This beautiful strawberry spinach salad has the perfect balance of sweet and savory! Easily made with juicy strawberries, fresh spinach leaves, crunchy almonds, salty feta cheese, creamy avocado, and red onions all tossed with a zesty homemade balsamic vinaigrette!
Looking for other perfect salad recipes? Try this broccoli salad, roasted beet salad and this wonderful white bean salad too.
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Best Strawberry Spinach Salad Recipe
As soon as the weather gets warm my body literally starts to crave fruits and leafy greens! It’s like it knows that eating lighter, healthier, and using fresh ingredients is a shift I need to make. So, naturally, a fresh salad like this can become a daily meal!
This nutrient-dense salad is loaded with colors, tastes, and textures, and although it does make a fantastic light lunch, it also makes the perfect side dish for any family dinner or dinner party!
The next time you need a quick and easy dish to serve alongside your BBQ meats, to bring to a potluck, or to serve at your 4th of July picnic, this spinach salad with strawberries and balsamic dressing is always a hit!
Ingredients/shopping list
The combination of sweet strawberries with savory veggies and add-ins is always a hit.
- Baby spinach: These days, packages of fresh baby spinach already come thoroughly washed, but if you want to wash it again, have at it. Just make sure you spin dry so that no excess water remains.
- Strawberries: Look for plump, juicy fresh strawberries that are nice and ripe, but not overly ripe. Slice them up and if they’re huge, you may even want to dice them.
- Red onion: Slice your red onions into thin slices. Use a mandolin slicer for an easy time making thin even slices.
- Sliced almonds: I like the rustic look of sliced raw almonds with the skin left on. If you prefer to use blanched sliced almonds with the skin off, you certainly can.
- Feta cheese crumbles: Adds a delicious, briny flavor and creamy texture. Feta and balsamic, not to mention feta and strawberries, are a perfect pairing.
- Avocado: Sliced or diced, it’s up to you. Again, use ripe avocado. It will have a slight give when pressed on the outer shell, it shouldn’t have any discoloration or wrinkles, and the little nob at the end of the avocado should come off easily.
- Balsamic vinaigrette: I have a simple and tasty homemade balsamic vinaigrette I use because it takes less than 5 minutes to mix up in a small bowl or carafe, but if you have a store-bought version on hand, by all means, use it.
Variations/ Substitutions
There are so many ways to make this simple salad your own!
1. For starters, you could add other fresh fruits like blueberries too. Or use mango, peach, mandarin oranges, apples, pears, or blackberries or even dried cranberries as swaps.
2. Swap the almonds for chopped walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds. Or take it up a notch with candied pecans or toasted nuts.
3. You can use goat cheese, blue cheese, gorgonzola or shaved Parmesan instead of feta cheese.
4. If red onions aren’t your thing, consider using sliced green onions, shallots, or sweet onions instead.
5. Toss in some protein like strips of grilled chicken breast or any diced cooked chicken. Whatever you’ve got leftover from dinner, throw it in there!
6. Use a different dressing. Poppy seed dressing or raspberry vinaigrette are great choices. Anything with a sweet and tangy combination should work!
How to Make this Strawberry Salad Recipe
In a couple of easy steps, and just a few minutes, you can throw this salad together whenever you want!
Step 1: In a large salad bowl, add the spinach and fresh berries first. Toss to combine then add the sliced red onion, feta, almonds, and avocado.
Step 2: Drizzle with the dressing and toss to combine. Alternatively, you could serve everyone their salad first and have the dressing on the side for people to add themselves.
Tips
- Add the avocado to the salad just before serving. It’ll turn brown if it sits too long.
- Wash and dry your produce early on to allow for enough time to dry completely.
- Soak the sliced onions in water for a bit of time. This helps to get rid of that strong pungent aftertaste. Not to worry, you’ll still get the flavor of the onions!
What to serve with strawberry spinach salad?
It’s the best side dish throughout the grilling season but it definitely works with plenty of other main dishes as well.
Grilled Italian chicken with corn on the cob, Air fryer BBQ chicken, flank steak with chimichurri sauce, or honey Dijon pork tenderloin are all hearty meat dishes that could use a nice light summer salad on the side.
FAQ’s
You can prepare all of the ingredients (except avocado) ahead of time and store them separately. When it comes time to serve, just toss all the ingredients together in a bowl, and voila!
Slice and add the avocado last. You don’t want to serve a strawberry spinach salad with brown avocado!
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Strawberry Spinach Salad
Ingredients
- 8 ounces baby spinach
- 2 cups strawberries sliced
- ½ cup red onion thinly sliced
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- ¾ cup feta cheese crumbles
- 1 avocado sliced or diced
- Balsamic vinaigrette for serving
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the baby spinach and strawberries and toss to combine.8 ounces baby spinach, 2 cups strawberries
- Add the sliced red onion, almonds, sliced avocado and feta cheese.½ cup red onion, ½ cup sliced almonds, ¾ cup feta cheese crumbles, 1 avocado
- Serve with this easy homemade balsamic vinaigrette or your favorite store-bought balsamic vinaigrette dressing.Balsamic vinaigrette for serving
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclosure
Nutritional facts are estimates and are provided as a courtesy to the reader. Please utilize your own brand nutritional values to double check against our estimates. Nutritional values are calculated via a third party. Changing ingredients, amounts or cooking technique will alter the estimated nutritional calculations.
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