiled or soft boiled eggs

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

3 whole avocados, diced

1 cup sunflower seed kernels, roasted and salted

Maple Vinaigrette - based on this recipe

5 tablespoons pure maple syrup

4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/3 cup reserved bacon fat or olive oil

{tip: before serving set dressing container in warm water to emulsify, shake and serve}

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Peel the carrots and slice diagonally into 1.5" pieces. Toss the carrot pieces with enough olive oil to lightly coat along with salt and pepper. Spread onto baking sheets and roast for 20-25 minutes or until tender. Set aside when done.
If you have enough oven space for the bacon, throw it in with the carrots. If not, the bacon does require a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes, as well. Place strips of bacon on baking sheets lined in foil. Do not overlap the bacon strips and there is no need to flip the bacon. Drain bacon on a paper towels when done baking.
For the eggs, since I was already using my oven, I baked* the eggs to hard boiled. All you do is preheat the oven to 350 degrees and place one egg into each spot in a muffin tin. Bake for 30 minutes, when done place eggs into a large bowl of ice water to let them completely cool. Or follow your preferred method of preparing hard or soft boiled eggs.
While all of the items are baking, prep your veggies. Put the greens into a large serving bowl. Slice the tomatoes and dice the avocados. Also, mince the garlic for the vinaigrette. Set aside.
Once the bacon is finished, you can make the vinaigrette as you'll need to use some of the warm bacon grease. Put all of the vinaigrette ingredients except the vinegar into a saucepan over low and whisk to combine. Slowly stream in the vinegar as you’re whisking. When finished I like to use a salad dressing bottle (I use this one).
Next slice the eggs (if using hard boiled) and break the bacon into bite size pieces.
For presentation, segment the bacon, eggs, tomatoes, and carrots on top of the greens (as pictured above), then sprinkle the sunflower seed kernels and avocado on top of everything. Serve with vinaigrette.

*Baking eggs to hard boiled is a good time saver and the shells come off pretty easily. The only thing I found is that some of the eggs will have tiny brown spots after baking but it was hardly noticeable.

Note: If prepping the hard boiled eggs, bacon, and carrots the day before serving - it's perfectly delicious to serve these items cold or at room temperature which is how I typically do.

Not the most photogenic but let me tell you this brunch plate made me so happy. And the salad was a hit! It will likely make a return to next year's Easter brunch.

Brunch Salad