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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.
The dressing is incredible!!! A delicious spring, summer, and anytime salad. 🙂
The dressing really made the salad. Will be even better when local berries are in season
Delicious, slightly tart & sweet from the strawberries
Love, love, love it! Refreshing, so delightful and delicious. I’ll make it again especially the dressing. Yum!
I liked this said a lot. I did leave out the maple syrup because it was to much sugar for my diet. Let me tell you, I loved this salad a little too much because I wanted more when I was finished but have to watch the cals. Great job with this one!
We loved this salad! The strawberry and avocado go very well together. The dressing is not overly sweet. Very simple to prepare.
I made the recipe as written with two small tweaks- I added some extra chopped basil to the greens, added a scoop of hemp hearts and toasted the almonds. This was a great, spring salad. The avocado added creaminess and the dressing was tart and refreshing.
This was so good! My entire family enjoyed it!
I will give this salad a 4. I used what I had on hand for lettuce. I was a little upset with myself for forgetting the AVOCADO!!! Uhhh. Could find any bay leaves so I left it out of the dressing. Which was still good. I usually use the juices from my salad as a dressing. It was delightfully delicious. Can’t wait to try the taco salad tonight!!!
This salad was wonderful!! So much flavor, especially in that dressing! I would have not tried to make a salad like this and so glad I did! I especially loved the slivered almonds , they gave a good crunch. I wanted to drink the dressing 🙂
Delicious salad. Enjoyed the combination of foods and the dressing is fabulous. I have not been brave enough before to make my own dressing but will be doing more of that now!
This is one of my favorites as it is so simple yet has lots of different tastes/flavors going on and is crunchy. The strawberry dressing is delicious.
I followed this recipe to the letter! So easy and delicious! I ate the whole thing myself at two sittings, yum!
Looks and tastes delicious. Also, it was easy to make… I really enjoyed it
This Strawberry Salad is so refreshing! It tastes like spring! The dressing is sweet.
Not a fan of apples in my salads. Everything about this salad looks lovely, except the apple. I will simply leave if off.
Would be a great recipe for a shower, brunch or summer picnic. Refreshing flavors.
The dressing was tasty and all the elements worked well together, but overall it still felt like something was missing.
simple to make and it taste great
This dressing is amazing. I’ll be using this dressing on all sorts of greens as well as fruit salads.