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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! Winners announced each season in my newsletter.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 is the perfect salad to start Spring! The freshness is amazingly delicious! Loved adding my fresh basil! It went paired nicely with the strawberries!
I like the variety of textures and flavors. Sweet n sour to crisp and tangy. I don’t use syrup or some other ingredients and I have been trying different nuts vs almonds. Goes great with steak!
The salad was so good and the dressing was amazing!
I have never made a salad with strawberries dressing and I would definitely make this again!
Surprisingly delicious flavor combos. The strawberry dressing is light and not too sweet. It took a couple bites for my taste buds to adjust to the strawberry/basil combo but it was delightful! The avocado gives it a nice creamy texture, great if you’re used to cheese in a salad. The green apple gives a nice offsetting bite, not too tart but noticable. The mixed greens really bring it back down and the cucumber and almonds added pleasant crunch. Let me not forget to mention it took about 10 minutes to put together. I am hooked!
Lovely spring salad! I enjoyed the combination of textures of the salad. I also enjoyed the strawberry dressing. It had just the right amount of sweet and tart that paired perfectly with the salad: it also looked beautiful!
I enjoyed this salad. Will make again. My dressing however does not look the that in the photo. Mine was a very light pink.
Salad itself was great but I found this overly sweet for my taste. I would leave off the Apple and maple syrup next time.
Great salad and easy to make. I used less maple syrup in the dressing and replaced it with red wine vinegar and it was still very good and not as thick! I can’t digest nuts well so I used hemp seeds instead; loved the flavors overall, will make again.
Love this salad! Super healthy with some crunch from the apple and almonds.
Great strawberry dressing! I also added some sliced strawberries on top of the salad.
My son ate it up…I will definitely make again.
Had to substitute raspberries for the strawberries, due to allergies. Still really liked the taste. The apples added a nice crunch to the salad.
Loved the dressing.
The salad itself is pretty normal for me with the exception I would have included tomatoes, cheese and chicken. Just because.
You’ll have to try it with your additional toppings! 🙂