This Strawberry Spinach Salad has twice the strawberries: sliced ripe berries and a sweet and tart strawberry vinaigrette!
Get ready for your favorite side dish of the season: Strawberry Spinach Salad! Oh yeah. This green salad goes well with almost any dish. It features beautifully ripe strawberries, sliced red onions, chopped pecans, and a little salty feta. Then everything is covered in a sweet and tangy strawberry vinaigrette to taste of gold. Alex and I love it with pizza, salmon, pasta… it goes with almost everything!
Start with perfectly ripe strawberries
Starting with ripe red strawberries is a must. Will you promise us you’ll only make this salad when you have ripe strawberries in season? Flavor is all about the quality and sweetness of the berries. Strawberries that are out of season, tart, or floury simply won’t do. If you want to mix it up with the berry flavor, try our Blueberry Salad or Blackberry Salad.
Double the strawberry! Strawberry Vinaigrette
This Strawberry Spinach Salad takes our classic Strawberry Salad recipe up a notch. How? He has Double Strawberries: sliced strawberries And Strawberries in vinaigrette. This strawberry dressing will be your new favorite dressing: I promise! It’s a sweet cake, lightly sweetened with maple syrup and light pink with juicy, ripe strawberries. Best of all, it only takes 5 minutes to mix! SO GOOD.
How to make Strawberry Spinach Salad
Every ingredient in this easy Strawberry Spinach Salad is handpicked for maximum punch. Once you have your beautiful ripe strawberries and your beautiful vibrant strawberry vinaigrette, all you need is a few ingredients to complete the mix. You will need this in addition to the berries and the dressing:
- Mixture of spinach and other vegetables: Tip: Spinach salads with 100% spinach can be very aromatic. How to fix it? Add some mixed greens too! This Strawberry Spinach Salad has 5 cups of spinach leaves and 3 cups of mixed veggies.
- Sliced Red Onions: Strawberries and red onions are a great flavor combination! The hearty bite of the onion just goes perfectly with the juicy berry. How do I cut them like in the picture? Go to How to cut an onion.
- pecans: Chopped pecans add a crunch that’s the perfect textural contrast! Of course, you can use any nuts you like: walnuts, pistachios, almonds, etc.
- Crumbled Cheese: This Strawberry Spinach Salad is easily vegan (plant-based) without the cheese. But for a savory and salty touch, feta or goat cheese crumbles are perfect.
How to cut strawberries for salad
What is the best way to cut strawberries for salad? My friend and I recently did this. She went to slice the strawberries crosswise and they ended up in little circles! Of course it’s great if that’s what you’re looking for! But here is how to cut them like in the picture:
- Peel the strawberry (cut off the stalk). Place a sharp paring knife at an angle at the base of the stem. Cut a shallow slot, then twist the drill bit around the knife. This cuts the stem instead of cutting it (more info here). If you’re feeling lazy, simply cut the stem as close to the green as possible.
- Cut thin slices lengthways. Cut thin slices lengthwise along the strawberry to create this beautiful strawberry shape.
And there you have it: how to make spinach salad with strawberries! Let us know if you try it in the comments below. It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t love this one!
This Strawberry Spinach Salad Recipe is…
Vegetarian and gluten free. For non-dairy, plant-based and vegan products, omit the cheese.
The description
This Strawberry Spinach Salad has twice the strawberries: sliced ripe berries and a sweet and tart strawberry vinaigrette!
For the strawberry vinaigrette (for a total of 1 ¼ cups)
- 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 and spinach salad
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
- 1 a handful of chopped red onion
- 5 cups spinach leaves
- 3 cups mixed green
- ¼ cup chopped pecans
- ¼ cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)
- ½ cup Strawberry Vinaigrette
- Prepare the strawberry vinaigrette: Blend all ingredients in an immersion blender, small blender, or standard blender until smooth. (An immersion blender and small blender are fastest, but you can use a standard blender too: just blend for a few minutes until fully combined.)
- Prepare the salad ingredients: Cut off the tops of the strawberries, then slice them open lengthwise. Thinly slice the red onion (see video for this method). If necessary, wash the spinach and mixed vegetables. Chop the pecans (when the time is right, toast them to enhance flavor).
- Surcharge: Arrange the vegetables on plates and garnish with all the ingredients, then drizzle with the strawberry vinaigrette (about 2 tbsp per serving). Store the remaining dressing in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Category: salad
- Method: Raw
- Kitchen: American
Keywords: Strawberry Spinach Salad, Strawberry Salad, Strawberry Summer Salad, Strawberry Vinaigrette, Strawberry Vinaigrette, Healthy Salad Recipe
Looking for more salad recipes?
Aside from this Strawberry Spinach Salad recipe, here are some of our favorite salads from A Couple Cooks:
Last update: January 2020
