Party Worthy Spinach Salad with Strawberries
Need a dish for a party or potluck that’s tasty and healthy? Check out this Spinach Salad with Strawberries.
Before we know it, May will be here. That means lots of reasons to celebrate including Mother’s Day and graduation parties. Our eldest son is graduating this year and I’m already thinking about what dishes I can be making for an open house-style party next month.
As I love to have dishes that are colorful and a bit healthier of an option for our guests. This easy-to-make Spinach Salad with Strawberries is just perfect and all but one son gave it two thumbs up when we tested it in our home.
As the recipe serves 13, you can make it everything once and split it in half for sharing.
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See my notes about increasing the spinach and strawberries if you like a lighter coat of dressing, too.
I also included alternative salad toppings with the same dressing and spinach as the base.
The recipe is from the Taste of Home Cookbook, 3rd Edition: Best Loved Classics and All-New Favorites which my son received in a cooking class at his school.
For those who do not like using a whisk to make your salad dressing, we’ve had success with items like a Blender Ball Bottle or a handheld immersion blender with attachments.
Gift The Salad to Brighten Someone’s Day
You can always make up a ‘kit’ to bless someone with the candied almonds and salad dressing already made so all they need to do is put it all into a bowl and toss.
For gifting someone, you can use a swing-top glass bottle to provide the dressing or a pint-sized mason jar.
Put all of the individually packaged ingredients in a large mixing bowl to deliver and consider including a nice pair of tongs for tossing and serving the salad.
If you want to make the gift a little larger than just the salad, a pound of great pasta along with sauce and cheese plus a crusty loaf of bread could make for a yummy meal.
What busy mom or teacher wouldn’t love an easy-to-pull-together meal?
Here’s a free printable tag for sharing, just right-click to save the jpg for printing:
Party Worthy Spinach Salad with Strawberries
This easy-to-make dish is great for parties and pot lucks.
Ingredients
For Candied Almonds:
- 1 Tbsp. butter
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
For Dressing:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 1/4 cup cider vinegar
- 1/4 tsp. paprika
- 1/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
For salad:
- 10 ounces of baby spinach
- 3 cups sliced strawberries
Instructions
To make the candied almonds:
- Melt butter in a small skillet over medium heat.
- Add the almonds, sprinkling the sugar on top. Cook and stir for about 3 minutes, or until the almonds are lightly browned.
- Spread the almonds onto a piece of foil to cool, breaking apart before using on the salad. You can store in a plastic bag for later use.
To make the dressing:
- Using a whisk, mix together all of the dressing ingredients. This will be a THICK dressing.
To make the salad:
- Just before you are ready to serve, combine the spinach and strawberries in a large bowl.
- Drizzle the dressing on top.
- Sprinkle the almonds, tossing to coat the salad evenly.
Notes
I've included the original salad dressing serving size and nutrition. I found the amount of dressing to be more than I personally like. I would use a pound container of spinach for this amount of dressing and increase the number or strawberries to 4 cups with it serving 12 total. The increase to calories would be negligible unless you also increased the amount of sugared almonds.
Notes in the original recipe have an alternative to strawberries. You can omit the strawberries, adding 2 cups of peeled and sectioned oranges along with slices of red onion and mushrooms. Or, omit the candied almonds and strawberries to make a green apple spinach salad with 2 chopped tart green apples, 1/2 cup chopped cashews, and 1/4 cup golden raisins.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
13Serving Size:
3/4 cupAmount Per Serving: Calories: 159Total Fat: 12gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 10gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 26mgCarbohydrates: 14gFiber: 2gSugar: 11gProtein: 2g
What is a favorite Spring-inspired salad for you?
What other dishes would you serve on a buffet with this salad?
Have you ever gifted someone with a dish ready to make?
More Springtime Ideas
For more amazing ideas, check out some blog posts from a few of my favorite bloggers:
- DIY Lavender Facial by Confessions of an Overworked Mom
- Easy Cookie Platter Mother’s Day Gift by A Mom’s Take
- DIY Mother’s Day Herb Garden Gift by Mom Does It All
- Refresh Your Vanity with an Easy Vanity Tray DIY Makeover by Style on Main
- Homemade Painted Glass Bottle by Our Family World
- Thanks a Latte Teacher Gift by Simply Southern Mom
- DIY Shea Butter Lotion Bars by Better in Bulk
- DIY Mother’s Day Coupon Book for Twin Moms by Mom on the Side
- DIY Butterfly Wall Hanging by Home and Garden Cafe
- DIY Aromatherapy Shower Fizzies by My So Called Balanced Life
- Easy DIY Photo Coasters & a Delicious Mocktail to Spoil Mom by Two Boys One Girl One Crazy Mom
- How to Make Your Own Embellished Sunglasses by Greta’s Day
- DIY Kitchen Herb Garden Gift by About a Mom
- Pasta Picture Frame by Upstate Ramblings
- Easy Marquee Letter Craft by Momma D Jane’s Blog
- School’s Out for Summer Gift by The Guavalicious Life
This post was originally published on April 19, 2015 and has since been updated.
This looks delicious! I love finding something everyone enjoys and then incorporate it in to our weekly menu. I’ll try this soon.
This looks so good. Just in time for the upcoming strawberry season!
Yum! That looks and sounds delicious! I love anything with strawberries in it!
Preparing spinach like this makes it indistinguishable from lettuce. The kids would never know they are eating spinach.
This salad sounds so good. Maybe my kids will make it for me!
It is definitely an EASY salad to prepare, Pam. Maybe drop them a hint!
This would be perfect for Mother’s Day brunch. My Mom is starting to watch what she eats more.
I totally agree, Ellen. We just had it with dinner last night and discovered my suspicions were correct that I could double the amount of spinach and strawberries compared to the dressing. That helps keep the calorie count down lower and you get less processed sugar.
I love strawberries in salad!
Me, too. My boys thought it was strange, though.