Strawberry Spinach Salad

Strawberry Spinach Salad – light, healthy, easy to make and delicious salad made with just a few simple ingredients. Perfect for year round, to make for lunch or take to potlucks and parties. Made with baby spinach, strawberries, crunchy walnuts, blue cheese (optional) and sweet poppyseed dressing.

This Strawberry Spinach Salad has beed one of my all-time favorite salads, ever since I came to live in the US a long time ago. While it was a new taste to explore and get used to – the combination of sweet and savory, crunchy nuts and light dressing it is the perfect salad for my family. Yes, back in Europe, we mostly used to make this Bulgarian Shopska Salad.

There are many variations of this Strawberry Spinach Salad and different cooks like to make it in a slightly different way.

Ingredients:

Ingredients may vary, depending on what dressing you choose to go with. You can either make a Light Balsamic Vinaigrette or Sweet Poppyseed Dressing.

• fresh baby spinach
• strawberries
• nuts (either candied, raw or toasted), pecans, almonds or walnuts work best
• olive oil
• salt
• apple cider vinegar
• Dijon mustard
• Poppy seeds
• sweetener (honey, maple syrup, sugar or low-carb, Keto sweetener)

How to make Strawberry Spinach Salad?

1. Prepare the dressing, by placing all ingredients in a jar, closing the lid and shaking the jar.
2. Toast the nuts in a skillet over medium-low heat, stirring frequently for 5-7 minutes. Be careful not to burn them.
3. Toss the salad ingredients with dressing in a bowl and serve.

What can you add to this salad?

This seriously is the best Strawberry Spinach salad and the reason why? You can use the dressing you’d like and add some of your favorite ingredients to make this salad perfect for your taste.

• red onions
• feta cheese
• Brie cheese
• avocado
• bacon
• hazelnuts
• blueberries
• grilled chicken
• salmon
• shrimp
• raspberries
• cooked quinoa

The dressing:

Honestly, I can eat this salad even without the dressing, but I wouldn’t.

There are two main dressing options, that I recommend, when it comes to making a strawberry spinach salad:

• Light balsamic vinaigrette, like the one I used in my Blackberry Spinach Salad. (I believe Whole Foods Market Sells their strawberry spinach salad with light balsamic dressing)
• Poppyseed Dressing, similar to the one in this Strawberry Arugula Salad  (Popular dressing, can be bought at the store, although I prefer making it myself. It contains sugar, but it could be swapped with low-carb sweetener like powdered Erythritol or Swerve)

Both salads mentioned above are great spring/summer salads, for when we get all those gorgeous and delicious ripe berries. Perfect for lighter meals and great additions to our summer barbecue. Can’t wait for Grilling Season, my favorite time of the year.

Is Strawberry Spinach Salad healthy?

As we know, not salads are necessarily healthy and it all depends on what your body accepts as healthy and the diet you follow.

So this salad is healthy in my opinion. You can skip the cheese if you are following a low-calorie and low-fat diet. Make the dressing with MCT oil instead of olive oil and low-carb sweetener and you have a great low-carb salad.

More Salad Recipes:

• Blackberry Spinach Salad
• Strawberry Arugula Salad
• Spinach Chicken Salad With Raspberry Vinaigrette

What Entrees To Serve With?

• Baked Balsamic Chicken
• Perfect Fillet Mignon For Two
• Pan Seared Salmon
• Grilled Octopus