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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.
Loved it. Dressing was amazing. I can never have enough avocado, so I knew I’d love this salad
This recipe was a snap to prepare, and I love the strawberry/basil paring for the dressing.
Love all the flavors in this salad: the crunch of the greens, cucumbers & almonds, the creaminess of the avocados, the tartness & crunch of the apples. The basil and strawberry dressing was an unexpected surprise! I will definitely be eating this salad on a rotating basis throughout the spring & summer.
Day 1 strawberry mixed greens
The salad was okay. It definitely needed something. I think I’d have liked mint rather than basil in the dressing. Maybe some peppers.
Def add, omit or substitute to make this salad work for you! Great ideas!
I loved the salad. I used spinach and kale for my greens. The salad dressing was thinker then what I expected, but was so good. I didn’t have maple syrup on hand for the dressing, so I used local honey instead. Don’t hold off making this salad because you don’t have everything that the recipe calls for. This is a salad that you can mix and match and it will still turn out great.
Yes!! There are many options for substitutions! Good call, Darcy. You made some great choices for substitutes.
This salad was so delicious. I left out the almonds due to a tree nut allergy but it was great. I will definitely make it again. I will also try the dressing on some fruit salads.
I was surprised at how full I was after this salad. And I think I could drink the dressing – YUM !!!
I eat salads almost daily, so I can always use ideas on how to spruce things up a bit. I was most excited to try the salad dressing. For me, I found the dressing a little too bland, but I really like the concept of it. I’m willing to play around with it to get it to my liking. Overall a simple, easy-to-make salad… I did substitute pine nuts for the almonds… and added grilled shrimp for extra protein…
My dressing turned out salty from the sea salt? And thickened overnight in the refrigerator otherwise the salad was ok tasting, light, fresh, spring tasting
I really like this salad, this strawberry dressing was delicious. I made half of it I’m elderly and could only eat half of the receipe. the other thing is I only had whole almonds so I broke them up in the vitamix and I used a whole half of avocado.
Love this salad. I add a little more dressing.
I really enjoyed this salad! So fresh and made it feel like maybe Spring was around here somewhere. I live in KS and we have snow in the forecast yet again after 70’s and 80’s.
I omitted the almonds because I just had dental work done and nuts have proven dangerous and painful.
Overall – definitely going in my regular salad rotation!
Loved this salad and the strawberry dressing
I loved this salad even with leaving out the avocado. I was not sure I would like it as the fresh basil seemed an odd addition to the dressing for me, but it turned out to be wonderful.
Made this salad for lunch today, and holy wow is it amazing!!! I highly recommend this salad recipe!
Pretty & delicious! I don’t like avocados so I just left them out. So easy to add or subtract toppings. Next time I will add less basil because it overpowered the strawberries.
A great recipe! The salad is easy to make and refreshing.
I left out the apple due to the sugar and carb content and this salad was tasted great and was so refreshing!
I enjoyed the salad. I swapped out the cucumber for a zucchini. Cucumber sometimes gives me indigestion. I used frozen organic strawberries and blended it in my food processor to make it smoother. Loved it!
The strawberries make the salad so super delicious and fruity. Great combination with the basil in the dressing!