Strawberry Spinach Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

This salad works well as a side salad with Smoked Burgers.

Or, you can make it the main dish by adding your favorite protein. Try it with these Traeger Chicken Breasts, Air Fryer Chicken Breasts, or Sous Vide Chicken Tenders.

Spinach salad ingredient notes

• Baby spinach: You can also use kale (more hearty) or arugula (more peppery).
• Mandarin oranges: I like to purchase the canned no-sugar-added mandarin oranges. You could also use fresh mandarin oranges or canned peaches.
• Strawberries: I like to quarter or halve the berries, depending on their size.
• Blackberries & blueberries: Or, use all strawberries.
• Chopped walnuts: You can also use sunflower seeds, sliced almonds or chopped pistachios or pecans instead.

Poppy seed dressing ingredient notes

• Mayonnaise – Mayonnaise is used as the base of this poppyseed dressing recipe. It gives it a thick and creamy texture and rich flavor that tastes very comforting. 
• Milk – To help thin out the dressing without losing the rich consistency.
• Sugar – The sweetness from the sugar balances the rest of the tart and rich flavors. If you don’t want to use granulated white sugar, use coconut sugar, cane sugar, maple syrup, or honey instead.
• Poppy seeds – Poppy seeds don’t add much in terms of flavor here, but they do give the dressing some personality and crunch! Plus, the small black seeds speckled throughout the dressing make it look totally irresistible.
• Rice wine vinegar – If you don’t have rice wine vinegar, use apple cider vinegar or white wine vinegar instead. Regular white vinegar is too tart and acidic for this recipe.
• Dijon mustard – Try not to replace this with regular yellow mustard. A fancy brown mustard is a much better option because of the depth of flavor.
• Kosher salt

If you’re not up for making your own dressing, you can use store-bought poppy seed dressing or a creamy balsamic vinaigrette instead.

How to make it

1. First, make the dressing. Whisk all of the ingredients together until you have a smooth and creamy dressing. Season with additional salt, to taste.
2. Combine the spinach, mandarin orange slices, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries and walnuts in a large bowl.
3. If you are serving it right away, you can add the poppyseed dressing and toss to combine. Then, plate it up on a large platter, salad plates or simply serve this simple salad in the large salad bowl you mixed it in.
4. If you’re meal prepping for later, don’t add the dressing until you’re ready to eat. More tips on that below…

How to make ahead and store

If you don’t plan on serving the salad right away, it’s best to store the salad and the dressing in separate containers. You can make the dressing up to 5 days ahead of time. When you’re ready to serve, simply toss and enjoy!

Did you make this strawberry spinach salad?

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