Spinach Berry Salad with Sweet Poppy Seed Dressing

Looking for a salad that combines vibrant colors, fresh flavors, and a hint of sweetness? This Spinach Berry Salad with Sweet Poppy Seed Dressing is a perfect choice. It’s light, refreshing, and packed with juicy berries, creamy feta, crunchy nuts, and a delicious homemade poppy seed dressing.

Spring is right around the corner which means potlucks and parties are coming! Fresh salads and bright desserts are always perfect to bring to a party or shower. This Strawberry Spinach Salad with Feta and Poppy Seed Dressing is always a crowd-pleasing popular salad, and is so easy to make!

Spinach Berry Salad Ingredients:

This easy salad recipe is made with fresh spinach with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, feta cheese, red onions, and sliced almonds topped with a homemade sweet poppyseed dressing.

• Spinach: Also known as a “superfood”. In this recipe you can use regular spinach or baby spinach depending on preference. Baby spinach is smaller and easier to eat in a salad. If you would rather use another green base, such as iceberg lettuce or romaine, then that could work as well.
• Strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries: These sweet berries provide so much of the flavor and sweetness of this salad.
• Red onion: Adds a crunch to this salad and brings a strong flavor that balances out the sweetness of the berries and dressing.
• Feta cheese: Adding a salty and tangy taste, this cheese brings some creaminess to the salad. If you don’t prefer feta’s strong taste, you can opt for a more mild cheese such as grated mozzarella.
• Sliced or slivered almonds: If you want to elevate the salad, you can toss the almonds in some sugar in a pan and caramelize the sugar to make sugared almonds.

Homemade poppyseed dressing ingredients

• Oil: The base of this dressing is an oil of your choice. It keeps the dressing light and tangy rather than heavy and creamy, like other dressings.
• Vinegar: You can use all types of vinegar in this poppyseed dressing. If you desire a light-colored dressing, use white vinegar. If you want a sweet tang to your dressing, use apple cider vinegar. If you want to compliment the berries, use a raspberry vinegar. I always pick up some Mountain Town Olive Oil when I visit Park City and the Raspberry or Blackberry Ginger are wonderful in this dressing (not sponsored, just a fan).
• Sugar: Adding some sweetness to the dressing, it compliments the fruit in the salad well.
• Poppy seeds: Although they don’t have much flavor, poppyseeds are integral to this dressing. Providing mild texture, poppy seeds are also filled with heart-healthy fats.
• Dried mustard: Dried mustard adds a savory balance to the sweet dressing.
• Salt: As it does in every recipe, salt brings out the flavors and ties everything together in a balanced way.

How to make homemade poppyseed dressing

• In a bowl or a jar, whisk together the oil, vinegar, sugar, poppyseeds, dried mustard, and salt.
• The key is to SHAKE! Or stir. You want to make sure to stir this dressing well enough that all of the ingredients are integrated into the oil to create one dressing.
• Shake periodically because the sugar usually tends to sink to the bottom.

TIP: This dressing tastes good on so many other salads as well! It will taste good on any type of salad, but my favorites are salads with fruits because it pairs so nicely.

Pairings:

If you want this salad to be a complete meal rather than a side dish, the key is to add more protein and carbohydrates! This salad pairs perfectly with some juicy chicken, try either my oven baked chicken or grilling with my perfect chicken marinade. I also think that this goes perfectly with some homemade French bread or an easy no knead bread.

More Salad Recipes:

Strawberry Spinach Salad with Poppyseed Dressing

Chopped Salad with Creamy Basil Dressing

Berry Candied Pecan Salad with Lemon Vanilla Bean Dressing

Cobb Salad

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5 from 31 votes

Spinach Berry Salad with Sweet Poppy Seed Dressing

By: Melissa Stadler, Modern Honey

Fresh spinach with strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, feta cheese, red onions, and sliced almonds topped with a homemade sweet poppyseed dressing. 

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes minutes

Servings: 8

Ingredients  

1x2x3x

• ▢ 8 cups Baby Spinach Leaves
• ▢ 1 cup Strawberries sliced
• ▢ 6 ounces Blueberries
• ▢ 6 ounces Raspberries
• ▢ 4 ounces Feta Cheese
• ▢ 1/4 Red Onion thinly sliced (may use less)
• ▢ 1 cup Sliced or Slivered Almonds
• ▢
  

Sweet Poppyseed Dressing:

• ▢ 1 cup Oil
• ▢ 1/3 cup Vinegar white, apple cider, or raspberry
• ▢ 1/2 cup Sugar
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Poppy Seeds
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Dried Mustard
• ▢ 1 teaspoon Salt

Instructions 

• To make dressing: in a bowl or jar, add oil, vinegar, sugar, poppy seeds, dried mustard, and salt. Shake well. Refrigerate until ready to use.
• Place spinach in a large salad bowl. Top with sliced strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, feta cheese, red onion, and almonds.
• Drizzle with poppyseed dressing.
• Serve immediately.

Nutrition

Calories: 229kcal, Carbohydrates: 24g, Protein: 6g, Fat: 13g, Saturated Fat: 2g, Cholesterol: 12mg, Sodium: 473mg, Potassium: 352mg, Fiber: 4g, Sugar: 17g, Vitamin A: 2890IU, Vitamin C: 26.9mg, Calcium: 150mg, Iron: 1.7mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Servings: 8

Calories: 229

Keyword: spinach berry salad

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