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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.
This salad was absolutely delicious! Such a great way to start the challenge. I am in love with the dressing and will definitely be making it on a regular basis. I added tempeh to my salad for some extra plant based protein. The highlight was definitely the dressing!
Not usually a fan of strawberries in my salad but the basil & lemon was a nice balance. I made it more of a meal by adding chickpea nuggets. & pasta with lemon basil
I omitted the apple, only because I didnt have one. But the rest is great. Do love the different textures, next time will get an apple .
Todays salad was very good. I didn’t have avocado so used mango. For the dressing didn’t have lemon and strawberries so I used orange juice and frozen mixed dragon fruit, avocado and passion fruit.
This sounds like tropical deliciousness!
SO good – it will be put on our meal plan list for sure!
The strawberries are key to this as they just brighten everything up!
For a “same ole same ole” salad gal I liked this salad. Dressing was a surprise. Don’t know exactly what I expected but it was tasty. Gettin ready for day #2.
The strawberry-basil dressing is delicious! I’m not usually a fan of basil but the combination just works!!!!
Tasty salad. The strawberries in the dressing were a nice touch.
Awesome salad. Love the almonds – as I forget to add nuts and seeds. Dressing was sweet – but not too sweet.
Love the dressing! It was bursting with flavor. I added chicken and goat cheese. I substituted the mixed greens for kale, romaine, and arugula.
Nice taste- the basil surprised me–I used a tiny bit because I like the salad natural flavors.
I didn’t used to care for fruit in my salad, but this combination is terrific~ AS other reviews indicate, the combination of flavors and textures is a real winner. I had a bit of guacamole which I used in place of the avocado, and I used slivered almonds in the salad. The dressing is great as is! Maple syrup is liquid gold…
Everyone in the house loved this salad! YAY!
Awesome that you’re sharing the experience with your whole family! Love that!
Fruit with greens always is a fav of mine. I liked using actual strawberries in the dressing that was new for me.
I’m not normally a fan of fruit in salad or fruit salad dressings but I’m converted after this.
Delicious! I usually just use olive oil and balsamic vinegar, so the strawberry basil dressing really made an impact. I am excited to try the rest of these salads!
What a fun and refreshing salad to kick start this 10 day challenge. I would have never thought to use the strawberries for a dressing, I thought that complimented the salad perfectly. Loved day one!!!
Salad was ok, not a fan of cucumbers or almonds. Substituted almonds with toasted walnuts.
Salad was good, dressing was okay but expected it to be a little sweeter based on the ingredients.
Yum! The dressing makes it and my love of apples and avocado added to a happy day for me.
Day one of the challenge…what a lovely salad to ring in the arrival of spring!
So many crisp and flavourful ingredients but still super simple to put together.
The dressing was very tempting to drink indeed!
Delicious combination of texture and flavor!
Delicious Used mostly spinach and red leaf lettuce, because I’m drivung/traveling back home and can’t make it exactly as recipe suggested, but was able to add some of the strawberry vinaigrette dressing to it. Also couldn’t get more than 2 miles walking in this morning, but will make up for it tomorrow.
Great job making your salad and getting your exercise! We only suggested 1 mile/day, so you did AMAZING!!