This Strawberry Fields Salad is loaded with fresh spinach, juicy strawberries, pecans, and feta cheese all tossed together in a balsamic vinaigrette. This delicious salad is bursting with flavor and perfect as a summer side dish or turned into a salad lunch with some grilled chicken.
Toppings are an essential part to any salad and can turn a boring base of fresh greens into something so tasty it can steal the limelight from the main course. The toppings in this Strawberry Fields Salad are just that. They work together to add bursts of sweetness, saltiness, tanginess and crunch. It keeps your taste buds excited and makes this salad anything but boring.
While you could easily swap in your favourite dressing, we love to add balsamic vinaigrette to our strawberry field salad. It has the perfect acidity and just a touch of sweetness. Its so simple to make, why bother with a bottled dressing when you can make this in just minutes and it is so much better?
This strawberry spinach salad is one of my favorite salads to make when strawberry season comes around. It’s fresh, bursting with flavor, and healthy too. Perfect as a side dish to compliment a variety of meals or turned into the meal itself with some added protein like grilled chicken.
The beauty of this strawberry salad (aside from it actually looking beautiful, which it does) is that you can make it as written below or add to the toppings to make it fresh and exciting. There are so many ways to enjoy it, you’ll want to make it on repeat all summer long. Be sure to read below to see my favorite suggestions for taking this salad up a notch.
Why we love this Strawberry Fields Salad?
- It’s fresh and delicious!
- This salad is the perfect way to utilize those juicy strawberries during strawberry season.
- It’s quick and easy to make.
- It is always a crowd pleaser and perfect for bringing to potlucks.
- This great salad can easily be customized with additional toppings.
- Adding a protein like grilled chicken or salmon can turn it into the main course.
Ingredients in this strawberry spinach salad:
- Baby spinach: The base of this salad. You can easily swap in different greens like a mixed spring greens, arugula, green or red leaf lettuce, or romaine lettuce.
- Strawberries: Sliced, ripe strawberries. This salad is best made when you can get your hands on flavorful strawberries when they are in season.
- Feta cheese: Crumbled feta adds salt and tang to this salad. As one of my favorite cheeses, I love it in this salad but if you wish to, you can also substitute goat cheese or even blue cheese.
- Pecans: You can use plain, toasted pecans or substitute candied pecans or spiced pecans to add more of a fun kick to this salad!
- Olive oil: A good quality olive oil is used to make the vinaigrette.
- Balsamic vinegar
- Honey: A little bit of honey is used to add sweetness to the vinaigrette. You can also substitute sugar instead.
- Dijon mustard
- Seasoning: Salt and black pepper to taste.
**Note: Ingredient quantities and complete recipe instructions are in the recipe card at the end of this post.**
How to make this strawberry salad:
- Make the balsamic vinaigrette. To make the vinaigrette, place all of the ingredients in a jar with a secure lid. Shake until everything is well combined. Taste and adjust to suit your taste.
- Toss the strawberries and spinach in the vinaigrette. Place spinach and strawberries in a salad bowl. Toss with enough vinaigrette to coat everything.
- Add the salad toppings. Sprinkle the feta and pecans on top of salad. Serve.
Ways to elevate this Strawberry Fields Salad
While I love this fresh salad as it is, there are often little additions or tweaks I love to make to change things up. Some of those variations include:
- Adding spiced pecans or candied pecans. As mentioned above, these make this salad extra tasty!
- Switching up the cheese. While feta is my favorite, goat cheese is a good substitute and blue cheese also works well with these flavors.
- Change up the nuts. While pecans are classic in a strawberry spinach salad, you can swap in a different nut like walnuts or almond slices to make it fun and exciting.
- Add sliced onions. Fresh red onion or even pickled onions make a great topping and are usually part of a classic strawberry salad. Since my husband isn’t a huge fan of onions, I opted to keep them out but will usually add them when bring this to a potluck or serving this at a dinner party.
- Adding proteins. Not only can you add salmon, chicken strips or grilled chicken breasts to this to make it a main dish, but adding crumbled bacon or crispy prosciutto is another tasty option.
- Change up the dressing. I love a good balsamic dressing but there are so many options you can use for this salad. I love topping this salad with a strawberry vinaigrette (I use the recipe for my Raspberry Vinaigrette and change use strawberries instead) or even a lemon poppy seed dressing.
Can you prep this salad in advance?
Strawberry salad can easily be prepped in advance to make dinner time a breeze. To prep it in advance, you can make the salad dressing as described and then store it in a glass jar with a secure lid in the fridge. You can also assemble the salad ingredients in your large serving bowl and store it in the fridge as well covered with plastic wrap.
When you are ready to serve it, give the dressing a good shake again to mix the ingredients together (they may have separated as they sat in the fridge) and then pour it over the salad. Give the salad greens and toppings a good toss with the dressing and serve.
Alternatively, you can also serve the salad undressed and allow your dinner guests to drizzle on as much salad dressing as they like. This is especially a good idea because if there is any salad leftover, it will stay fresh in the fridge if it isn’t covered in dressing.
This Strawberry Fields Salad is one of my favorite salad recipes to make in the summer and makes the perfect side dish for so many of our meals. I love eating the entire salad as a healthy lunch too!
I hope you enjoy this fresh and delicious salad as much as we do!
-Cathy
Looking for more fresh salads? These are some of my favorite summer salad recipes:
Caprese Salad
Mixed Berry Arugula Salad (another great way to use up fresh berries)
Traditional Greek Salad
Mediterranean Grain Salad with Roasted Summer Vegetables
For more ideas on how to use fresh strawberries, check out:
Strawberry Cream Cheese Danish
Balsamic Strawberry Flatbread
Strawberry Lemon Cupcakes
Strawberry Oat Breakfast Bars
Healthy Strawberry Banana Muffins
Strawberry Fields Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 4 cups baby spinach washed and drained
- 1 cup strawberries sliced
- 1/4 cup feta crumbled
- 1/4 cup toasted pecans (or candied pecans or spiced pecans)
For the Balsamic Vinaigrette
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- To make the vinaigrette, place all of the ingredients in a jar with a secure lid. Shake until everything is well combined. Taste and adjust to suit your taste.
- Place spinach and strawberries in a salad bowl. Toss with enough vinaigrette to coat everything.
- Top the salad with feta and pecans. Serve.
Note: Metric ingredient measurements are provided as a courtesy using a third-party calculator and are rounded to the nearest unit. The recipes provided on this site have not been tested with metric measurements and their accuracy cannot be verified.
Nutrition
The nutritional information provided is based on third-party calculations and is an estimate only. Accurate nutritional facts will vary based on the particular brands used, portion sizes, measurement accuracy and more.
