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Simple and light, and deliciously refreshing ~ Strawberry Salad with Chicken and Poppy Seed Dressing is a great main course salad with an amazing combination of flavors.
From the tender chunks of chicken and the creamy bite of feta cheese, to the toasted sliced almonds and poppy seeds, every bite will delight your senses!
Strawberries are without a doubt, one of my all-time favorite fruits. Not only do strawberries taste fantastic, they are an excellent source of Vitamin C, and a good source of manganese. Strawberries are wonderful eaten fresh but also freeze beautifully. We often flash freeze strawberries by cleaning them and placing on a baking sheet in a single layer. The baking sheet of strawberries are placed in the freezer until frozen, then transferred to a freezer bag for storage. Flash freezing fruit in this way keeps it from turning into one giant frozen lump of berries. Then you can easily pick a few out of the bag and pop them in a smoothie from time to time.
If you love them too, I bet you’ll find a few strawberry recipes in our archives that you may want to try! A few of our favorites include this simple Strawberry Mascarpone Cake, our crazy delicious Small Batch Strawberry Jam. For a bit of nostalgia, I hope you’ll try our Homemade Strawberry PopTarts – delicious!
Enjoy this salad with a simple dressing made with pureed strawberries, a touch of Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, toasted poppy seeds and canola oil. For a little extra tang, you can substitute white balsamic for the red wine vinegar. We love it either way but if using dark balsamic, please note the dressing will not have that pretty pink hue, but instead be kind of brown in color.
We serve this salad on top of a bed of fresh mixed field greens and red leaf lettuce. Don’t forget the feta and toasted almonds, they are a great compliment to the sweet taste of fresh, ripe strawberries!
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Simple and light, and deliciously refreshing ~ Strawberry Salad with Chicken and Poppy Seed Dressing is a great main course salad with an amazing combination of flavors.
- 1/2 tablespoon poppy seeds, toasted
- 1/2 cup strawberries, tops removed and chopped
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar, or white balsamic
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- salt and pepper
- 1/2 cup Canola oil
- 1/4 cup toasted sliced almonds
- 8 cups red leaf lettuce, torn combined with field greens
- 2 cups strawberries, cleaned with tops removed, halved
- 1 chicken breast, roasted, grilled or poached, chopped
- 2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup thin sliced red onion (if desired)
- 1/2 teaspoon poppy seeds
In a small dry skillet over medium heat, toast the almonds until fragrant and golden, about 3-5 minutes. Transfer the toasted almonds to a small plate and add the poppy seeds to the now clean skillet. Toast the poppy seeds until slightly darkened and fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Set aside to cool while preparing the salad and dressing.
In a blender or food processor, puree the 1/2 cup of chopped strawberries. Add the red-wine vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt and pepper. Process until blended. Add the Canola oil and blend until creamy. Check the seasoning and add more pepper if needed. Stir in the toasted poppy seeds. Set the dressing aside.
Divide the lettuce and field greens between two large bowls. Top each salad with 1 cup of strawberries, half the chopped chicken, feta cheese, black pepper, and onions if using. Sprinkle with additional poppy seeds. Drizzle each salad with dressing and serve.
You will have a little dressing left over. Store in a screw-top jar in the refrigerator and use within a day or two.
Rotisserie chicken breast is a good and easy addition to this simple weeknight meal.
Inspired by a recipe by Laura Dolson, from Very Well
If you’re looking for a great blender with single serve cups perfect for making dressings and strawberry smoothies, we’re in love with our Ninja and don’t know what we’d do without it. Click on the photo for more information:
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Still looking for more strawberry recipes? How about this beautiful Fresh Strawberry Frosting ~ from Barefeet in the Kitchen, or an amazing 5-Ingredient Strawberry Royale Dessert ~ from Reluctant Entertainer. I cannot wait to try this refreshing Strawberry Colada ~ from The Little Kitchen and these frozen Strawberry and Yogurt Popsicles ~ from Pint Sized Baker.
I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend filled with fun, family and friends. Thank you so much for stopping by!
Tricia
Tricia, I want this for lunch … or dinner? Beautiful, my friend!
Thank you Sandy – I do too! I think I could eat it everyday. Going to pick strawberries on Monday so I’m super excited about all the things I can make and the piles of strawberries I can eat 🙂 Have a great weekend!
We eat a LOT of strawberry salads but never as pretty as yours 🙂 Love the gorgeous color of your dressing too, Tricia!
Aww thanks so much Susan – and I bet your salads are lovely. Strawberries are just so photogenic 🙂 Have a terrific weekend!
I love strawberries in salads and you created a great salad with a flavorful strawberry dressing . I love it!
Thanks Gerlinde! Hope you’re having a wonderful trip – we enjoy your photos so keep them coming!
Love the combo of strawberries and poppy seeds, all rolled together into a salad. This looks terrific — great main-course dish for this time of the year. Thanks!
I could eat this at least once a week John – love the combination of flavors and love your recently strawberry and spinach recipe too!
Thank you for only adding 1 teaspoon of sugar to your dressing! I find so many poppy seed dressing just overly sweet, and for no reason! The dressing is so pretty, and I know tastes fabulous. Saving for my next get-together soon!
Thank you Mimi – we agree! Hope you enjoy this salad – it’s so fresh and delicious, a real winner 🙂
What a fantastic salad! It is like spring in a bowl! That poppy seed looks amazing. Sharing everywhere, of course. Take Care
Thank you so much! And thanks for sharing – we appreciate it very much 🙂
Such a gorgeous spring salad! That strawberry dressing is perfect—I’d love this for dinner tomorrow!!!
Thanks Liz! It makes a great lunch or dinner and I can’t wait to have it again soon with all these fresh strawberries. LOVE this season!
I am starting to stock up on strawberries, too…got 2 boxes yesterday. If I can somehow manage not to eat them all up straight, I would love to have it in this salad. It’s so pretty to look at and sounds delicious. It’s great how our eating lightens up and becomes so much more colorful come spring time.
Hope you had a lovely Easter!
Thank you Monica! I am waiting for our local farm to send me the email I look forward to all year – the one that says the strawberry patch is open for picking! I can’t wait to make some more strawberry recipes and I can’t wait to see what you make with yours too! Hope you enjoyed a beautiful Easter with your little guy. Have a terrific week and thanks 🙂
This looks just like SPRING! So beautiful and sounds delicious, too!! blessings and hugs ~ tanna
Thank you Tanna! I hope you enjoyed an amazing Easter with your beautiful grandchildren.
What a perfect Spring salad. I have a luncheon coming up that this would be awesome for!
Thank you Abbe! I hope your lunch friends enjoy it as much as we do!
I’d love this for lunch- everybody at the table would be so jealous. 🙂 So pretty, and delicious too!
Thank you Betty! Hope you are doing well – it’s great to hear from you!
This is always a great Spring favorite Love, love it.
Velva- Tomatoes on the Vine
Thanks Velva!
Great salad, Tricia! The strawberry lovers here would be thrilled with this! Pretty colors too!
Thanks Pam! Hope you had a wonderful weekend 🙂
Oh, my kind of salad for sure! This could be lunch and dinner for me! Love all the vibrancy going on here!
You make the most beautiful salads Chris! We could eat this all the time for sure. Hope you had a lovely Easter!
I’m sitting here feeling very deprived that I don’t have a big plate of this salad in front of me ~ it’s glorious Tricia! And those strawberries looks so red and juicy ~ I’m craving it all!
Hi Sue! My husband wants to eat this at least once a week and I agree. Such a delicious combination of flavors 🙂 Hope you had a wonderful Easter!
What a wonderful combination of flavors Tricia, I could eat this salad all day long. Beautiful and delicious!
Thanks Cheri! Hope you enjoyed a beautiful Easter. Loved your cute little peep tree!
Great shots of a delicious looking salad Tricia- especially the one of the dressing just touching the berry.
Thank you Larry – it was a fun salad to shoot for sure!
Absolutely beautiful! I love strawberries in salad and even better with that lovely salad dressing 🙂 Hope you had a wonderful Easter!
Thanks Jennifer! We enjoyed a quiet Easter and beautiful weather. Hope you had a good long weekend in Canada!
What a beautiful springy salad! The poached chicken is an effective way to add protein without loaded calories. Thanks for sharing, Tricia.
Thank you Angie! My husband asked if we could eat this once a week. Hope you had a lovely Easter