Strawberry Spinach Salad Recipe | Culinary Hill
Healthy is anything but dull when there’s a giant Strawberry Spinach Salad with Poppyseed Dressing waiting for lunch. It’s colorful, naturally sweet, and as wonderful as it gets.
Looking for some gorgeous healthy summer salads? These will make a believer out of anyone who turns their nose up at leafy greens. Try a Rainbow Thai Salad with Mango, a Mediterranean Chopped Salad, or a surprisingly easy Chinese Chicken Salad. All interesting, tantalizing, and guaranteed to inspire!
The best ever Strawberry Spinach Salad isn’t the one that costs 8.99 that you eat out of a plastic tub on your lap with a spork. Far from it! The best spinach and strawberry salad is the one you make yourself, right down to the tangy poppyseed dressing.
Other than the salad dressing, all you need is three ingredients: baby spinach (or other leafy greens), toasted pecans, and bright juicy strawberries. You’re free to add anything else, too: chicken, mandarin oranges, goat cheese…whatever sounds good. It’ll become a salad you’ll be excited to eat, any day of the week.
Making Strawberry Spinach Salad for an office potluck? It’s so easy, and everyone will love you for it! Click and slide the number next to “servings” on the recipe card below to adjust the ingredients to match how many you’re feeding—the recipe does the math for you, it’s that easy.
How to make Strawberry Spinach Salad:
First you have to make the dressing. Decisions, decisions!
Poppyseed dressing is slightly sweet, red wine vinegar based, and wonderful. A little bit of mustard powder adds just enough contrast to the sugar in the dressing. But Easy Balsamic Vinaigrette is sugar-free and a fabulous option, too. No matter which one you pick, it’s going to be a great salad.
To assemble the salad, combine the spinach and greens with sliced strawberries and toasted pecans. Drizzle the dressing over everything and gently toss until evenly distributed.
How to toast pecans:
- Explore all the many ways to toast pecans, with this in-depth how-to, or you can roast them in the oven, like this:
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Arrange the shelled pecans on the baking sheet so that they’re spread out evenly.
- Bake for 7 to 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until darker brown and fragrant.
- Remove from oven and pour the pecans onto a cool plate to stop the cooking.
- Chop or use whole. Store extra pecans in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.
How to make easy homemade Poppyseed Dressing:
It’s a flick of the whisk or a shake of the jar away.
Mix together the vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, dried mustard, poppyseeds, sugar, and salt. Keep the dressing out at room temperature to let the flavors mingle while preparing the salad. (You can make it up to 4 days in advance.)
How to make Easiest Balsamic Vinaigrette:
Strawberries and balsamic are so good together, you’ll love this poppyseed dressing alternative. (But you can definitely add poppyseeds to the dressing for the best of both worlds.) You can make it up to 4 days in advance.
Whisk together:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 4 teaspoons dijon mustard
- salt, to taste
Natural ways to sweeten poppyseed dressing:
Even if you’re watching your sugar intake, you can still enjoy poppyseed dressing by experimenting with a natural sweetener, such as:
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Pineapple juice
- Monk fruit
Can you make Strawberry Spinach Salad ahead of time?
The beauty of this salad is that you can gather all your ingredients together, throw them in a bowl, carry it to your location—office, party, luncheon—and dress it on the spot. Poppyseed dressing benefits from being at room temperature for a few minutes, anyways.
The dressing can be made a few days in advance, so if you’re busy doing other things, you have the salad 99% made if the dressing is done.
Amazing additions or substitutions to Strawberry Spinach Salad:
Great salads like this one are endlessly adaptable. Try one or two and write about it in the comments.
- Grilled chicken slices or leftover rotisserie chicken
- Crumbled feta cheese or creamy goat cheese
- Candied almonds, walnuts, or pecans
- Toasted walnuts, hazelnuts, or almonds
- Bite-sized pineapple chunks
- Canned mandarin orange segments
- Fresh raspberries or blueberries
- Raspberry vinaigrette
- Blue cheese crumbles
- Thin slices of red onion
- Sunflower seeds
- Your favorite bottled red wine vinaigrette (the secret is safe with us)
- Dried cranberries or cherries
Healthy is anything but dull when there’s a giant Strawberry Spinach Salad with Poppyseed Dressing waiting for lunch. It’s colorful, naturally sweet, and as wonderful as it gets.
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Keyword spinach, strawberries
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Servings 8 servings
Calories 264kcal
For the poppy seed dressing:
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil or light olive oil
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon dried mustard
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
- Salt to taste
For the salad:
- 16 ounces baby spinach (see notes)
- 16 ounces strawberries quartered or sliced
- 1 cup pecans toasted (see notes)
To make the poppy seed dressing:
-
In a small bowl with a whisk, or in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, add the vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, dried mustard, poppy seeds, and salt to taste (I like 1 teaspoon). Stir or shake to combine. Allow the flavors to blend at room temperature while preparing the salad.
To assemble the salad:
-
In a large bowl, add spinach, strawberries, and pecans. Add salad dressing and toss until evenly coated.
You can do half baby spinach and half field greens mix if you prefer.
To make the Easiest Balsamic Vinaigrette, whisk together:
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 4 teaspoons dijon mustard
- Salt to taste
To toast the pecans in a dry skillet, heat a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the pecans and toast until fragrant, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir often to prevent scorching.
To toast the pecans in butter, add 2 tablespoons butter to a small skillet over medium-high heat until the foaming subsides. Reduce heat to medium-low, add pecans, and toast until fragrant, about 10 to 15 minutes. Stir often to prevent scorching.
Calories: 264kcal
