This meal prep friendly Spinach Strawberry Salad is so easy to make and comes together so quickly. Made with only a handful of ingredients, this colourful meal is the perfect summer salad!
Perfect for a light lunch or dinner, this spinach strawberry salad is made with beautifully ripe strawberries, pecans, goat cheese, grilled chicken, and red onions all over a bed of spinach. I pair my salad with a homemade strawberry vinaigrette but you can totally pair this with whatever dressing you have on hand!
Why You’ll Love This Summer Salad
- It’s a simple salad that can be thrown together quickly. You can purchase pre-cooked chicken to add to the salad or skip the chicken altogether.
- Not only is this salad colourful, it’s packed with flavour as well. I love how the creamy goat cheese pairs perfectly with sweet strawberries!
- You don’t really need to follow any measurements for this summer salad. You can just toss as much or as little of each ingredient into your bowl as you’d like! Want more spinach? Add more. Want less chicken? Use less!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- spinach — I much prefer baby spinach for salads
- red onions — if you find the taste of red onions on their own to be too sharp, give them a quick soak in cold water.
- strawberries — I removed the tops and sliced the bigger strawberries in 4 and the smaller ones into 2 to 3.
- grilled or baked chicken breasts — you can use chicken thighs as well.
- pecans
- goat cheese
- strawberry vinaigrette
How to Make Strawberry Spinach Salad
- Toss the spinach, red onions, strawberries, chicken breasts, and pecans together.
- Top with crumbled goat cheese.
- Serve with the salad dressing on the side or drizzled on top.
Recipe Tips and Variations
- Got extra goat cheese? Transfer the extra goat cheese into an airtight container. I simply press the goat cheese into a container to get all the air out and then store it in the fridge.
- To make the grilled chicken, I coated the chicken breasts with olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, paprika, salt, and pepper then grilled them for around 6 minutes per side.
- Another salad dressing that I love for this strawberry spinach salad is poppyseed dressing.
- Pecans can be swapped for sliced almonds, cashews, or whatever nut of your choice. If you’re allergic to nuts, you can try sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds.
- You can use feta cheese or shaved parmesan in place of the goat cheese.
Make Ahead Tips
- Meal prep: to make this into a strawberry spinach salad meal prep, store the salad in an airtight container for up to 4 days in the fridge. The dressing should be stored on the side.
- Make ahead: if you want to prep components of this summer salad ahead of time, you can grill the chicken and make the dressing 3 days before serving.
Spinach Strawberry Salad
Ingredients
- 312 grams baby spinach, 11 oz
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 2-3 cups strawberries, top removed and sliced
- 4 grilled chicken breasts, or more
- 1 cup pecans
- 70 grams goat cheese, or to taste
- 1 cup strawberry vinaigrette, or to taste
Instructions
- Toss the spinach, red onions, strawberries, chicken breasts, and pecans together.
- Top with crumbled goat cheese
- Serve with the salad dressing on the side or drizzled on top.
Notes
- Strawberry vinaigrette is not included in the calories estimate so you can use the salad dressing of your choice.
Nutrition Per Serving
More Salads to Try
- Chopped Chicken Salad
- Chicken Cobb Salad (Meal Prep)
- Chopped Salad with Shrimp
- Honey Chipotle Chicken Salad
- Herb Chicken Thighs Salad
- Garlic Butter Chicken Salad
Other places to connect with me
@carmyshungry on Instagram
Facebook
Shop my Amazon faves
Email: [email protected]
Leave a Reply