A classic favorite summer salad with a super delicious and easy homemade strawberry vinaigrette dressing, this strawberry spinach salad is sure to be a crowd-pleaser. Fresh juicy strawberries, creamy and salty feta cheese, crunchy toasted pecans, and tender spinach are all coated in a sweet yet tangy strawberry vinaigrette. The perfect side dish or meal-prep salad for lunches!
Please, please tell me you’ve tried this blueberry farro feta salad already?! If not, STOP reading this right now and make it. I seriously can’t get enough of it…but anyways, moving on to today’s recipe. Fresh summer berries make an appearance yet again, as well as feta. I just can’t NOT top my salad with feta. Anyone else?! What is your favorite cheese for salads?
Strawberries will always be one of my all-time favorite fruits. They are just so versatile! Eaten fresh, homemade jam (foreshadow!!), in salads, in pie, strawberry shortcake anyone?! And as mentioned, with feta being one of my favorite cheeses, this salad is well on it’s way to being a fast favorite.
Another way strawberries are incorporated in this dish is in the homemade vinaigrette! I’ve been regularly making my own homemade salad dressings for a couple years now (Sidenote: this dressing has been made on repeat literally at least every other week during meal prep for the past few months). And that’s saying a LOT since I very rarely make the same recipe twice.
Homemade Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing
However, I believe this was the first time I’ve tried making a salad dressing using fruit. A full cup of berries is used in the vinaigrette, and honestly not much oil or vinegar is needed compared to most dressing recipes since the strawberries release so much flavor and juice as they are blended!
I decided to use red wine vinegar, but white wine vinegar would work well too. The addition of a garlic clove adds a rather unexpected but appreciated depth of flavor. It just seemed wrong to NOT add garlic to a homemade vinaigrette, and the savory garlic balances out the sweetness of the strawberries. That being said, I’ve made the vinaigrette both with and without the garlic and it’s delicious either way. So you do you. Also, if you don’t have any fresh cloves of garlic on hand, you could try substituting about ½ teaspoon (or to taste) dried garlic powder.
Meal Prep
To make this a more balanced and filling dish, try adding grilled chicken or salmon. It’s the perfect recipe to add leftover meat to for lunch the next day! If you want to meal prep this or make it ahead of time for having guests over, make sure you keep the dressing separate as well as the sliced strawberries to keep all of the ingredients fresh. Or for easy lunches, you can use mason jars and put the salad dressing first in the bottom, followed by the topping ingredients and spinach last to keep it fresh. See this post for more details on mason jar salads.
- Strawberry Spinach Salad
- 1 (5 ounce) bag fresh spinach
- 1 lb. strawberries, sliced (and divided)
- 4 ounces feta cheese
- 4 ounces (1/2 cup) pecans, chopped
- Strawberry Vinaigrette Dressing
- 1 cup sliced fresh strawberries
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- To make the dressing: Add all ingredients to small food processor or blender and process until combined.
- For the pecans: heat small skillet over medium-low heat on stove. Add chopped pecans and toast until fragrant, about 5 minutes. Stir often to prevent burning.
- For the salad: Layer spinach, sliced strawberries, feta, pecans, and strawberry vinaigrette dressing to a large bowl and toss to combine.
I made this for my Wheaton friends and I was super proud of how beautiful it looked 🙂 I took a picture of it to show you, Brittany, but I am not sure how to attach it here. I love the homemade vinaigrette with fresh strawberries. I don’t think I would have ever thought to use fresh fruit. So creative!
Thanks! I had never used fresh fruit before in a dressing…but I was happy with how it turned out! I have found I actually like the recipe/ratios in the fig dressing better…so maybe you could try that recipe sometime using strawberries instead of figs if you want! 🙂
I was looking for great information on making salads with spinach and other great ingredients. I thinks I struck at the right place. Thanks for sharing.
You’re welcome; I hope you like this salad!
Yuuuum!!! that dressing looks phenomenal
xx lindsay | http://www.lindsayfuce.com
Thank you, I love it! Hope you like it as well 😊