Spicy Spinach Fruit Salad with Strawberry Grape Vinaigrette

Strawberry Spinach Salad is one of my family’s favorite salads. Now that berries are in season at last, we’ve been enjoying it at least once a week. I wanted to make something a little different this time and so I played with the recipe a bit more than usual.

This simple salad of baby spinach leaves, slightly tart green grapes, sweet berries, crunchy onions and almonds is topped with spicy strawberry and grape vinaigrette creating a very different salad that my husband, my oldest son and I absolutely loved. (My younger boys were quite happy to avoid the spice in this version with a simple plate of fruit for themselves.)

This salad was completely gone within minutes of tossing it with the dressing for our lunch. I loved the added crunch and slight heat that the spicy almonds added to the salad.

The cayenne pepper made the dressing an unexpected surprise of cool fruit flavors with just a slight lingering heat. The grapes were a fun addition as well and a great way to remind myself that there is more to salad eating than just our favorites.

Spicy Spinach Fruit Salad with Strawberry Grape Vinaigrette

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Servings: 2 servings

Ingredients 

• Salad Ingredients:Salad Ingredients:
• 4 cups baby spinach leaves4 cups baby spinach leaves
• 10-12 strawberries stemmed and sliced10-12 strawberries stemmed and sliced
• 1/2 cup green grapes halved1/2 cup green grapes halved
• 1/4 red onion very thinly sliced1/4 red onion very thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons Sweet and Spicy Cayenne Roasted Almonds or the nut of your choice2 tablespoons Sweet and Spicy Cayenne Roasted Almonds or the nut of your choice
• Dressing Ingredients:Dressing Ingredients:
• 6 large berries stems removed6 large berries stems removed
• 10 large green grapes about 1/4 cup10 large green grapes about 1/4 cup
• 1 tablespoon olive oil1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar plain balsamic will work as well, add more as desired1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar plain balsamic will work as well, add more as desired
•  tiny pinch of kosher salt tiny pinch of kosher salt
• generous dash or two of cayenne pepper adjust to taste, I liked it pretty spicygenerous dash or two of cayenne pepper adjust to taste, I liked it pretty spicy

Instructions

• Place the berries and grapes for the dressing in the blender, add the oil and vinegar and puree until smooth. Should only take a few moments, scrape the sides as needed. Add the salt and cayenne pepper and pulse to combine. Taste and adjust as desired. Pour into a jar and chill until serving.
• Place the almonds in a ziploc bag, press the air out and seal. Crush into a crunchy powder with a few whacks of a wooden spoon. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the spinach, berries, grapes and onion. Toss to combine and drizzle with as much dressing as desired. (I only used about 1/4 of the dressing for this salad. The rest will keep well in the fridge for at least a week.) Toss to coat the salad with dressing and then top with the crushed almonds. Enjoy!

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