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This Strawberry Spinach Salad is dressed with a sweet poppy seed vinaigrette and lots of buttery pecans. Make the dressing up to 3 days in advance and toast the pecans in butter the day before you need them. It’s a great salad option for parties and potlucks because you can easily assemble it upon arrival.
You’ll love this Strawberry Spinach Salad!
If your goal is to make a salad that stands out at parties and potlucks, this Strawberry Spinach Salad is knock-out success. I studied the foundations of great salad-making in culinary school, and I’m excited to pass along my wisdom to you.
The secret to salad-making is all about balance: strive to balance colors, flavors, and textures. Here, combine soft spinach leaves with juicy ripe strawberries, pecans toasted in buttery, and a sweet poppyseed dressing. It hits all the right notes, and at parties, it stands out as one of the most vibrant options on the buffet.
If you’re looking for a great lunch option, add some sliced grilled chicken and blueberries. The protein will help keep you full all day long, and it tastes great with the poppyseed dressing and fresh berries. I usually make a batch of my grilled lemon chicken if I want to meal prep this salad.
Table of Contents
- You’ll love this Strawberry Spinach Salad!
- Strawberry Salad ingredients
- Ingredient notes
- How to make Strawberry Salad
- How to make Poppyseed Dressing (the Best Dressing for Strawberry Salad):
- Natural ways to sweeten poppyseed dressing:
- How to make Easiest Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Spinach Strawberry Salad Additions and Variations
- Storing Strawberry Pecan Salad
- What to serve with Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Strawberry Pecan Salad Recipe
Strawberry Salad ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Olive oil: The original dressing was made with vegetable oil, so feel free to substitute that if you prefer.
- Sugar: ¼ cup sugar makes for a super sweet vinaigrette, so feel free to add less to taste.
- Butter: Toasting the pecans in butter takes them right over the top. Substitute olive oil if you’re preparing a vegan salad or prefer that.
- Pecans: To toast the pecans, in a dry skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter or heat the olive oil. Add the pecans and toast until fragrant, stirring often to prevent scorching, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Spinach: If you prefer, substitute half the spinach for field greens.
How to make Strawberry Salad
- In a small bowl with a whisk, or in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, add the vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, dried mustard, poppy seeds, and salt to taste (I like 1 teaspoon). Stir or shake to combine.
- In a small skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the pecans and toast until fragrant, stirring often to prevent scorching, about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
- In a large bowl, add spinach, strawberries, and pecans. Drizzle with dressing and toss until evenly coated.
How to make Poppyseed Dressing (the Best Dressing for Strawberry Salad):
In a small bowl with a whisk, or in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, add the vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, dried mustard, poppy seeds, and salt to taste (I like 1 teaspoon). Stir or shake to combine. Let the flavors blend at room temperature while preparing the rest of the salad, or make it up to 3 days in advance.
The original recipe used vegetable oil, but these days I always use olive oil. You can also decrease the amount of sugar if you prefer a less sweet dressing.
Natural ways to sweeten poppyseed dressing:
Even if you’re watching your sugar intake, you can still enjoy poppyseed dressing by experimenting with a natural sweetener, such as:
- Honey
- Maple syrup
- Pineapple juice
- Monk fruit
How to make Easiest Balsamic Vinaigrette
Strawberries and balsamic dressing are so good together, and this is a great option if you prefer dressings without sugar. Add a teaspoon of poppy seeds for the best of both worlds! You can make it up to 3 days in advance.
Whisk together:
- ½ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper (I like ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper)
Whisk everything together in a bowl, or add to a jar, cover, and shake.
Spinach Strawberry Salad Additions and Variations
Great salads like this one are endlessly adaptable. Add or swap any of the ideas below:
- Grilled chicken slices or leftover rotisserie chicken
- Crumbled feta cheese or blue cheese
- Candied pecans
- Toasted walnuts, hazelnuts, or almonds
- Bite-sized pineapple chunks
- Canned mandarin orange segments
- Fresh raspberries or blueberries
- Thin slices of red onion or pickled shallots
- Sunflower seeds
- Dried cranberries or cherries
Storing Strawberry Pecan Salad
Can you make this Strawberry Spinach Salad Recipe ahead of time?
Store leftover salad in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. For lunches and meal prep, store the components separately.
- Poppy seed dressing: Make up to 3 days in advance and store in the refrigerator.
- Pecans: Toast in butter 2 days in advance, drain on paper towels, cool, and store in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before adding to the salad.
- Strawberries: Ideally, slice these the day you are going to serve the salad. Keep in the refrigerator until you’re going to slice them.
- Spinach: Wash and dry one day in advance and store in the refrigerator. Use a salad spinner or a clean kitchen towel to dry.
What to serve with Strawberry Spinach Salad
I love to serve this salad at parties with lots of other options. In a line-up of potato salad, macaroni salad, and pasta salad, Strawberry Spinach Salad is a light and refreshing option that everyone will appreciate.
It’s also a fantastic summer side dish for meals. If you’ve got fresh peaches on hand, add them to the strawberries, then serve this salad with grilled pork chops, chicken kabobs, or grilled tri tip.
Round out your menu with another veggie option like corn on the cob (I love it with a compound butter), air fryer zucchini, or roasted green beans.
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Strawberry Pecan Salad
Ingredients
For the poppy seed dressing:
- 1/2 cup olive oil (see note 1)
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar or less to taste (see note 2)
- 1 teaspoon dried mustard
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
- Salt
For the salad:
- 3 tablespoons butter or olive oil (see note 3)
- 1 cup pecans (about 4 ounces, see note 4)
- 1 pound baby spinach (about 10 cups, see note 5)
- 1 pound strawberries hulled and sliced (about 2 cups)
Instructions
- In a small bowl with a whisk, or in a jar with a tight-fitting lid, add the vegetable oil, red wine vinegar, sugar, dried mustard, poppy seeds, and salt to taste (I like 1 teaspoon). Stir or shake to combine.
- In a small skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Add the pecans and toast until fragrant, stirring often to prevent scorching, about 10 to 15 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
- In a large bowl, add spinach, strawberries, and pecans. Drizzle with dressing and toss until evenly coated.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Olive oil: The original dressing was made with vegetable oil, so feel free to substitute that if you prefer.
- Sugar: ¼ cup sugar makes for a super sweet vinaigrette, so feel free to add less to taste.
- Butter: Toasting the pecans in butter takes them right over the top. Substitute olive oil if you’re preparing a vegan salad or prefer that.
- Pecans: To toast the pecans, in a dry skillet over medium-low heat, melt the butter or heat the olive oil. Add the pecans and toast until fragrant, stirring often to prevent scorching, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Spinach: If you prefer, substitute half the spinach for field greens.
- Yield: This recipe makes about 12 cups of salad. It’s enough for 6 large servings of 2 cups each, such as for lunch, or 12 servings, 1 cup each, for a party or buffet.
- Storage: Store leftover salad in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. For lunches and meal prep, store the components separately.
Could I use walnuts instead of pecans? If I can would I toast them?
Hi Tina, you can substitute walnuts. I would still sauté them as directed in step 1, keeping an eye on them so they don’t burn. I hope you love this salad! – Meggan
Would candied pecans work in this salad?
Yes! It will just make it a little sweeter, but I don’t think too sweet. That sounds delicious! -Meggan
If I want to substitute honey instead of sugar, how much honey would I add?
Hi Linda, 1/4 cup sugar is often substituted with 3 tablespoons honey, but you could start with 2 tablespoons and see if you think it needs more sweetener. Thank you! – Meggan
I’m assuming you use the butter to sauté the pecans?
Hi Dawn, yes! Thank you so much for pointing that out. I’ve updated the wording. Sorry about that! – Meggan
Love this salad!
So easy to make!! Added honey to the dressing. Not as sweet as I like and will add more. Did not use all, saving and taking some to my parents tomorrow! Great recipe!!!!
Hello! I had fun looking all around your website/blog. Your recipe for Strawberry Spinach Salad caught my eye. I had some fresh strawberries and some leftover rotisserie chicken on hand, as well as some candied pineapple and caramelized pecans. I chopped the pineapple and the pecans up into medium sized chunks and then along with the baby spinach, the strawberries, and the chunks of chicken, I added a generous amount of crumbled roquefort cheese. Instead of my home made poppy seed dressing, because of the sweetness of the candied pineapple and the caramelized pecans, I just used sweetened rice vinegar for the dressing. We had company over for lunch and this, along with some toasted wheat buns was a big hit. If you’re serving this to kids, they probably wouldn’t care for the roquefort cheese … most likely would rather have the sweeter poppy seed dressing. Thanks for sharing your recipes and thanks, also, for putting up with my changing your recipe a tad bit!!!
This salad is so delicious and is wonderful anytime but especially in the summer. I’ve made it with goat cheese and Brianna’s blush wine dressing (prepared dressing). Going to try it with the balsamic dressing.
Have you added poppy seeds to the easy Balsamic dressing?
Thank you, Kayc
Can the poppy seed dressing be made ahead (like 3 days earlier) and stored in refrigerator? Or is it best to make the dressing the same day you will be serving the salad?
Hi Josie, yes make it ahead! It will taste better if it sits for a couple of days. If you can bring it to room temperature before you serve it (let it sit out 30 minutes prior) and shake or stir it well… all the better! Thank you for the question.
How far in advance can you make the Easy Balsalmic Vinigerette? Have so many last minute things before dinner party, trying to figure out what I can do earlier.
Hi Terri! 4 days per the CDC… but I think it would be fine for a week or two, even! There is nothing in it that will cause issues (such as garlic, for example). You’ll be good to go to make it early! Thanks Terri!
To amp it up just a bit add blue cheese or feta cheese crumbles. Trust me when I tell you YUMMY!!!
Ummmm, YES!!!! I should probably redo this entire post to include cheese because, heck yes.
Looking for poppy seed dressing recipe – not in the notes.
Sorry, I thought I had added that last week, but I must have forgotten to hit “save.” It’s there now, I swear/promise! Thanks.
I didn’t see the recipe for the homemade. poppy seed dressing in the notes. Thanks.
Hey Jo! Sorry for the confusion on that. The word “Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing” in the recipe was a link that you were supposed to click on to go to the page with the recipe for that… but who has time for that? I added it in the notes. Sorry about that and thanks for helping me be useful, ha ha! Take care.
Question – Just to clarify, the recipe for “Easiest Balsamic Vinaigrette” calls for 1/4 cup of Balsamic Vinaigrette. I assume this should read Balsamic VINEGAR, correct? Thank you for the recipe! Going to make this week for lunch and dinner! 🙂
I’d laugh if this wasn’t so embarrrassing! Yes, Amber. Thank you. I will make the change immediately. D’oh! 🙂
It made me giggle! And scratch my head a little 😉 Thank you!
I love this salad and make versions of it. One fav. is to combine spinach leaves or romaine, strawberries, pecans but I also add pineapple tidbits and sometimes mandarin oranges. For me, the dressing is the key: I buy one bottle of creamy poppyseed dressing. I blend together about 1 cup poppyseed dressing and about 2 Tbsp. of pineapple juice which I have drained from the can of pineapple tidbits. I may adjust the amount of the 2 ingredients until I like the flavor but for me, having the fruit sweetness blended with the poppyseed just gives the salad the right flavor. Enjoy!
Your version sounds amazing! I can’t wait to try it, I love more fruit. And pineapple juice in the dressing sounds GREAT. Thank you so much for the idea!
I want to coke healthy
I like this recipe with a little red onion thinly sliced and tossed in it.
I got spinach and strawberries out of my garden last night and had everything in the pantry for the poppy seed dressing so I had this for lunch today. It was delicious! I didn’t have pecans so I used sunflower seeds instead. Thank you!
Hi Jana! I actually make this salad all the time with sunflower seeds. Usually pecans AND sunflower seeds, but yeah. So good. Walnuts work too! And with everything out of your garden, it was probably the best salad ever. Have a great weekend!
This is a gorgeous salad! I totally know what you mean about fruit + greens! I love the combination now, but it definitely had me confused for years. And that poppy seed dressing sounds great. Thanks for sharing this Meggan!!
It’s so good with balsamic too if you don’t want all the sugar in the poppyseed dressing! 🙂 I love your new blog, by the way. It looks so beautiful! I’m so glad we got to meet at NagiCon. 🙂
I love strawberry spinach salad!! I haven’t tried it with mixed greens, so this has me intrigued!
What a beautiful salad, Meggan! This one ought to make a salad lover out of anyone!
Perfect timing! I needed a fresh idea. Making this in a couple hours for lunch. Thanks.
This really caught my eye – I love pecans generally and the strawberries make it look so pretty. I’m wondering if a version of the dressing with a little maple syrup in it would be good, too!
Hi Helen! I am sure the dressing would be fantastic with maple syrup. One of my friends makes it with honey instead of the sugar and she just loves it. I do love this salad. Salted pecans, sweet strawberries, YUM! Thank you for stopping by, I appreciate it! 🙂
I must try this dressing! And I love strawberries, spinach and pecans, such a nice combination.
Oh, this looks incredible, Meggan!! I really wish you would link both of these to my Foodie Friday, I know my readers would love them!!
I just started Foodie Friday a couple weeks ago, but I’ve heard from several of my readers that they are loving it. Hopefully with the support of other bloggers I can keep it going.
Have a great weekend!
Melissa