Bacon is many things. Bacon is salty, bacon is crunchy, bacon is sweet and bacon is satisfying. First and foremost, however, bacon is meat. Tasty, tasty meat. Bacon is the meat that carnivores relish above all others, and it is the meat most likely to make vegetarians cheat. In just about every way imaginable, bacon is the opposite of a salad.

Where a salad is virtuous, bacon is indulgent. Where salads are emblematic of vegetarianism, a bacon coat of arms decorates the hearts of proud meat-a-tarians the world over. But this doesn’t mean that bacon and salads can’t team up occasionally to make this symbolic health food more awesome.

For this week’s Bacon Love Friday, lettuce examine (wakka wakka) some of the myriad ways that bacon can elevate the humble salad from the insipid fare of dieters to a satisfying and robust meal.

Grilled Salad

As steak lovers and bbq fanatics will attest, everything tastes better when it is grilled. Food Network Celebrity Chef Guy Fieri recently proved that this adage extends even to salads. Guy recently introduced a mouthwatering salad creation sure to satisfy bacon fanatics: Grilled Romaine With Blue Cheese-Bacon Vinaigrette. Not only does the dish contain bits of crispy bacon nestled in the grilled romaine, but the dressing itself is made with bacon drippings. Count me in!

Bacon Croutons

The genii at J&D Foods (whose mission to launch bacon into space we recently blogged about, have come up with another fabulous innovation in things-that-taste-like-bacon technology: bacon croutons. These little nuggets of goodness will not only add an extra hit of bacon to any salad, but they are completely vegetarian!

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad

There is something about Fall that revs up a lot of culinary engines, and this particular bit of autumnal deliciousness has a lot of folks buzzing. Fat Moon Farm in Westford, MA has cooked up a Roasted Butternut Squash Salad that has the locals raving. And, of course, is if chock full of bacon. What’s not to love?

Oktoberfest Salad

In the season of Oktoberfest, beer and meat (especially sausage and bacon) reign supreme. Even the salads, like this delicious German Potato Salad, are brimming with bacony goodness. We’ll raise a pint or three to that!

Candied Bacon Salad

And what about for those who like a little added sweetness in their salads? Food blogger Vanessa Smith, whose blog Life Undeveloped provides good-enough-to-eat snapshots of a foodie’s life, advocates topping a Spinach Salad with Candied Bacon. Doesn’t that sound like the best thing ever? We thought so too!