The Strawberry Spinach Salad is perfect for summer dining. Sweet strawberries, onions, cucumber, and toasted nuts are tossed in a bright lemon poppyseed dressing. Serve as individual salads or toss everything together in a large bowl for family style dining or events. Add grilled chicken to make it a meal!
Ingredients Needed
This is just a preview of ingredients and method, keep scrolling for full printable recipe.
Salad
- Bagged baby spinach
- Red onion
- Cucumber
- Sliced, toasted almonds – Just heat them in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until they’re golden and fragrant.
- Grilled chicken breasts – Optional, but makes it a great one-dish meal!
Dressing
- Lemons
- Rice wine vinegar
- Canola oil – Or other neutral flavored oil.
- Kosher salt
- Black pepper
- Granulated sugar
- Poppy seeds
- Grated onion
- Fresh garlic
How to Make a Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Start by mixing up your dressing. Zest a lemon and grate a little onion into a small jar. To those, add fresh lemon juice, rice wine vinegar, oil, sugar, salt and pepper, and poppy seeds. Give it a good shake and set it aside.
- You can assemble one big salad or individual servings. Layer spinach, cucumbers, red onion, and strawberries. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and drizzle with dressing as desired
Storing and Other Tips
- Assembled salads are best eaten fresh! If you have leftovers or want to plan ahead, store salad components in the refrigerator (except nuts) and build your salads as needed.
- Store your finished dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
- If you’re serving a crowd, feel free to dress and toss one large salad immediately before serving. Save a few slices of your veggies and a sprinkle of nuts for garnish.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where’s the cheese? Can I add some?
Of course! Feta would be great here. A nice blue cheese would probably be delicious as well.
Can I use a different kind of nut in place of almonds?
Yes. Any toasted nut would be good here. Quick Candied Nuts would be great, too.
Can I make this ahead of time?
You can certainly make the dressing a day ahead of time. You can also toast your nuts. While it’s probably best to prep and slice your produce right before assembly, you could do it several hours ahead of time if needed.
Strawberry Spinach Salad
This bright summer salad combines sweet strawberries and a bright lemon poppyseed vinaigrette. Perfect as a side salad or as a one-dish meal with added grilled chicken.
Servings side salads
Ingredients
Dressing
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ⅓ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 2-3 large lemons
- ¼ cup rice wine vinegar
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon grated onion
- 1 clove garlic
Salad
- 1 10- ounce bag fresh baby spinach
- ½-1 small red onion thinly sliced
- 1 medium cucumber seeded and sliced (you can peel it first if you want)
- 1 pint strawberries sliced
- 1 cup sliced almonds toasted
- 1 recipe Lemon Poppy Seed Vinaigrette
- ½ pound grilled chicken breasts sliced or diced (optional)
Instructions
Dressing
- Using a micro plane or other fine grater, grate 1 teaspoon lemon rind off the lemons. Grate 1 teaspoon onion. Place in a small container with a lid. Add the remaining ingredients and shake vigorously. If possible, refrigerate at least an hour before serving. Shake well before serving.
Salad
- Toss ingredients together and serve immediately. You can also arrange the ingredients on individual plates for serving.
- Dress as desired.
Notes
- Nutrition information was calculated without Lemon Poppyseed Dressing or chicken.
- Assembled salads are best eaten fresh! If you have leftovers or want to plan ahead, store salad components in the refrigerator (except nuts) and build your salads as needed.
- Store your finished dressing in an airtight container in the refrigerator and enjoy within 3-4 days for best results.
- If you’re serving a crowd, feel free to dress and toss one large salad immediately before serving. Save a few slices of your veggies and a sprinkle of nuts for garnish.
Nutrition
Calories: 203kcal, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 8g, Fat: 12g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 3g, Monounsaturated Fat: 7g, Trans Fat: 0.01g, Sodium: 65mg, Potassium: 907mg, Fiber: 8g, Sugar: 9g, Vitamin A: 7379IU, Vitamin C: 95mg, Calcium: 172mg, Iron: 4mg
Calories: 203kcal
Cost: $8
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Questions & Reviews
I made this salad tonight for our Tri-tip BBQ dinner and it was DELICIOUS! I added an avocado since I had one I needed to use and it was a yummy addition. The dressing is easy and a perfect conpliment to the other ingredients. Thank you for your wonderful, easy, real food recipes and keep doing what your doing… I love you guys!
Oops!I meant compliment 🙂
I made this salad along with the lemon vinaigrette last week and it was very yummy. I added kiwi and avocado slices since both were on sale and it was delicious. Love the vinaigrette, very tasty!
I took this salad and Lemon Viniagrette to a Memorial Dey BBQ and it was excellent. I added avacados as with this group, avacados are a must. The dressing was perfect.
I actually make a salad kind of like this once, but I just kind of winged it. I can’t wait to try your recipe! What could be better than spinach, fresh strawberries, grilled chicken and lemon poppy seed dressing???
Kate, I wanted to let you know I swapped the garbanzo beans for the chicken per your suggestion and it worked perfectly!! Thanks for leading me in the right direction 🙂
Awesome!! That’s so good to know!
Had with our Easter dinner and it was so fresh and tastey. Definitely a keeper.
My husband is going to my MIL’s for dinner with the girls. So, this is on my menu for tonight. Thanks for the recipe!
I made this for dinner tonight – YUM! Absolutely loved it. I asked my husband if it’s a ‘make again’ and he said ‘You’d better be making this a lot!’ Thanks!
This salad is honestly THE BEST salad I’ve EVER had! Thank You so much for sharing the recipe! I would have never thought strawberries would taste so yummy in a salad like that…it was amazing!
I am having a big dinner group of about 45 people Sunday. We are serving this yummy grilled pork tenderloin, pineapple soufflé a roll and ??? Do you have any recommendation for a salad that would go well with this combination? I need some color on the plate since right now everything is yellow brownish. Any ideas? Would it be bad to do a salad with a sweet dressing when you have the pineapple rice dish? Hope you can help. Thanks so much.