Strawberry Spinach Salad with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing
This strawberry spinach salad is filled with yummy, fresh ingredients and tossed with a creamy, sweet, tangy poppy seed dressing. It is beautiful and delicious!
I am so excited to share this salad with you! It is an absolute showstopper of a salad and is perfect for an elegant holiday meal or for a summer BBQ or just to devour on a regular Tuesday night. Make it as soon as you can!
4 Reasons to Love This Salad
- This salad consists of five simple main ingredients (not including the dressing) – all of the ingredients are easy to find at any grocery store!
- The homemade poppy seed dressing is to-die for and takes just seconds to mix up. The creamy, tangy, lightly sweet flavors perfectly compliment the fresh salad ingredients.
- Tossed together, this salad is a stunning accompaniment to any meal, party, get together, or even just a weeknight dinner.
- All of the ingredients can be prepped ahead of time making easy and fast work of assembling the salad together.
Seriously, have you met a prettier salad?? 😍
Homemade Creamy Poppy Seed Dressing
Let’s take a minute to honor the deliciousness of the homemade poppy seed dressing. To get the flavors of this dressing just right, I tested my recipe against my favorite store bought brand (Brianna’s).
It took a few variations, but this easy poppy seed dressing recipe is perfect and just as good, if not better, than any store bought dressing! It is lightly sweet and wonderfully tangy with just the right amount of creaminess.
➡️ Blend all of the dressing ingredients together and then STIR in the poppy seeds by hand. The homemade poppy seed dressing can be made and refrigerated up to a week in advance. Give it a quick stir or shake to recombine before using in the salad.
Salad Ingredients Notes
- Spinach: You’ll need a 5- or 6-ounce package of fresh baby spinach for this salad.
- Strawberries: Hull the strawberries and slice to use in the salad.
- Feta cheese: If possible, buy a block of feta cheese and crumble it from the block for the salad. Block feta cheese is creamier than pre-crumbled feta. Goat cheese or blue cheese can be subbed for the feta cheese.
- Pecans: I like using toasted, chopped pecans in this strawberry spinach salad, but you can also use toasted sliced or slivered almonds. The salad is also amazing with candied sweet-spicy nuts (like the ones from this recipe, lightly chopped).
- Red onions: To take the pungent bite out of the onions, slice them and soak them in ice water for 10 minutes. Pat dry before tossing in the salad.
If you’re planning on leftovers, leave the dressing separate and add individually to each serving. The spinach will get wilty if tossed with the dressing and refrigerated to eat later.
A Few Additional Notes
- This strawberry spinach salad is delicious as a side dish. Or, serve it with grilled chicken for a super tasty, main dish meal.
- While this salad is best assembled right before serving so that the spinach doesn’t get soggy, all of the ingredients can be prepped and chopped in advance so that assembling the salad is quick and easy.
- As you can see from the notes of the recipe and the details above, there are many ways to customize this salad based on what you prefer, so have fun with it and make it your own.
An absolute showstopper of a salad, this strawberry spinach recipe is as tasty as it is beautiful. I have served it for many holiday dinners, as well as summer potlucks, baby or bridal showers, and friend lunches, and everyone always oohs and aahs over how stunning and yummy it is.
And as a bonus, now you have THE PERFECT poppy seed dressing that can be used on numerous other salad recipes, not just this one! Enjoy!
P.S. Some of you long-timers probably remember that I have a very old version of this salad in the archives. I decided not to update that recipe with all of the changes I made for this newer recipe, because I know some of you like the dressing in that older recipe. I’m leaving that recipe as-is for now, but I consider this recipe a vastly improved version.
Strawberry Spinach Salad with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing
Ingredients
Poppy Seed Dressing:
- ½ cup avocado oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar (or a combination)
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
- ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
Salad:
- 5- or 6-ounce package fresh baby spinach (about 6 to 8 cups)
- 16 ounces strawberries, hulled and sliced (about 2 to 3 cups)
- ½ to ¾ cup crumbled feta cheese (see note)
- ½ cup toasted chopped pecans, sliced almonds, or candied nuts (see note)
- ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion (see note)
Instructions
- For the dressing, in a blender, combine the oil, vinegar, honey, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, and salt. Blend until well-combined. Stir in the poppy seeds. Set aside or refrigerate until serving.
- For the salad, place half the spinach in a salad bowl. Layer with half the strawberries, feta, pecans and red onion.
- Layer with the rest of the spinach and strawberries. Sprinkle the remaining feta cheese, pecans and red onions over the top.
- Drizzle with dressing, to taste (you may not want or need to add it all to start). Give a very light toss. Don't go over board tossing the salad or the ingredients will fall to the bottom below the spinach. Add additional dressing, if needed, or serve the remaining dressing alongside.
- Serve immediately.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe