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Spinach Fruit Salad is full of summer goodness with strawberries, apples, craisins and sugared almonds. It’s topped with a delicious lemon and mustard seed dressing.
Summer Salad
After having lunch at her friend’s house, my daughter came home raving about a salad they had. When your teenage daughter raves about a salad you know you need the recipe! And I have it!
The dressing on this salad is amazing and if you are a lemon fan you are going to love it! I have served this salad numerous times since getting the recipe and it is always a huge hit.
This salad is perfect with any meal and you could even add some shredded chicken to it to make it a main dish.
Salad Ingredients
- Spinach. I prefer baby spinach
- Strawberries. Could substitute with any fresh berry
- Apples. I like a tart Granny Smith but also use Honey Crisp
- Almonds. It would also be delicious with hazelnuts or pecans.
- Craisins
How To Prevent Apples from Turning Brown
I’ve got a tip for you that might just be life changing. I love adding apples to my salads but it is hard to prep ahead because the apples turn brown. Most people add some lemon juice to the apples to prevent them from turning brown which works fine but your apples end up tasting like lemons.
My favorite way to keep apples from turning brown is to add the cut apples to a bowl of water with a little bit of salt added in. It works like magic!
I add about 1/4 tsp of salt to a cup of water and it doesn’t make your apples taste salty either! Let the apples soak for a minute or two and then drain off the water.
How to Make Spinach Fruit Salad
- Add all your ingredients to a bowl.
- Drizzle with salad dressing
- Toss to coat.
I like to reserve a few of the ingredients such as strawberries, apples and nuts to garnish the top of the salad with after tossing.
How to Sugar Almonds
If you need tips on how to sugar the nuts, check out this post.
How to Make Lemon Salad Dressing
- Add all ingredients, including the mustard seeds to a blender and blend for a minute.
- Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
- Shake dressing before serving.
The dressing will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator.
- Drizzle the salad with dressing right before serving.
What to serve Spinach with:
Some of our other favorite summer salads include:
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Spinach Fruit Salad Recipe
Spinach Fruit Salad
Ingredients
- 12 oz Spinach
- 3/4 cup craisins
- 1 green apple diced
- 8-10 strawberries sliced
- 3 oz. Sugared sliced almonds
Dressing
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup canola oil
- 3 Tbsp lemon zest
- 4 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 1 1/2 Tbsp mustard seeds
Instructions
Dressing
- Combine all ingredients in blender and blend together
Salad
- Toss spinach with dressing and layer rest of ingredients on top.
- Serve immediately
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Nutrition Facts:
Originally shared April 26, 2012
Mary@FitandFed says
This does look fresh and summery. I like your photography, too, the layered cloth prints really show off the pretty reds and greens of the salad. I’m sure you meant mustard seeds in the recipe, if you want to change that in case someone could be confused.
Jean Huxley says
You really trained your daughter well! I’m tired of making the same salad every time, veggies and just a regular dressing. This is new to me. Thanks!
Abby J. says
It’s awesome that you were able to spend time with your kids. And I love the recipe! I will try it. But my best friend doesn’t like lemon. Is there an alternative?
Thanks for sharing!
-Abby
Leigh Anne says
The lemon is what really makes the dressing so if they don’t like lemon I would just use their favorite salad dressing.
Ashley says
Is the dressing really a half cup of sugar??
Diana says
I personally think there is too much sugar. Next time I’m halving that part.
Mary Lynn says
I, too, am a fan of lemon. Can’t wait to try the salad and cupcakes. Tell your daughter, thanks for the recipe.