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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.
Excellent! My husband enjoyed too, so ding ding ding ding – a winner! He’s usually resistant to anything new and different, so what a nice surprise! I forgot to take a picture, but it was a nice looking salad too. I think he may be signed on with doing this challenge with me!
That’s so awesome that he enjoyed it as well!
This salad tastes so good! I love the blend of veggies and fruit and the dressing adds so much flavor. This is a delicious way to enjoy a salad for lunch or dinner and a delicious and satisfying meal.
This was a yummy salad! I loved the dressing and it was easy to make. Maybe a tad too much dressing for this recipe so next time I will save some of it for another day. I love that the dressing was creamy and rich. Even my husband liked it! I will make this salad again- it was pretty easy and I usually have these ingredients on hand.
I love having left over dressing for a salad on another day!
Loved the strawberry with basil dressing. I usually don’t use added oils so I got creative with ways to add some “thickening” to imitate what olive oil does in a dressing. A touch of oil-less humus and some precooked sweet potato added a light texture without changing the flavor. Love to build a salad with leftover veggies. This great dressing adds a spring freshness to raw and lightly cooked vegetables.
That’s a great idea, way to make the salad totally you. Keep rawkin it!
The dressing is easy to make and DELICIOUS!!!!! Salad ingredients are good. I subbed celery for cucumber and it worked. Excellent recipe.
I love the idea of subbing in celery for cucumbers.
I really liked the salad but I made a few changes. My husband doesn’t like avocado so I changed it up a bit. I added a cold cooked beet and also sprinkled feta on top. The beet and apple went well together along with the feta.
So good my 14 and 13 year olds ate this without a question! The dressing is so tasty and easy to make that we will be making this regularly. The almonds gave a great crunch.
So glad the kiddos are lovin it as well!
Very good I love it
Delicious! Loved all the crunch from the almonds, apples, and cucumbers. I really enjoyed the strawberry dressing, for which I used thawed frozen strawberries, since they’re out of season in Ohio. The basil added a nice herby touch!
Frozen strawberries are perfect in this recipe. Way to be resourceful!
I loved all of the medley of flavors in this salad! There was absolutely nothing boring about it! I love strawberries and the only thing I would change for the next time is cut down on the amount of basil because for me it overpowered the strawberry taste in the dressing. Overall very easy, delicious and filling.
So glad you enjoyed it. That’s a great note for next time.
The salad and dressing tasted good. There seemed to be quite a lot of dressing compared to the amount of salad.
Glad you liked the salad. Feel free to adjust the amount of dressing to your liking.
Loved this salad! The strawberries in the dressing gave it just the right amount of sweet. I also enjoyed the crunch from the almond slices!
I really liked the mixed greens salad. I added arugula to my greens. I was surprised how well the strawberry vinegrette mixed with the avocado. I think the crunchy apple made it all come together. I did add feta cheese to balance the salad to a sweet and salty flavor.
That’s a great idea, I bet it was tasty.
I really enjoyed the combination of ingredients in this salad, and the dressing was delicious!
I really enjoy this first salad. I don’t eat enough salads because they are boring but this one was really fun. As I was eating it I thought that if I made my salads more like this I would eat them more often. It was very filling and fun to eat. I’ve been wanting to try some new dressings also. I will make this one again.
So glad you enjoyed this salad! Can’t wait to hear your thoughts on the remaining recipes.
This salad makes a lovely and easy dinner. The strawberries in the dressing add a nice touch. All my favorite salads have some kind of crunch and the almond slices were perfect. I plan to add this one to my regular salad rotation list.
Awesome news that it made your regular salad rotation list!
The strawberry dressing on this salad really surprised us. We were leery of it…
It tasted fantastic!! A very nice surprise!
So glad you’re trying new things!
this salad is great-I wouldn’t thought for putting the strawberries into the dressing-it makes it so sweet. I can’t add the oil -don’t do well like fats like that-nuts, avocados are fine. Had it as a side dish with my curried lentil/rice dish.
Thanks for included this salad.
Strawberries can instantly add a bit of sweetness without overdoing it!
I was pleasantly surprised at how good the strawberry vinaigrette was and how well the seasonings came together. The salad components were an interesting combination but was bursting with flavor and different textures. I will definitely be making this again.
Fantastic! All the ingredients came together so well. And the dressing….Yummy!! This salad will be added to my staple.
The dressing was delicious, and the salad had great texture with the almonds and cucumbers.