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For years, I thought salads had to look a certain way—bland iceberg lettuce, salty croutons, and a thick, creamy dressing. I ate them… but I didn’t love them. That all changed when I realized how fresh, vibrant, and satisfying salads can actually be.
This strawberry mixed greens salad is one of my favorites. It’s all about the balance—crisp greens, sweet fruit, creamy avocado, and that bright strawberry basil vinaigrette that brings everything to life. This is the kind of salad you’ll actually crave. Enjoy!
Table of Contents
What is a Mixed Greens Salad?
A mixed green salad is a simple salad made with a variety of leafy greens—like spring mix, spinach, arugula, or lettuce—topped with fresh ingredients and a dressing. It’s known for being light, flexible, and easy to customize based on what you have on hand.
This recipe stands out because it’s more balanced and satisfying—with fruit, healthy fats, crunch, and a homemade strawberry basil dressing that adds fresh, vibrant flavor.
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How to Make Mixed Greens Salad
This mixed greens salad recipe is filled with these greens, plus tangy green apple, creamy avocado, and crunchy almonds. Seriously, this salad is the perfect meal when your sweet tooth comes calling and you’re trying to eat healthy.
1. Wash and dry greens
A recent study done by Consumer Reports says that we should all be washing any produce that comes into our cooking spaces, whether “pre-washed”, organic or otherwise. This is because even those mixed greens carefully washed by well meaning producers can still contain contaminants from E. coli, chemicals and more.
2. Chop apples, avocado and cucumber
I like to chop them all into bite-size pieces (the smaller, the better).
3. Make the Strawberry viniagarette
Combine dressing ingredients in a high-speed blender or food processor and puree into the best dressing you’ve ever had with mixed greens.
4. prepare the plate
Add the mixed greens first, and then toppings to the plate. Drizzle dressing on top and enjoy!
Make-Ahead Tips
If you want this salad for work, prep it all in a mason jar. It’s seriously so easy! Simply layer the ingredients in the mason jar. Keep the strawberry dressing in a separate container until time to eat. When you’re ready to eat, pour the dressing on top, give the mason jar a good shake, and enjoy!
Strawberry Mixed Greens Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cup spring mix greens loosely packed
- 1 cucumber thinly sliced
- 1 green apple diced
- 1 avocado sliced
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
Dressing
- 1 cup strawberries diced
- 6 fresh basil fresh, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 tsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp pure maple syrup
- pinch sea salt, unrefined
- pinch black pepper, ground ground, to taste
Instructions
- Arrange salad ingredients on plates.
- Puree the dressing ingredients in a blender or food processor. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed.
- Drizzle some of the dressing over salad (you may not need all of it). Eat immediately.
Notes
- Swap mixed greens with the leafy greens of your choice.
- Oil-free? Omit the olive oil. It’ll still be delicious and less caloric.
- Lemon Vinaigrette would also be delicious on this recipe.
- Add the nuts or seeds of your choice for more healthy fats + protein.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review for a chance to win signed copies of my cookbooks!Common Questions
Yes! If you have a favorite dressing, feel free to swap out my Strawberry Vinaigrette. Yet I do encourage you to make it one time like this because it’s out-of-this-world delicious!
You sure can. You can swap it for any leafy green you prefer or have on hand. You might check out our Leafy Greens Guide for more inspiration.
In all my salads, I try and use some sorta nuts, seeds or protein to help me stay full. A salad is typically a meal for me, which means it needs a variety of fiber, healthy fats, protein and carbs to keep me full until the next meal.
THANK YOU for making a salad loaded with toppings- that’s always my fav part! The peaches and dressing went so well together too— I loved it and and will be making it again.
Perfect summertime dinner! SO good!
Very tasty!
Is the sodium level correct? 2,358.7mg per serving!!
Hi Kitty! Great catch. Our recipe nutrition info pulled the wrong type of salt. It’s now ~1500 mg of sodium per serving, using sea salt. Leaving out that optional pinch of salt will take it down to 33 mg of sodium per serving. 🙂
My husband and I had started the Spring Cleanse just before the Virus hit our area in Massachusetts. We feel great and VERY healthy. Both of us have underlying conditions and feel confident with proper cautionary practices and continuing on the cleanse, we will be fine. The amount of food that each recipe produces is too much for us (late 70’s and unable to do much strenuous exercising) so we extend the cleanse by using up the extras every few days before we move on to the next couple of days. My husband is constantly saying “I really like this food!!” This salad is one of the early meals in the cleanse — definitely a keeper!!
Thank you for your comments, Elizabeth, so glad you both are loving the cleanse recipes! That’s great you and your husband are taking care of yourselves from the inside out, especially now when it’s more important than ever to have a strong immune system. Continue to stay safe and healthy!
This is a delicious salad. And the dressing is soooo good! It’s very easy to put together.
I am super picky about homemade dressings but this one is amazing – definitely a keeper! The cucumber and apple are really refreshing too!
This recipe is amazing. It was quick to make and delicious. I especially loved making my own fresh dressing!
Recipe was easy to make and it was delicious. I loved having fresh ingredients in my salad dressing.
This is delicious! The hint of sweetness in the dressing is wonderful’
The Strawberry Mixed Greens salad was a perfect lunch for our Cali warm (80)degree weather. Cant wait to try tmrw’s healthy Taco salad!
I LOVE this salad! So easy to make your own dressing and the summer vibe is refreshing! Fills you up and keeps this sugar craving lady happy, happy, happy!
5 stars! Awesome, bright and delicious. Just in time for warm weather.
Dressing is so fresh!
Loved this salad, the dressing is rawsome!
This is an extremely tasty salad! My only qualm (which is the reason for 4 stars instead of 5!) was that a single serving of the dressing did not blend well AT ALL in my blender. I know if I increased it to at least double it would blend up better. Obviously it was still delicious with chunky basil and strawberry (PS- love that combo!!).
Not a fan of the dressing at all…I ended up using lemon juice, salt and pepper
Dressing is really delicious! Just make sure you don’t overdo it on the basil (unless you love basil). I couldn’t finish this salad when I made it, very satisfying!
Amazing! This dressing is my new favorite!
Opps! Forgot to rate it with my previous review. This is awesome stuff!
You’ll want to make a double batch of this stuff! The dressing is delicious! I like to toast the almonds myself for a nuttier flavor. Perfect for a lighter meal, especially in the summer when the strawberries are at there sweetest!
Hi,
Do you use raw almonds for this salad?
Thank you!
Hi Noga,
We do! If you don’t have them on hand, you can use roasted, as long as they’re not salted.
Started day one of 10 day salad challenge with this salad.
Shopping list – very doable and quick
Prep – easy and quick, not much to it
Salad was filling, I like the ingredients, I think next time I would use much less dressing for myself. I typically don’t like dressings much, but went for it as wanting to embrace trying new things. I think a little less dressing would allow flavor of ingredients to come out more (at least for my preference).
Love that you’re trying new things, and absolutely feel free to adjust the dressing to your liking. If you don’t use it all bonus dressing for another salad!