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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.
Yum! My avocados did t ripen in time so I subbed quick browned cauliflower.
I liked the combination of strawberries and basil. This salad had a lot of nice textures.
So easy to make. Almonds and apples provided a nice crunch!
Love the idea of greens and all the green colors, avo, cukes, and I added broccoli and green onion, left out the granny smith though. May try the dressing when my blender is in better shape but have not added maple syrup to salad dressing before. Used green goddess dressing to keep with the theme. Thanks. This is a fun way to do something healthy.
Yum to the Strawberry dressing! I am pretty tired of oil & vinegar
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!
This dressing is easy and delicious! Even my spouse, who is a vinegar or dry salad only person, thought this was great and asked where I got the recipe. I did not have almonds on hand when I first made this salad, so I substituted a super seeds mix and it was still great. I will make this often in the future.
I also used superseeds on mine, instead of almonds. I worked out really well.
Awesome salad! I really liked the strawberry dressing!
I do love a good salad. I’m just not real creative. So to have this recipe was refreshing. The dressing will be a regular for me.
I really enjoyed this salad. It was very refreshing. The dressing was delicious. I did not have an avocado but will try this salad again with the avocado.
Loved making the salad and it is my first time making the dressing at home.super easy and absolutely the best salad dressing i have ever eaten. I am super excited to learn and make tomorriws salad. So i glad i joined the challenge
Best ever? WHOO HOO!!
I love strawberries in salad! thank you for this awesome recipe!
The basil in the dressing adds a layer of flavor that I love in this salad. I added strawberries to the mixed greens, apple and cucumbers because I love their sweetness. Another win for SGS!
This salad was definitely different for me. My husband kept making disgusted faces with some of the ingredients I was putting into the dressing. It turned out to be a very good salad and we ate a large serving of it as our dinner instead of having it as a side dish 🙂
Sounds like it ended up as a win for both of you! Yay!
Loved this salad, the greens and the creaminess of the avocado! Yum!
This was very good. I even got my daughter to try it. I will make it again, but will add 1/2 cup of blueberries…yummy.
I mixed up the dressing earlier in the day, which made this salad come together quickly. The star of this salad is the dressing – strawberry and basil is a wonderful spring combination.
Overall a delicious salad, but I felt it lacked something-maybe richness?…I think I will add cheese or chicken with a drizzle of olive oil next time
Delicious and healthy! The strawberry salad dressing is easy to make and tastes delicious! I used fruit in the salad itself, along with slivered almonds. This is perfect for a party. I will be serving this again soon!
Great fresh salad and dressing! Easy to Make
Great salad, but I thought the dressing needed a little extra flavor