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Strawberry, quinoa, spinach and cashew salad with a homemade honey-mustard balsamic vinegar dressing. It's a delicious Summer salad, made with healthy and clean ingredients!
When it's Summer, I love to combine strawberries and spinach in a salad. I did it in this strawberry spinach salad with bacon, feta cheese, and toasted almonds, I also made a delicious strawberry and spinach salad with mango and avocado.
This salad is vegetarian, gluten free, and dairy free!
To make the salad, combine baby spinach, sliced fresh strawberries, chopped peaches, chopped green onions, chopped bell pepper, cashews, and cooked quinoa. Perfect combination of sweet and savory flavors in a salad.
Note: If you remove quinoa, this healthy salad becomes paleo-friendly.
If you do like quinoa however, here is another delicious recipe that combines spinach, strawberries and quinoa in a vibrant Summer salad with lots of berries and fruit: quinoa salad with spinach, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and mandarin oranges.
The honey-mustard balsamic dressing is homemade, very basic and so delicious! To make the dressing, in a large bowl combine ¼ cup olive oil with 3 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 2 tablespoons of honey. Then add ½ teaspoon of garlic powder, ½ teaspoon of mustard powder and 1 teaspoon of onion powder.
Whisk everything well until emulsified. Alternatively, add all the dressing ingredients to a glass jar, close with a lid, and shake vigorously until well-emulsified.
Feel free to add more honey if you like your salad dressing on the sweeter side!
Tip: Add the dressing to the salad only when you're ready to serve it, otherwise the salad will wilt really fast.
Strawberry, quinoa, spinach and cashew salad
Ingredients
Honey Mustard Balsamic Dressing:
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- salt and pepper
Salad:
- 10 oz baby spinach fresh, chopped (about 10 cups of torn leaves)
- 4 cups strawberries , sliced (cleaned and hulled)
- 1 ½ cups quinoa , cooked
- 1 cup peaches , finely chopped
- 4 green onions , chopped
- 1 red bell pepper , chopped
- ⅓ cup cashews
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, combine the dressing ingredients, and whisk together well. Add salt and pepper to taste. You can serve the dressing immediately or you can cover it and chill for an hour.
- In a large bowl, combine all of the salad ingredients, except the cashew nuts. Add the dressing to the salad and toss. Sprinkle cashew nuts on top of the salad.
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Do you use salted or unsalted cashews?
Do you think this would be okay with mixed spring greens instead of spinach?
I used spinach and a blend of spring mix - just for variety.. Soooooo gooood
Just made this salad for lunch. Used pears instead of peaches b/c of the season. It was delicious. Thanks for a great recipe!
That is one fresh, pretty and healthy salad! Love all the colours.
I must admit, I am a little late to the quinoa bandwagon, but I made a warm salad with roasted veggies and peas and quinoa last night and it was very delicious. Next time I have some strawberries, I might give this one a go and do a proper cold salad! 🙂
Oh my goodness - this is a beautiful salad!! Love it!
This looks like an awesome salad!
Julia - your salads have the most amazing flavors and textures! Another beauty of a salad!
Wow - not only does this look super healthy but colorful and delicious!