Strawberry Spinach Salad with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing

This salad recipe, Strawberry Spinach Salad with Homemade Poppy Seed Dressing, leans on avocado oil, apple cider vinegar or white vinegar and honey. It makes 6 to 8 servings and takes about 30 minutes.

• Yield 6 to 8 servings
• Ready in 30 minutes

Ingredients

Poppy Seed Dressing

• ½ cup avocado oil, olive oil, or vegetable oil
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar (or a combination)
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• ½ teaspoon dijon mustard
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons poppy seeds

Salad

• 5- or 6-ounce package fresh baby spinach (about 6 to 8 cups)
• 16 ounces strawberries, hulled and sliced (about 2 to 3 cups)
• ½ to ¾ cup crumbled feta cheese
• ½ cup toasted chopped pecans, sliced almonds, or candied nuts
• ¼ cup thinly sliced red onion

Instructions

1. For the dressing, in a blender, combine the oil, vinegar, honey, mayonnaise, dijon mustard, and salt. Blend until well-combined. Stir in the poppy seeds. Set aside or refrigerate until serving.
2. For the salad, place half the spinach in a salad bowl. Layer with half the strawberries, feta, pecans and red onion.
3. Layer with the rest of the spinach and strawberries. Sprinkle the remaining feta cheese, pecans and red onions over the top.
4. Drizzle with dressing, to taste (you may not want or need to add it all to start). Give a very light toss. Don't go over board tossing the salad or the ingredients will fall to the bottom below the spinach. Add additional dressing, if needed, or serve the remaining dressing alongside.
5. Serve immediately.

Dress it just before it goes to the table so the leaves stay crisp.