This fresh strawberry spinach salad recipe is tossed with creamy avocado, toasted almonds, your choice of cheese and a honey-sweetened poppyseed dressing.
Forever and always one of my favorite salads to make this time of year. ♡
I first shared this strawberry spinach salad recipe here on Gimme Some Oven nearly a decade ago, but it’s one of those classics that I’m certain I will be making for decades and decades to come. Made with loads of fresh strawberries, tender baby spinach, creamy avocado, toasted almonds, paper-thin red onions, crumbled blue cheese (or goat or feta), and my favorite lightly-sweetened honey poppyseed dressing, this salad is always the first recipe I want to make each spring when juicy ripe red strawberries come back in season. And it always tastes like such a treat.
Feel free, of course, to sub in your preferred kind of greens, nuts (or seeds), and cheese. And if you want to add in some protein, grilled chicken, shrimp or bacon are always delicious options.
So grab a pint of the ripe strawberries while they’re in season, and let’s make this gorgeous salad together!
Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad Recipe | 1-Minute Video
Strawberry Salad and Poppyseed Dressing Ingredients
Before we get to the full recipe below, here are a few notes about the ingredients you will need to make this strawberry salad recipe and poppyseed dressing…
- Greens: I typically use baby spinach or a spring green mix for this strawberry salad, but feel free to use whatever salad greens you love best.
- Strawberries: Look for fresh strawberries that are as ripe as possible.
- Avocado: Sliced or diced avocado add a delicious extra bit of creaminess to this salad.
- Crumbled cheese: We’re partial to using crumbled blue cheese or goat cheese in this salad, but feta or burrata would be delicious options too.
- Sliced almonds: Definitely recommend lightly toasting the almonds before adding them to the salad, to bring out their best flavor.
- Red onion: I recommend slicing the onion paper-thin. If you prefer a milder onion flavor, just rinse the sliced onion briefly in cold water before adding it to the salad.
- Poppyseed dressing: My favorite poppyseed dressing recipe is made simply with avocado oil (or olive oil), red wine vinegar, honey, poppy seeds, Dijon, salt and pepper.
Recipe Variations
Here are a few ideas for different ways to customize this strawberry salad if you’d like…
- Use different fruit: This salad also tastes wonderful using fresh blueberries, cherries, peaches, pears or pomegranate arils in place of (or mixed with) the strawberries.
- Use different nuts/seeds: Pistachios, walnuts, pecans (or candied pecans), pepitas or sunflower seeds would all be delicious alternatives to almonds.
- Add fennel: I also love adding some super-thinly sliced fennel to this salad.
- Make it vegan: Use your favorite vegan cheese or omit the cheese entirely to make this a vegan strawberry salad.
More Green Salad Recipes
Looking for more fruit-forward green salad recipes to try? Here are a few of my faves!
- Pear Salad with Gorgonzola and Candied Walnuts
- Orange, Fennel, Avocado Salad
- Blueberry, Corn, Avocado Chopped Salad
Strawberry Avocado Spinach Salad with Poppyseed Dressing
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients:
- 6 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced
- 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
- 4 ounces crumbled blue cheese (or goat cheese or feta)
- 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- half a small red onion, thinly sliced
Poppyseed Dressing Ingredients:
- 1/3 cup avocado oil (or olive oil)
- 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- fine sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper
Instructions
- Make the dressing. Whisk all ingredients together vigorously in a small bowl (or shake in a covered jar) until emulsified. Taste and season with a pinch of salt and a few twists of pepper, as needed.
- Toss the salad. Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle evenly with the dressing then gently toss until combined.
- Serve. Serve immediately and enjoy!
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!
.My favourite recipe of all time when it comes to salad! I am making it again today for a Father’s Day celebration. The flavour combo is right up my alley. I do add fresh garlic to my Olive oil and purée it in the blender when I Make it. But that’s just me, I love garlic. I have made this salad no less than 10 times since seeing the recipe on face book. It’s great!!!
Love the avocado, spinach and strawberry salad with slivered almonds, so creamy with poppy seed dressings…it’s the BOMB!!!…so delicious!!!
This looks summer heaven! I’ll be making this right away. I wanted to know how much calories in one serving as I can only eat 1500 in total, I am eating clean healthy food to lose a few pounds and this salad looks delicious not to make. I just want to be sure it will be less than 500 calories a bowl.
I made this last night and it was phenomenal!
Really easy to make and very filling. I left out the cheese and added blueberries. Will be making again this week for sure!
My all time favorite salad, so delicious! I used feta cheese in this and it was a real hit. Such an attractive salad as well for a special dinner with friends. I had a lot of compliments.
Tried this salad last night before having visitors around next weekend. It was just beautiful! Particularly on a warm night .Both my husband and I thoroughly enjoyed! He had his with blue cheese ,myself with feta as I am not a fan of blue cheese.
I pan fried chicken fillets and sliced them (which was an added recommendation) plus added a few blueberries. The flavours really melded well together.
Great recipe. So easy, tasty and healthy.
Scrumptious is an understatement! So glad I found this on Pinterest.
Both the salad and dressing were delicious!
Awesome!
delicious! brought to a dinner party and tossed at last minute (which I think is key). it was a big hit! love your recipes, especially the creative salads!
Thanks, Renelle — we’re so happy it was a hit with everyone!