When grocery shopping for a salad to accompany a spicy pasta dish I made last week (recipe for that soon to come!), the blackberries were calling my name. So I decided to the “sweet” salad route, and make a fruity spinach salad with some herbed chevre, toasted walnuts, baby spinach, and of course, blackberries. :)
Since multiple cartons of blackberries somehow made it into my cart, I decided to also puree some of them and make a homemade blackberry-balsamic vinaigrette to drizzle on top. Quite possibly my best idea of the week — it was delicious!
Feel free to sub in other favorite cheeses, berries, or nuts, but I thought this flavor combination was a definite winner. Will be making it again soon!
Spinach Berry Salad with Blackberry-Balsamic Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients:
- 8 cups baby spinach or mixed greens
- 4 oz. chevre, crumbled
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted
- 1 pint fresh blackberries
Blackberry Balsamic Vinaigrette Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup strained blackberry juice (see tip below)
- 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 tsp. dried thyme
- pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
To Make Salad:
- Toss together spinach, chevre, walnuts, and blackberries. Then drizzle with the blackberry balsamic vinaigrette. Serve.
To Make Blackberry Balsamic Vinaigrette:
- Whisk together all ingredients until well-blended. Season with additional salt and pepper if needed.
Notes
Did you make this?Let me know how it turned out in the comments below!Ali’s Tip:
To make the strained blackberry juice, just puree blackberries in a food processor or mash with a spoon. Then strain through a fine-mesh sieve.
If you’d like, save the blackberry pulp and pop it in a smoothie!
This is a gorgeous salad. Cannot wait for Berry season! Thank you for the inspiration!
Nice and healthy salad!! Love the ingredients! I make salads for my family at least 3 times a week and this is surely going in the rotation!! Thanks for sharing it!
Mmm. This sounds good, although I’ve never tried chevre. Is there any way you could describe it or is there a cheese you would say that it is similar to?
Hey Sara!
Chevre is just goat cheese (that’s made in France). But any other goat cheese would be great! Or I’m sure feta, gorgonzola, or bleu cheese would also be terrific in this one. Enjoy!! :)
~A
talk about a beautiful salad! gorgeous pic!
This looks like summer…the good parts…not the crazy heat!
oh my heavens. I can’t wait until our blackberries are ripe! I LOVE this!!! :o) Thanks for sharing!
Such a beautiful salad. The colours are so vivid.
What a gorgeous salad. Love the blackberries. And yours look incredible.
Gorgeous salad! Love the sound of your vinaigrette.
This look soooooo tasty! I’m a huge fan of salads with fruit… and balsamic! :)