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You are here: Home / Healthy Recipes / Strawberry Salad with Healthy Poppyseed Dressing

June 3, 2015 32 Comments

Strawberry Salad with Healthy Poppyseed Dressing

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This strawberry salad with poppyseed dressing includes fresh, juicy berries, feta, & pecans atop crisp lettuce, and it’s drizzled with a sweet dressing, perfect for summertime.

Strawberry salad with poppyseed dressing, pecans, feta, and poppyseed dressingI’m still in New York City, and I look forward to doing a life catch-up post soon! For now, here’s one of my favorite light summer recipes.

A couple weekends ago, my mom and I went strawberry picking. We left with about 10 pounds of fresh, juicy strawberries, and we knew we needed to use them fast since they were perfectly ripe when we picked them.

We tossed around a few recipe ideas like strawberry shortcake, strawberry pie, and strawberry bread, but ultimately decided to take a healthy route and make a big strawberry salad with poppyseed dressing, feta, and pecans. It’s a great appetizer, and if topped with grilled chicken or another protein, it makes a great main dish, too.

The salad is topped with a sweet poppyseed dressing that takes it to the next level of deliciousness. I’ve made the same salad in the fall with thinly sliced apples or pears, which is also wonderful. For now, the strawberry version is perfect for summer!
Strawberry salad with poppyseed dressing, pecans, feta, and poppyseed dressing

Strawberry salad with pecans, feta, and poppyseed dressing
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Strawberry Salad with Poppyseed Dressing

Author: Liv

Ingredients

For the Salad

  • Romaine lettuce or spinach leaves, washed
  • Strawberries, washed and sliced
  • Pecans, chopped
  • Feta cheese, crumbled

For the Poppyseed Dressing

  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1/3 cup red wine vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon poppyseeds
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 2-3 tablespoons honey, to taste
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Place lettuce in the bottom of a serving bowl or distribute among individual plates. Top with strawberries, pecans, and feta cheese, to taste. Toss with dressing just before serving, or serve dressing on the side.
  • For the dressing: whisk all ingredients together and mix again just before pouring to re-combine the oil and vinegar.

 

Things I Used: salad dressing shaker, organic raw honey

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Comments

  1. Stacie @ SimplySouthernStacie says

    June 3, 2015 at 9:49 am

    This just screams summer! Love it!

    Reply
  2. Bethany says

    June 3, 2015 at 8:11 am

    This salad looks delicious! I gotta make that poppyseed dressing, i love making my own, it always taste so much better 🙂

    Reply
  3. Brie @ Lean, Clean, & Brie says

    June 3, 2015 at 9:38 am

    Beautiful pictures Liv!! I loooove strawberry salads, especially in the summer when the strawberries are fresh & in season!

    Reply
    • Liv says

      June 5, 2015 at 7:59 am

      Thanks, Brie! I think I’d be happy with strawberries in just about anything… 🙂

      Reply
  4. Christine@ Apple of My Eye says

    June 3, 2015 at 11:07 am

    You had me with every word in this recipe title! I’m a hugggeeeee fan of any eats that fit into the summer mentality and this light salad fits the bill perfectly! Not to mention that poppyseed dressing is probably one of my favorite things in the world… <3. LOVEEE!

    Reply
  5. Hailey says

    June 3, 2015 at 5:55 pm

    I love sweet salads! Especially with feta, and poppyseed dressing is the best on them, but I’ve never made it homemade. I’ll have to try your recipe for it!

    Reply
  6. Emily says

    June 3, 2015 at 6:17 pm

    Summer. Love!!! Strawberries. Also love! 🙂

    I love that you and your mom went picking. I would love to do that sometime.

    Reply
  7. Ellie says

    June 3, 2015 at 10:05 pm

    I love how versatile this recipe is. If you don’t have strawberries, you can use other fruit. This is a great idea!

    Reply
  8. Alison @ Daily Moves and Grooves says

    June 3, 2015 at 10:28 pm

    I missed your post when you said you were going to NYC, but GIRL. Why didn’t you tell me!? I mean, you have stuff to do, but that’s so cool that you’re here!
    And this salad looks so refreshing and tasty!

    Reply
    • Liv says

      June 5, 2015 at 7:58 am

      Ahhh so sorry for not mentioning I’d be in NYC! We leave tomorrow and have had almost no free time so I knew I wouldn’t be able to make plans to see people or anything while I was here!

      Reply
  9. Lacey @ Runs and Roses says

    June 4, 2015 at 12:49 am

    Swoon. This looks so good! My favorite restaurant has a salad just like this with grilled salmon on top and its to die for!

    Reply
    • Liv says

      June 5, 2015 at 7:57 am

      Oh wow, that salad sounds incredible!

      Reply
  10. Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says

    June 4, 2015 at 4:23 am

    I posted the other day about never being a fan of fruit in salads until I tried strawberry and balsamic together. This is such a summer salad!

    Reply
    • Liv says

      June 5, 2015 at 7:57 am

      Strawberry and balsamic sounds so good!

      Reply
  11. Dani @ DaniCaliforniaCooks says

    June 4, 2015 at 6:00 pm

    Nothing better than pecans on salads! My favorite addition.

    Reply
  12. Rachael says

    June 5, 2015 at 8:36 pm

    You can vacuum pack strawberries and freeze them, but this recipe sounds great.

    Reply
  13. Katherine says

    June 7, 2015 at 5:52 pm

    First off, YOU ARE GORGEOUS! I absolutely love picking strawberries. They taste so much better when they’re fresh from the field! Also, I LOVE strawberries in salad. It feels like such a summery thing to eat!!

    Reply
    • Liv says

      June 8, 2015 at 9:24 pm

      You’re so sweet, Katherine! And I agree 100% about fresh strawberries- nothing better! After picking them, it’s a lot harder to go buy them at the grocery store now haha.

      Reply
  14. Carmen says

    August 25, 2015 at 12:12 pm

    Liv! Sorry but during these months I’ve been extremely busy.. But I am back! Wow! It looks amazing.. I love salads with fruit: in Italy we habe a very special kind of salad with pomelo, orange and lettuce… But I don’t really like it ’cause I can’t stand the flavour of citrus in salads.
    Your strawberry salad sounds AMAZING!!

    Reply
  15. It Takes a Cookie says

    June 14, 2017 at 9:33 pm

    Great salad! Simple yet full of flavor. Dressing is an amazing compliment. I’ve added some of my own ingredients to make it more of an entrée salad or served with a BBQ – both are now family favorites!

    Reply
    • Liv says

      June 19, 2017 at 9:30 pm

      I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe- this is still my favorite summer salad!

      Reply
  16. Melissa says

    June 20, 2017 at 10:18 am

    I’m making this salad again for company tonight. We loved it so much last time. It’s very quick and easy to make. I like that honey is used in place of sugar like most poppyseed dressing recipes. I also added clementines. Thank you for the recipe!

    Reply
    • Liv says

      June 21, 2017 at 3:00 pm

      I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed it! I look forward to strawberry season every year just so I can make this salad!

      Reply
  17. Kristina Mendoza says

    July 30, 2017 at 2:12 am

    I have recently made this for a group of friends’ get-together and they all enjoyed it! Thanks a bunch for the recipe Liv!

    Reply
    • Liv says

      July 30, 2017 at 4:07 pm

      I’m so glad you all enjoyed this salad, Kristina!

      Reply
  18. Katherine says

    September 13, 2017 at 2:24 am

    Hi! I love the way the salad looks I can’t wait to try it! I was wondering if you could suggest any substitutions for the pecans? I would try it but I’m allergic to them.

    Reply
    • Liv says

      September 13, 2017 at 10:28 pm

      Hi Katherine! If you can have other nuts, almost any nut would work well here, like almonds, walnuts, or chopped Brazil nuts!

      Reply
  19. Misty Bane says

    November 11, 2017 at 12:14 pm

    I made this salad tonight for a bunch of college students and they loved it! Since strawberries are out of season now, I drained a can of mandarin orange segments and used those instead. They loved it and wanted your recipe for poppyseed dressing 🙂

    Reply
    • Liv says

      November 11, 2017 at 2:50 pm

      I’m so glad to hear that they enjoyed this salad and the dressing recipe! 🙂

      Reply
  20. Yara says

    March 27, 2018 at 11:34 am

    Hi, thanks for sharing this recipe. Do you have any idea what to put instead of red wine vinegar?

    Reply
    • Liv says

      March 27, 2018 at 3:28 pm

      Hi Yara,
      You can substitute cider vinegar, rice vinegar, or white wine vinegar for red vinegar!

      Reply
  21. Nicole|LilliesandLashes says

    March 31, 2019 at 11:32 pm

    This salad was amazing! My family loved it. I substituted almonds for the pecans and it turned out wonderful. Can’t wait to make it again. Thanks so much!

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Liv! I originally started blogging to share easy meals I made in my college dorm kitchen. Years later, as an attorney now, my goal is still to share delicious, approachable recipes with simple ingredients. You can most often find me running, eating ice cream, and making a mess in my kitchen. More...

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