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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.
Great salad! Dressing puts calories over the top for my meal calorie maximum.
Love this dressing and combo of flavors!! Next time I’m trying pecans. Also going to add a little blue cheese…love that bite with the sweetness of this kind of dressing. Thank you!
Very tasty and filling. Loved the dressing!
The strawberry dressing is amazing, however I prefer to leave out cucumber (somehow doesn’t work for me), and do it with arugula instead of mixed greens. I just love the combination of arugula with strawberries…
Simply delicious!
The dressing was outstanding too!
Thank you SGS for such an awesome and simple salad recipe!!
This dressing was very tasty but I did miss not having a source of much protein besides just a few almonds. It was also overall a little too sweet for me with the apple and strawberry dressing.
This salad has amazing. Did not disappoint. Flavorful, yet light. Love the dressing. Definitely going into my recipe book!
Both me and Hubby enjoyed this salad as a side dish. The dressing totally elevated everything! Liked the different textures(crunch of the apple and creaminess of the avocado).
This was fabulous! My whole fam loved it. I didn’t have almonds, so subbed toasted pecans. Delicious! A friend said she uses pine nuts, which sounded interesting. I saw one reviewer found the dressing meh. Mine was very bright, but I got THE BEST, sweetest strawberries from Sprouts and fresh lemons from our backyard, so I am sure that made it great. I also skipped the maple syrup. I just didn’t feel it would add anything to this.
Pecans would be super yummy in this recipe!
This salad was easy to make. Just a couple of things I can not have on both salad and dressing. No apple and maple syrup with out these two things both came out yummy. Dressing was good. I will make it again. My avocado was not ready I substituted it with tomatoes. I can not have apple so I put a couple of fresh strawberries instead. Also it was very filling.
Best part of it is I know I am eating healthy and I out create things I can not have.
I want to post photo sorry don’t know how yet. 🙂
Love the dressing!
This recipe I love so much – I have made it for the past 3 days! Started over the weekend and it is so fresh and tasty. I added a chicken breast for more protein.
This recipe I love so much – I have made it for the past 3 days! Started over the weekend and it is so fresh and tasty. I added a chicken breast for more protein.