My Strawberry Spinach Salad is a recent, colourful summer season salad made with child spinach, blended greens, candy strawberries, creamy avocado, feta cheese, toasted pecans, pistachios, recent mint, and a selfmade honey poppy seed dressing.

The Greatest Strawberry Salad

This strawberry spinach salad is one in every of my favourite summer season salads. Together with candy strawberries, creamy avocado, and feta, I add one sudden ingredient (learn on!) that makes each chew style brighter and brisker. Better of all, the salad comes collectively in about quarter-hour with minimal prep. It is all the time a success at cookouts, potlucks, and household dinners.

I serve it with every little thing from grilled rooster and grilled shrimp to steak, salmon, and pork chops. For those who get pleasure from recent salads like my Apple Spinach Salad, Greek Salad, Blueberry Peach Salad, and Summer season Fruit Salad, this recipe belongs in your menu, too.

Why You will Love It

• Contemporary mint is my secret ingredient: it provides a shiny, refreshing taste that pairs completely with the candy berries, creamy avocado, tangy feta, and crunchy pecans and pistachios.
• Simple and Fast: It comes collectively in a single bowl, in below quarter-hour, with zero cooking required – simply chop, toss, and costume.
• Wholesome: My strawberry spinach salad is of course gluten-free, can simply be made dairy-free by skipping the feta, and is full of wholesome fat, fiber, and antioxidants due to the avocado, nuts, and berries.
• Good for company and meal prep: It is colourful, elegant sufficient for entertaining, and the dressing retains individually so it travels properly to potlucks or packed lunches. It is one in every of my go-to salads to share with family and friends, together with my apple spinach salad, attractive pear and blue cheese walnut salad, and blueberry mango salad.

Salad Elements & Substitutions

• Child spinach and blended greens. I exploit a mix as a result of spinach alone can really feel just a little flat, and the spring combine or arugula provides some peppery chew. You should use all spinach, all spring combine, or swap in child kale, Romaine lettuce, or Butter lettuce.
• Crimson onion. I slice it very skinny so it would not overpower the remainder of the salad. Shallots, candy onions, inexperienced onions, or pickled purple onions work as milder substitutes.
• Avocado. Supplies creaminess and wholesome fat, making the salad extra filling. You’ll be able to substitute with Contemporary mozzarella pearls, Goat cheese, and cucumber for a lighter possibility
• Feta cheese. I exploit crumbled feta for its saltiness and agency texture. Goat cheese is the plain swap if you need one thing creamier, and a gentle blue cheese or gorgonzola works if you need extra punch. Use vegan feta to make this salad vegan.
• Strawberries. The star ingredient that brings sweetness, coloration, and freshness. If strawberries are out of season, raspberries or sliced peaches make seasonal substitute.
• Pecans and pistachios. I like utilizing each for 2 totally different sorts of crunch and taste. You can too use Walnuts, Almonds, Hazelnuts, or Candied pecans.
• Contemporary mint. I really like the freshness mint provides as a result of it performs properly towards the sweetness. Contemporary basil, Contemporary parsley, and recent dill are good substitutes if mint is not out there.

The Elements For Poppy Seed Salad Dressing

The poppyseed dressing is flippantly candy, tangy, and properly balanced. Honey softens the acidity of the vinegar, whereas Dijon provides simply sufficient sharpness to maintain the dressing from tasting flat. The dressing emulsifies simply and clings properly to the spinach with out pooling on the backside of the bowl.

• Olive oil. I exploit on a regular basis olive oil for the dressing, not an costly ending oil, because it will get whisked with honey and vinegar anyway. Avocado oil is a advantageous impartial substitute.
• Honey. That is the principle sweetener within the dressing. You’ll be able to substitute with Maple syrup or brown sugar.
• Apple cider vinegar. I just like the fruitier tang right here in comparison with plain white vinegar. Good substitutes are: White wine vinegar, Champagne vinegar, Lemon juice, Raspberry vinegar.
• Poppy seeds. These add a mild crunch and a barely nutty taste to the dressing. Sesame seeds or chia seeds are the closest substitutes.
• Dijon mustard. This helps the dressing emulsify and provides a small tangy edge. Entire grain mustard works too and provides a little bit of texture.
• Knowledgeable Tip: For the most effective texture, costume the salad simply earlier than serving. Spinach wilts rapidly as soon as dressed, and this salad is at its finest when the leaves are recent and flippantly coated reasonably than saturated.

Professional Suggestions for Success

• Dry Your Greens Totally. I all the time be certain the greens are fully dry. Extra water dilutes the dressing and makes the salad soggy.
• Toast the Nuts. Even a couple of minutes in a dry skillet brings out deeper taste and makes a noticeable distinction within the ultimate dish.
• Lower the Strawberries Final. Strawberries launch juice quick as soon as sliced, and that juice will bleed into your greens and make the underside of the bowl soggy in the event that they sit too lengthy earlier than serving.
• Use Ripe however Agency Avocados. Overripe avocados can flip mushy when tossed. You need slices that maintain their form.
• Gown Proper Earlier than Serving. This retains the greens crisp and prevents the strawberries from releasing extra moisture.
• Slice the Onion Thinly. Very skinny slices present taste with out overwhelming the fragile sweetness of the berries.
• Stability the Dressing. Style the dressing earlier than serving. Relying on the sweetness of your strawberries, I generally add just a little additional vinegar or honey to fine-tune the flavour.
• Use a Vast, Shallow Bowl As an alternative of a Deep One. A large bowl helps you to toss every little thing evenly with out crushing the avocado or bruising the spinach on the backside, which is an actual downside in deep bowls.

Aspect Salad for Dinner

As a result of this Strawberry Spinach salad is so mild and recent, it pairs BEAUTIFULLY with wealthy and heavy most important dishes. It is a terrific match for my Braised Brief Ribs with Crimson Wine and Mushrooms or Beef Bourguignon, because the sweetness from the strawberries and honey dressing cuts proper by way of a deep, wine-based sauce.

It additionally works properly alongside my Shepherd’s Pie, Puff Pastry Hen Pot Pie, or a giant bowl of my Pasta e Fagioli Soup, the place you need one thing recent on the desk to steadiness out a comfort-food most important.

Extra Serving Concepts

• Good for Summer season Grilling. Throughout grilling season, serve this Strawberry Spinach Salad alongside grilled rooster skewers, grilled salmon, grilled pork chops, or grilled Hawaiian pineapple shrimp skewers. 
• A Nice Addition to Brunch. For those who’re planning a brunch unfold, pair this salad with mini quiches, fancy-yet-easy puff pastry egg tarts (with asparagus and prosciutto), ham and broccoli frittata, or bacon spinach egg muffins. 
• Particular Salad for Entertaining. Serve it alongside my Grilled Ribeye Steak with Marinade, Filet Mignon with Mushroom Sauce, Stuffed Pork Tenderloin, Baked Ribs, or Roast Leg of Lamb.

Extra Summer season Salads

• Grilled Peach Salad
• Berry Spinach Salad with Balsamic Glaze and Feta
• Avocado Corn Tomato Salad with Creamy Cilantro-Lime Dressing
• Caramelized Pear Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese
• Stone Fruit Pasta Salad with Peaches and Cherries
• Greek-Impressed Salad with Avocado and Capers
• Avocado Mango Salad with Arugula, Pine Nuts, and Honey-Lime Dressing
• Apricot Salad with Spinach, Cherries, Pecans, and Feta Cheese