This strawberry spinach salad has double the strawberries: sliced ripe berries and sweet tart strawberry vinaigrette salad dressing!
Get ready for your favorite side dish of the season: strawberry spinach salad! Oh yes. This green salad pairs with just about every meal. It’s got beautifully ripe strawberries, red onion slices, chopped pecans and a bit of salty feta. Then it’s all covered in a sweet tart strawberry vinaigrette salad dressing that makes it taste like gold. Alex and I like it with pizza, with salmon, with pasta…it goes with just about anything!
How to make strawberry spinach salad
Each ingredient in this easy strawberry spinach salad is chosen to pack maximum punch. Once you’ve got your ripe beautiful strawberries and lovely vibrant strawberry salad dressing, you’ll need just a few more ingredients to complement the mix. Here’s what you’ll need, in addition to the berries and vinaigrette:
- Mix of spinach & other greens: Tip: spinach salads that are 100% spinach can be intense on the flavor. How to fix it? Add some mixed greens too! This strawberry spinach salad has 5 cups spinach leaves and 3 cups mixed greens.
- Sliced red onions: Strawberries and red onion is a really great flavor combination! The savory bite of the onion is just perfect against the juicy berry. How to cut them like in the photo? Go to How to Cut an Onion.
- Pecans: Chopped pecans add a crunch that’s a perfect texture contrast! Of course you could use any nuts you like: walnuts, pistachios, almonds, etc.
- Cheese crumbles: This strawberry spinach salad is easily vegan (plant based) without the cheese. But for a savory, salty note, feta or goat cheese crumbles are perfection.
Ingredients
For the strawberry vinaigrette salad dressing (makes 1 ¼ cups total)
- 1 ½ cups sliced strawberries
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
For the strawberry spinach salad
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
- 1 handful thin sliced red onion
- 5 cups baby spinach leaves
- 3 cups mixed greens
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- ¼ cup feta cheese crumbles (optional)
- ½ cup Strawberry Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
Instructions
- Make the strawberry salad dressing: In an immersion blender, small blender or standard blender, blend all ingredients until smooth. (An immersion blender and small blender are the quickest, but you can also use a standard blender: just blend for a few minutes until fully combined.)
- Prepare the salad ingredients: Slice off the tops of the strawberries, then slice them long-wise. Thinly slice the red onion (see the video for this method). If necessary, wash the spinach and mixed greens. Chop the pecans (if time, toast them to enhance the flavors).
- Serve: Place the greens on plates and top with all ingredients, then drizzle with the strawberry vinaigrette salad dressing (about 2 tablespoons per serving). Refrigerate the remaining dressing for up to 1 week.