Strawberry Salad with Goat Cheese

A beautiful strawberry salad with goat cheese, a salad that celebrates spring. It’s perfect for a quick and delightful meal or an impressive starter. 

Enjoy a delicious strawberry goat cheese salad with fresh strawberries, creamy goat cheese, and crisp greens. Toss it together with a light dressing for a simple and tasty dish. This salad is really simple to make and can be ready in under 30 minutes! It is my go-to salad to serve guests in spring or summer. 

Serve it alongside the Cast-Iron Chicken Breasts, an Air-Fryer Pork Tenderloin, Garlic Bread Baguette, or a Creamy White Asparagus Soup for a full meal.

🍓Why will you love this salad?

• Quick: Despite its fancy looks, this goat cheese strawberry salad recipe is ready in minutes, thus perfect for busy schedules.
• The perfect mix of flavors and textures: Sweet and juicy strawberries, creamy avocado, tangy goat cheese, crunchy nuts, and a delightful balsamic dressing with poppy seeds. It will become your new favorite salad. 
• Versatile pairing: Complements various main dishes like chicken or pork. We love it with Thin-Sliced Chicken.
• Celebrates the season: Ideal for savoring the flavors of the season.

📋Recipe ingredients

• Strawberries: Ripe and sweet. I didn’t weigh the amount of strawberries I used; I just counted about 6-8 medium strawberries per person and arranged them on individual serving plates.
  • If you have more strawberries, use them to make American Strawberry Shortcakes or Strawberry Foam.
• Spinach: Fresh baby spinach leaves, about one large handful per person. I had a 4.5 oz/ 125 g oz bag, which was enough for two servings. You can replace the spinach with peppery arugula salad, lamb’s lettuce, or other baby greens. 
• Goat cheese to crumble over the salad. Alternatively, use feta cheese. You could also make Goat Cheese Spaghetti with Zucchini.
• Nuts: I used roasted almost, and they were wonderful! Alternatively, use roasted pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, or pumpkin seeds; they would all complement the goat cheese and strawberry salad perfectly. 
• Other ingredients: Red onion, avocado, and granulated sugar. 
• Dressing ingredients: Some reserved marinade from marinating the berries, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, poppy seeds (optional), mustard, mayonnaise (optional), fresh basil leaves, fine sea salt or kosher salt, and ground black pepper. 

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

🥗Variations

• Use other fresh berries like raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries.
• As mentioned above, use other salad greens, fresh herbs, nuts, or types of cheese. 
• Protein boost: Grilled or pan-fried chicken, chicken kabobs, or air-fryer shrimp are a great addition.
• Another dressing: Feel free to use your favorite store-bought or homemade dressing (preferably a vinaigrette type). 

👩🏻‍🍳How to make strawberry and goat cheese salad?

• Marinate the strawberries: Wash and dry them using a paper towel. Top and slice them. Marinate them with sugar for about 30-60 minutes. Scoop out the berries, but reserve the marinade to make the dressing.
• Toast the almonds in a large pan without adding any fat and on low heat. Let cool while you prepare the rest of the ingredients. 
• Make the salad dressing: Whisk oil, vinegar, about 2 tablespoons of the reserved marinade, Dijon mustard, mayo salt, and pepper in a small bowl or jar. Stir in the poppy seeds.
• Assemble the salad: Place the spinach into a bowl and toss with about ½ of the dressing. Arrange the spinach on two plates or a larger serving platter. Arrange the strawberry slices on the spinach bed.
• Add finely chop the red onions and avocado slices. Top with goat cheese crumbles.
• Pour the rest of the poppy seed dressing on top of the strawberry goat cheese salad, ensuring that the dressing reaches all ingredients on top of the spinach.
• Add toasted almonds and basil to the goat cheese strawberry spinach salad, and serve immediately.

🔊Expert Tips 

Make in advance

• As is the case with most salads using greens and fruit, they should be enjoyed immediately.
• But you can prepare the ingredients, make the dressing, and assemble the salad just before serving. Keep the dressing in a mason jar or another airtight container. 
• Wash and dry the spinach. Toast the almonds. Crumble the goat cheese. Marinate the strawberries about one hour before you want to serve the salad.  
• Make the dressing and add 2 tablespoons of the marinade after the strawberries are done marinating.
• Only chop the onion and the avocado before adding to the salad.

❓Recipe FAQ

More salads with fruit or berries

Strawberry Salad with Goat Cheese

Make this beautiful strawberry salad with goat cheese. It’s a perfect choice for a quick meal or an impressive starter.

5 from 3 votes

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Course: Salads

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Additional Time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 50 minutes minutes

Servings: 2 people

Calories: 423kcal

Author: Adina

Equipment

• ▢
  Frying pan

Cook ModePrevent your screen from going dark

Ingredients 

Strawberry goat cheese salad:

• ▢ 12-14 medium strawberries ripe and sweet
• ▢ 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• ▢ 2 tablespoons almond flakes Note 1
• ▢ 2 handfuls baby spinach about 4.5 oz/125 g, Note 2
• ▢ ⅓ cup goat cheese 60 g/ 2 oz, Note 3
• ▢ ½ small red onion
• ▢ 1 small avocado

Dressing:

• ▢ 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• ▢ 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar to taste
• ▢ 2 tablespoons of the strawberry marinade more to taste
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ▢ 1 teaspoon mayonnaise optional, Note 4
• ▢ ½ teaspoon poppy seeds optional
• ▢ some basil leaves
• ▢ fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

• Strawberries: Wash and dry the strawberries with a paper towel. Top and slice them. Place them into a small bowl, toss them with the sugar, and marinate them for 30-60 minutes. Scoop them out, but reserve the marinade to make the dressing.

  12-14 medium strawberries + 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
• Almonds: Toast them in the pan without adding any fat. Let them cool while you prepare the rest.

  2
• Dressing: Whisk oil, vinegar, about 2 tablespoons of the reserved strawberry marinade, mustard, mayo salt, and pepper to taste. Stir in the poppy seeds if using.

  3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar + 2 tablespoons of the strawberry marinade + ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard + 1 teaspoon mayonnaise + fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper + ½ teaspoon poppy seeds
• Assemble the salad: Place the spinach in a bowl and mix it with roughly half of the dressing. Put it on two plates or a bigger serving platter. Lay out the strawberry slices on the bed of spinach. Add finely chopped red onions and avocado slices. Crumble the goat cheese on the top.

  2 + ½ small red onion + 1 small avocado + ⅓ cup goat cheese
• Pour the remaining dressing over the strawberry goat cheese salad, ensuring it covers all the ingredients on the spinach.
• Top with toasted almonds and basil, and serve immediately.

  some basil leaves

Notes

1. Almonds: Use other nuts or seeds instead of almonds, for instance, pecans, walnuts, pine nuts, hazelnuts, or sunflower seeds. Make sure you roast them before adding them to the strawberry salad.
2. Spinach: You can replace it with arugula, lamb’s lettuce, or regular lettuce.
3. Cheese: Substitute goat cheese with feta or crumbly blue cheese.
4. The mayonnaise makes the dressing slightly creamier. However, the dressing is perfectly delicious without it.

Nutrition

Serving: 1/2 of the salad | Calories: 423kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 8g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 26g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 860mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 12g

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