Watch out Summer, your new favourite salad is in town. This Spinach Strawberry Salad is juicy, fresh and tossed in a classic (but never boring) balsamic vinaigrette. One of the best parts about this strawberry feta salad is that it calls for vegan feta and candied pecans. Both add a fancy twist and a nice savoury-to-sweet ratio to this salad. This spinach strawberry salad takes less than 30 minutes to make, and is PACKED with those fresh strawberries that I know you are probably hand picking! If you want a fresh, no-fuss yet exciting summer salad, then this strawberry salad needs to happen.
Why You’ll Love This Strawberry Feta Salad
- This spinach strawberry salad is fresh and summery. It truly is the perfect addition to any bbq you end up enjoying this summer.
- This vegan salad uses fun ingredients like vegan feta and candied pecans. My favourite vegan feta is from Violife and I add it to a lot of my dishes because it is so dang good.
- All the ingredients in this strawberry feta salad are so delicious that you might even want to double the amount of feta, candied pecans and strawberries! No judgement if you do!
- This spinach strawberry salad takes less than 30 minutes to make, which in the summer is so important as the goal is always to be outside as long as you can be.
How To Make Candied Pecans in the Oven
Making candied pecans in the oven is BASIC and completely necessary for this spinach strawberry salad. It’s great because in the oven there isn’t much to clean afterward. Start by tossing the pecans in a bowl with all the other ingredients. Then place them on a baking sheet with some type of parchment paper/silicone liner. Lay the pecans out flat, leaving space between each pecan. Then simply bake them for 8-10 minutes. I don’t find it necessary to flip them halfway but every oven is different, so if your candied pecans are looking TOASTY part way through, give them a little flip!
Once the baking time is down, they will start to look darker brown (but not black!). Remove them from the oven, and let the pecans cool completely. They should be sticky and that is a good thing. Once they have cooled, chop them (or don’t) and add them to your spinach strawberry salad. These pecans are not crazy sweet so they work well with the naturally sweetened strawberries in this vegan salad.
For More Vegan Salads, Try These:
The goal of every summer is to spend less time inside and more time outside. This is totally doable with this strawberry feta salad. This vegan salad is LOADED with vegan feta, candied pecans, greens, avocado and fresh summery strawberries. Everything is tossed in a simple but delicious balsamic dressing that makes weeknight salads a very easy task to accomplish. This spinach strawberry salad is just the summer salad you need in your back pocket this summer. Bring it on picnics or to your friend’s bbq and it will for sure be a crowd-pleaser.
Spinach Strawberry Salad
Ingredients
Candied Pecans
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 tbsp coconut oil (melted)
- 2 tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of sea salt
Salad
- 4 large handfuls spinach
- 1/2-1 cup vegan feta
- 2 cups strawberries (sliced)
- 1 avocado
Balsamic Dressing
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup balsamic
- 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Toss the pecans in the coconut oil, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Place on the baking sheet, bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.
- While the pecans are baking, prepare the other salad ingredients.
- Add the spinach, sliced strawberries, feta and chopped avocado to a large bowl.
- Make the dressing. Whisk all the dressing ingredients together in a small bowl.
- Once the pecans have cooled, add the pecans to the salad. Toss with the dressing. Start with half the dressing at first and then decide whether to add the rest.
- Best enjoyed fresh. If saving for later, wait to add the dressing.
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