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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.
Simply delicious
Great Salad!!! I made this after my morning run. It was fantastic.
Hooray for the salad and exercise! Great job!
The mixed greens salad was wonderful and full of flavor. Wasn’t crazy about the dressing, needed to be a little sweeter.
I am not a put fruit in a salad person but this salad has opened my eyes! I made a serving for one and thought the dressing looked a bit gluppy but it worked really well. Enjoyed it!
Thumbs up on the Day 1 Mixed Greens Salad! The Strawberry dressing is the perfect compliment to the greens, cucumber, green apple, avocado and almonds. I would not say that I am a big avocado fan but I am enjoying it in this salad!
I am not a salad eater, but this was very delicious and will make again!
Loved day 1 salad!!
I prep a lot so I had the chance to try it before today.
My lunch will be a nice serving with the strawberry dressing that was a complete new discovery for me!
This is a lovely fresh salad, I enjoyed the crunch that the green apple added and especially loved that I could barely taste the cucumber and I was able to drown the avo taste in the dressing! It’s 100% hubby approved too – he hummed all the way through eating it after his video review! 🙂
I’m so glad that this worked out for you, but feel free to omit an certain ingredients if you don’t like them! We def want you to enjoy these salads as much as possible! But way to go for trying it as written in the recipe!
Love this salad
This is a salad of contrasts! Smooth and crunchy, sweet and sharp. Yum!
Every flavor and texture gets to shine!
I Loved this. I was to sure about it as I made it but wow I was so surprised. I will be making that again.
Very tasty. Filled me up!
Delicious salad. I will definitely make it again.
This salad was not only colorful but also full of flavor. I’m a huge fan of fruit and nuts in salad, so this was perfect for me. I added some organic shelled edamame to increase the protein. The dressing was the star, although my husband omitted it and still loved it. Thanks for an amazing recipe!
Edamame sounds like a great addition!
Absolutely!
What a great combination of veggies and fruits! Don’t skip the basil in the dressing – I actually doubled it and it’s aaammmaaazzing! All the rest I followed the recipe! Thanks SGS!
Strawberries and basil go very well together! I’m glad you enjoyed the flavor combination so much.
Good salad generally, except I don’t care much for sweet with my greens, so omitted apple and used Italian-type dressing.
I’m glad you made the necessary changes so that you could enjoy this salad!
Day 1 Salad Challenge. Delicious. Husband had 2 side dish helpings declaring the dressing to be like pudding (a good thing). Definitely pot luck or company worthy.
That’s fantastic! I’m glad that you both liked it and that you’d want to share with others!
Love it, very tangy dressing goes well with apple
Great recipe! Enjoy all the ingredients and was fabulously delicious!
Great! 🙂
I agree –
Mixed green salad doesn’t have to be boring. Love this simple recipe! Unfortunately, I’m allergic to strawberries, so substituted blueberries and lemon zest. #saladchallenge
Great substitution!! How was it? Would you make it again or was it good for a one-time experiment?
I made the salad (substituting strawberries for the apple and toasting the sliced almonds); the salad and dressing were easy to assemble and made a great lunch!
Ooooh. So fancy with the toasted almonds! I bet it was DELISH!!
Loved the salad but calories and carbs a little too high for me. Removed the maple syrup as strawberries and basil combo were sweet enough for me.
Way to make it suit your lifestyle! Good call on reducing the sugars/carbs by removing the syrup. Hope the dressing was still delicious!
This was great! So many different flavors. I made this with a Jamaican avocado, which has a very mild taste for an avocado. The dressing is really good, especially with extra pepper to bring out a little extra zing. Will definitely make again!
Absolutely delicious! The dressing is amazing! We both had clean plates! I loved the crunch from the apple, and the sweetness from the dressing!
Aww! I’m so glad you enjoyed the texture and flavor combinations!