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Nothing rings in Springtime like strawberries, fennel and arugula. I originally created this strawberry arugula salad for my cookbook, Simple Green Meals, and it is definitely a favorite. The toppings are my favorite, yet I constantly get emails about the lemon vinaigrette I created for it, too.
While this salad recipe may contain a few plants you aren’t familiar with, give it a try! These were new to me at one time too, and I got to discover just how incredible they are. Trust me.
Special Salad Ingredients
This strawberry arugula salad will leave you feeling great inside and out. The rawkstar ingredient list includes antioxidant-rich fruits, peppery leafy greens and a beautifully creamy salad dressing.
- Arugula– This leafy green is in the same family as kale, broccoli and brussels sprouts, with the same powerful health benefits.
- Fennel– A super-fiber bulb that is lightly licorice-flavored and crunchy.
- Orange– A vitamin C powerhouse.
- Berries– All the berries in this arugula salad are bursting with antioxidants that fight cancer, aid in cell repair and taste heavenly.
- Meyer lemon– Lemons can help lower blood sugar through their pectin.
Strawberry Arugula Salad Tips
- For an extra creamy dressing, combine all dressing ingredients (except for the poppy seeds!) in a blender or food processor. Blend until creamy. You may need to add a bit of water to help it blend well. Hand mix in the poppy seeds, then store in the fridge until ready to serve.
- Slice the fennel bulb, Meyer lemon, strawberries, almonds and orange, then toss with the arugula and berries. Once you’re ready to eat, shake up that homemade vinaigrette and pour over the salad.
- I won’t judge if you lick the bowl on this one. It’s ridiculously good. I love Meyer lemons so much I started growing them in my yard and eating them like apples. If this is your first time trying one then I dare you not to immediately fall in love :-).
Helpful Ingredient Swaps
- While Meyer lemons are definitely preferred (they have the best flavor) in this strawberry arugula salad, you *can* swap them out for regular lemons. Just know they will be tarter and smaller.
- You can swap fennel for white onion as well as the berries for any berries you have on hand.
- If you need this salad to be nut-free, then swap the almonds with hemp hearts or sunflower seeds, and swap the cashews in the lemon vinaigrette with the same.
Strawberry Arugula Salad
Ingredients
- 4 cups arugula
- ½ fennel bulb very thinly sliced
- 1 orange peeled and segmented
- ½ cup strawberries sliced
- ½ cup blueberries
- ½ cup raspberries
- ½ Meyer lemon seeded and very thinly sliced
- ¼ cup sliced almonds
Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette
- 2 tbsp raw cashews soaked
- 2 tbsp Meyer lemon juiced
- 1 tsp raw honey
- ⅛ tsp sea salt
- ⅛ ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp poppy seeds
Instructions
- Combine the cashews, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Add a teaspoon of water if needed. Mix in poppy seeds and set aside.
- In a separate bowl, combine the arugula, fennel, oranges, berries, lemon and almonds.
- When ready to serve, drizzle dressing on top.
Notes
- If you have time, soak cashews in water for 2+ hours to get creamiest result. You can also “flash soak” by putting cashews in a bowl with boiling water. Cover with a plate for 10 minutes, then rinse and drain.
- Store dressing in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and keep in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Swap in whatever berries you have on hand.
- Hemp hearts or sunflower seeds can be swapped in for almonds in the salad and for the cashews in the dressing.
- Meyer lemons are less tart and much sweeter (and larger) than regular lemons. You can swap in regular lemons if you can’t find Meyer lemons, yet it will change the flavor of the salad and vinaigrette.
Nutrition
Strawberry Salad FAQs
Arugula typically has a stronger, peppery flavor. I like to pair it with lighter, sweeter ingredients like berries as well as tangy fruit like oranges.
My Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette is the perfect pairing for this salad. It’s sweet, tangy and creamy.
If you mix up this salad without the dressing it can keep up to 48 hours in the fridge. For the best results though, I recommend eating it right away.
Wow, I love this salad! It’s a party in mouth with all the different flavors. I adore fruit, this salad is too good to be true:)
Love arugula, hate segmenting citrus fruit for salads, lol. This might have been my least favorite salad out of the 10 day salad challenge, but it was still good. I was out of a few ingredients when I found they went bad or were eaten before I got to them, so I only had red onion, blackberries, blueberries, orange and regular lemon. That probably changed the overall taste a bit so take this review with a grain of salt. Dressing was good, but not amazing like some other ones here on SGS. As I eluded to at the beginning, I have determined that the time and effort to segment citrus fruit for a salad is not worth the reward of eating it in a salad, for me. I think I’d rather juice it and add to the dressing or leave it out. It makes a salad look beautiful though, so maybe for special occasions. I will try this salad again once I get all the original ingredients, but I am not sure I will make this one very often.
I loved this salad! (I did sub out mixed greens for the arugula). I went to 4 stores looking for fennel and never could find it or the meyer lemons. I just used a regular lemon in the dressing but it was sooooo good. I am not usually a person who will put fruit on my greens. I love both, just not together. This combination paired well and was very filling! Great recipe and another wonderful dressing!
Aww! You made an amazing effort to find ingredients. Regular lemon is a perfect substitute for a Meyer lemon and celery would have been a great sub for fennel. Maybe if you see fennel in the future, you could give this one another shot with it!
Berries. Yum. I used kale in place of arugula and the combo of strawberries and greens wins every time for me!
Pretty good. Not a big fan a arugula but tasty.
Loved this salad. Another fav. Thank you so much for your kind words and support shown these past l0 days. I have learned a lot about trying new things and doing things a new way. I would love to participate in your summer smoothie. I went to pull up todays email to see instructions on completing and don’t know what I did but it disappeared! Efforts to find it have been unsuccessful. This was a fantastic experience.
Hey Teresa, if you’re subscribed to our weekly newsletter at simplegreensmoothies.com then you’ll know when it’s time to sign up for the Summer Smoothie Challenge! 😉 Don’t worry! We will not leave you out!
So delicious. Everyone took seconds. We loved the contrast of the berries with the arugula. We’ll definitely add this to our rotation!
wonderful salad!
This salad is so refreshing with the orange, lemon, and berries. I would definitely make this again. And I’m sold on cashews to make a dressing!
I did like this salad even though arugula is not my favorite. I get it now though; it needs to be combined with sweeter foods to balance it out. The dressing was very good. My husband ate a lot of it. That’s a win for me!
Yes, SCORE! It’s always nice with the husband likes it as well!
What a delightful way to finish this challenge. Great way to use my new salad favorites one more day.
A delectable salad, full of yummy berries, citrus, and almond and fennel (love!) crunch. We really liked the dressing, a perfect match. This salad is so versatile that it could be made with literally any green, but we liked the peppery arugula to go with the sweet of the fruit. I can see us making this often when berries are in season in NC.
This was so good. The different flavors, sweet mixed with sour and savory arugula melded so well. By far our favorite.
Sweet, the fruit, the crunch and dressing pulled it all together. and so good! Day 10 of the challenge! Ready to keep doing more.
The strawberry arugula salad looked real pretty, especially because I added a strawberry to the dressing. I think that might’ve been a big mistake because the dressing wasn’t very good and the ingredients looked like it would be. I like the combination of the berries with the Meyer lemon and the sliced almonds. I’m afraid my arugula might’ve been a little old because it was tough and didn’t give the salad the best chance it might’ve had. I’ll try it again some other day. In the meantime, it was a nice healthy combination of things.
Loved this salad!! The variety of textures and flavors made it very satisfying. The crunch of the fennel with the juicy berries and the spicy bitterness of the arugula all tied together with the creamy dressing was so enjoyable! Will make again!
So delicious! I love the fennel and arugula together. The dressing is my fave!