Strawberry Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
It’s strawberry season here in Nashville, and the spinach is fresh from the farmer’s market, too. So it couldn’t be a better time to make this great strawberry spinach salad.
Plus, are you looking for new recipes that fall within the guidelines of the Mediterranean diet? My strawberry spinach salad does just that, as it’s full of fresh fruits and vegetables, healthy fats, nuts, seeds and high-quality cheese.
Not only does this strawberry spinach salad include nutrient-rich spinach, avocado and strawberries, but the dressing also packs a healthy punch with beneficial ingredients like extra virgin olive oil, apple cider vinegar and poppy seeds, which are high in minerals like manganese and play a role in many of the body’s chemical processes.
Strawberry and Spinach Health Benefits
Many of the health benefits associated with strawberry nutrition are due to the presence of free radical-fighting antioxidants, including uteolin, gallic acid, flavonols and quercetrin.
Strawberries are also beneficial to your health because they are rich in vitamin C, with one cup providing 149 percent of your recommended daily value.
And to point out one more benefit of eating strawberries, they promote detoxification and help the body to restore the proper digestion, promoting regularity and reducing inflammation. That’s why strawberries are one of the best ingredients for detox drinks.
Meanwhile, spinach nutrition is off the charts. It’s considered to be one of the world’s healthiest foods, with researchers identifying more than a dozen different types of flavonoid antioxidants alone that are present in spinach, not to mention all of its other vitamins, minerals and essential nutrients.
Spinach nutrition has powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant abilities, and if you combine that with its very low amount of calories, it is easily one of the most nutrient-rich foods in existence. Like strawberries, it’s a great way to detox your body, too.
Nutrition Facts
This recipe is simply loaded with nutrients. One serving of my strawberry spinach salad made using this recipe contains roughly the following :
- 331 calories
- 27.7 grams fat
- 19.1 grams carbohydrate
- 7.5 grams fiber
- 8.5 grams sugar
- 6.2 grams protein
- 238 micrograms vitamin K (264 percent DV)
- 4,342 IU vitamin A (186 percent DV)
- 62.6 milligrams vitamin C (83 percent DV)
- 1.2 milligrams manganese (71 percent DV)
- 5.7 milligrams vitamin E (38 percent DV)
- 158 micrograms folate (40 percent DV)
- 0.4 milligrams vitamin B2 or riboflavin (35 percent DV)
- 0.3 milligrams copper (35 percent DV)
- 161 milligrams phosphorus (23 percent DV)
How to Make Strawberry Spinach Salad
To start preparing this strawberry spinach salad, grab a small bowl to mix the ingredients for your dressing. Combine olive oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, honey or maple syrup, ground mustard, poppy seeds and salt and pepper to taste.
Mix well, ideally using a whisk to fully emulsify.
Next, add your salad ingredients to a large bowl: spinach, chopped strawberries, chopped red onion, chopped avocado, crumbled goat feta cheese and chopped sprouted almonds.
Pour the poppy seed dressing into the salad and mix it all up until it’s well-combined.
Then I like to refrigerate the salad for about 20 minutes so that it’s served cold and crisp.
And there you have it — a nutrient-rich, heart-healthy and disease-fighting salad that can be served for lunch or dinner. Enjoy!
Other Great Salad Recipes
- Kale Caesar Salad with Salmon
- Mango Walnut Spinach Salad
- Quinoa Kale Salad with Dark Cherries
- Harvest Mason Jar Salad
- Arugula Salad with Pecorino
- Massaged Kale Salad
- Salmon Kale Salad
Strawberry Spinach Salad Recipe
- Total Time: 30 min
- Yield: 4 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
This is the perfect late Spring, early Summer salad featuring two of the ingredients stars of this time of year: strawberries and spinach. Combined with healthy fats via feta cheese, avocado and almonds, it’s also filling and delicious, especially topped by the poppy seed dressing.
Ingredients
Salad:
- 6 cups spinach
- 2 cups strawberries, chopped
- ½ red onion, chopped
- 1 avocado, chopped
- ¼–½ cup goat feta, crumbled
- ¼ cup almonds, chopped
Dressing:
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
- ¼ tablespoon ground mustard
- 1½ tablespoons poppy seeds
- se salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for the dressing until well-combined and set aside.
- Combine all the ingredients for the salad in a large bowl.
- Pour the dressing into the salad and mix until well-combined.
- Refrigerate for 20 minutes, then serve.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Category: Salads, Side Dishes
- Method: Mixing
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 serving (226g)
- Calories: 331
- Sugar: 8.5g
- Sodium: 128mg (9% DV)
- Fat: 27.7g
- Saturated Fat: 4.8g
- Unsaturated Fat: 21.5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 19.1g
- Fiber: 7.5g
- Protein: 6.2g
- Cholesterol: 8mg
Comments
Please keep comments under 200 characters.
I don’t have poppy seeds. Can I substitute chia seeds without changing flavor, consistency too much?
I am very happy to learn these benefits
wonderful. I was looking for a way to make a strawberry spinach salad that taste good and full of only healthy ingredients. Great recipe!! Thanks Dr Axe. I appreciate your easy-to-read information and will be looking at more of your recipes.
Sorry, hate internet sometimes… I meant Vitamin K2
Love the salad and all ingredients, but what you do if YOU can’t have Vitamin 2, since it effected bloo coagulation???
This is not only beautiful, it is absolutely delicious! Thanks for the recipe. Eating it right now, but had to pause to comment.