Baby Spinach Salad with Berries, Pecans & Goat Cheese in Raspberry Vinaigrette
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Get ready for oohs and aahs — this spinach and berry salad is an absolute stunner!
Usually we think of fresh berries as something to eat for breakfast or dessert, but here they make an elegant addition to a baby spinach salad. The fruity raspberry vinaigrette complements the berries and brings all of the elements together. This salad is a favorite of mine for summer entertaining — it’s so pretty and always elicits oohs and aahs from everyone at the table — but don’t wait for a special occasion to enjoy it. The salad is equally wonderful when served alongside grilled chicken or cedar plank salmon for a casual family dinner.
To preserve the chunks of goat cheese, be sure to crumble it over the tossed salad rather than tossing it in. If you don’t care for goat cheese, feel free to substitute blue cheese or feta. Also, the amount of honey in the dressing might surprise you, but the sweetness of the dressing against the tartness of the berries and tanginess of the goat cheese is the what makes the salad so good.
More Salads You Might Like
- Spinach Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing
- Peaches, Burrata & Prosciutto with White Balsamic Vinaigrette
- Roasted Beet Salad with Goat Cheese, Walnuts & Honey-Dijon Vinaigrette
Baby Spinach Salad with Berries, Pecans & Goat Cheese in Raspberry Vinaigrette
Get ready for oohs and aahs — this spinach and berry salad is an absolute stunner!
Ingredients
For the Dressing
- 2½ tablespoons raspberry vinegar
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¼ cup honey
- ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoons finely minced shallots, from one shallot
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
For the Salad
- 1 (6-7 ounce) bag or carton baby spinach (about 6-7 cups)
- 2 cups (1 pint) stemmed and sliced strawberries
- 1 cup (½ pint) blueberries
- ½ cup pecans, toasted
- 4 ounces goat cheese
Instructions
- Combine raspberry vinegar, vegetable oil, honey, Dijon mustard, shallots, salt and pepper in a small sealable container and shake vigorously to blend (be sure honey doesn't stick to bottom). Alternatively, combine vinegar, honey, mustard, shallots, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisking constantly, slowly drizzle in oil until emulsified.
- In a large bowl, combine baby spinach, strawberries, blueberries and pecans. Add the dressing little by little and toss until greens are well-coated (you may have a bit left over but you'll use most of it). Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. Sprinkle crumbled goat cheese over top and serve.
Nutrition Information
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- Per serving (4 servings)
- Calories: 481
- Fat: 37g
- Saturated fat: 6g
- Carbohydrates: 33g
- Sugar: 26g
- Fiber: 5g
- Protein: 9g
- Sodium: 296mg
- Cholesterol: 13mg
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
Gluten-Free Adaptable Note
To the best of my knowledge, all of the ingredients used in this recipe are gluten-free or widely available in gluten-free versions. There is hidden gluten in many foods; if you're following a gluten-free diet or cooking for someone with gluten allergies, always read the labels of your ingredients to verify that they are gluten-free.
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Very nice salad for a change, and adaptable to different tastes.
Made this for a dinner with friends along with homemade candied pecans. It was a huge hit. The Raspberry Vinaigrette made the salad!
This looks awesome, but my husband will not eat goat cheese, any suggestions? Maybe Feta? Or Gorgonzola? Thanks much.
Sure, either feta or gorgonzola would be great here -enjoy!
This salad is so tasty and satisfying without being overly sweet, which surprised me. I wanted to try something different and although I have never been a huge fan of fruit in my salad, Jenn’s recipes never fail so I gave it a go. The balanced dressing, toasted pecans (worth the 5 minutes to do) and creamy goat cheese (pinch off small bits when scattering on top) are really excellent together. I sliced the strawberries thinly to avoid having too big of a bite of fruit at once. I can’t wait to try this again with Jenn’s perfectly grilled chicken sliced on top. The red white and blue will make this a perfect 4th of July dish!! It looks very pretty in the bowl, which is just icing for this excellent recipe.
Help, Jenn! I would like to use the raspberry vinegar instead of ACV. I keep seeing this Alessi White Balsamic Raspberry Blush Vinegar. Is that the same thing? https://alessifoods.com/catalog/product/1905/alessi-raspberry-blush-balsamic-vinegar?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIrvGo-rqP_gIV1MmUCR02EQ5HEAAYASAAEgI4XfD_BwE
Hi Jen, I’m not certain they’re the same thing, but feel confident it should work. Hope you enjoy!
After seeing this recipe about a year ago I hunted down a raspberry vinegar that I have had in my fridge nagging me. After searching through your dressing recipes I couldn’t find this dressing as a stand alone recipe so the vinegar kinda just hung out in the back of my fridge for 2022. Since finding the salad recipe that the dressing is associated with, and realizing I have until July to polish off the vinegar, I’ve been making this dressing weekly and my family devours any salad I put it on. It gets even better with each day. Thank you!
Jenn, I only have canola & evoo. Would canola work in place of the vegetable oil? Tanks in advance & Merry Christmas! 🎄
Sure, and merry Christmas to you too! 🙂
I’ve made this salad three times in the last two weeks for dinner for my family and it is a home run. I add some grilled chicken to make it a meal and it is an absolute summer delight. It hits all the notes – tangy, sweet, crunchy – and is light & refreshing.
Easy, but simply delicious. Toasting the pecans certainly bumps it up a notch. Thanks Jen for sharing your perfected recipes with all of us foodies! Ever thought of opening your own restaurant? I would come from Ohio!
Glad you liked the salad! Ha — I don’t think I’ll be opening a restaurant (but love that you’d come from Ohio to try it)!! 😊
Beautiful and delicious.
I found your site yesterday looking for something new to prepare for dinner. This salad and the dressing are absolutely amazing!
I made this for the first time last week. What a great tasting salad. Everyone in my family absolutely loved it. Thank you Jen for another easy salad to put together that tastes great, and for another salad dressing that is amazing!
Absolutely delicious! This is the first salad that my family ate up and asked if there’s more. No leftovers. Easy to put together. I used blueberries and walnuts since that’s all I had available. Saw raspberry vinegar at Trader Joe’s. Will make it again!
May I reduce the amount of honey or substitute something different?
Hi Barbara, The honey helps thicken the dressing so I’d only reduce it by 1 tablespoon. You can also replace some of the honey with maple syrup. Enjoy 🙂
Jenn, I made this salad last night for a girls get-together. It was a hot evening near 90 and your salad was a huge hit. I used ACV to make the dressing and the flavors came together so well. I prepared and sliced chicken for everyone to add as they liked. You’ve proved once again dinner doesn’t have to be boring or difficult!! Happy Friday!!
Loved it. Delicious My husband said its the best salad he ever had! Your recipes are always perfect. We recently went pescatarian and I’m always looking for new recipes. This salad will be in our weekly rotation.
Based on the reviews, I thought I was going to love this, even with the ridiculous amount of honey. I usually love your recipes, but this was much too sweet. Nobody liked it.
Wow! Bit harsh with your reply. A more polite reply would have been “We have loved all your recipes so far, however it was a little sweet for our taste, thanks Jenn for all the time and effort you put into these lovely and ‘free’ recipes.
Hi there. I just went to two different grocery stores looking for raspberry vinegar. There were so many different types of vinegar, but no raspberry. Where can I find this ingredient for the spinach salad dressing? Thank you.
Hi Elaine, I believe my raspberry vinegar has come from Whole Foods (I haven’t bought it in a while). If you are having a hard time finding it, you can replace the raspberry vinegar with apple cider vinegar – it will taste a little different, but still good. Hope you enjoy!
Made as part of our Mother’s Day brunch and it was, as another reviewer stated, as beautiful as it was delicious. I make this dressing throughout the year for different salads. It is our favorite. I noticed a few people stating that they couldn’t’ find raspberry vinegar. We order ours on Amazon. Hope that helps someone. Thanks for being a part of every holiday and occasion around here Jenn. 🙂
EXCELLENT!! It was so good I had to make it again the next night.
This was the best salad ever! Made it for Easter brunch, and everyone asked for the recipe! I couldn’t find raspberry vinegar anywhere near me so I went with the ACV, was bummed it wasn’t going to taste as good but it didn’t disappoint!! I’m going to order the raspberry vinegar online to try with it next. Thank you!!
Can Avocado oil be used in place of vegetable oil for the dressing? Also, would candied pecans work in this recipe?
Yes and yes. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Jenn
Happy Passover!
May I make this vinaigrette dressing ahead of time?
May I substitute walnuts for pecans since I plan to serve this with your Sweet Potato Casserole with Pecan Streusel?
Is it appropriate to serve a side dish and a salad both of which contain nuts?
Thank you
Bernadette Garfinkel
Hi Bernadette, Yes, it’s fine to make the dressing ahead and refrigerate and to use walnuts. And as long as whomever you’re serving likes nuts, I think the salad and the sweet potato casserole are fine to serve together. 🙂
Yum, yum yum! Use the freshest berries for this. The dressing is fabulous. We find everyone is taking a “little more salad” when I make this dish!
Wow! This was amazing. I used olive oil. Came out great. I love all of your recipes! Thank you Jen!
Could not find raspberry vinegar at stores—but I found mango vinegar and thought why not?? I used Gorgonzola for the cheese and it was amazing and was a big hit!!
Hi Jen
How long will this dressing keep in the refrigerator?
Thanks!
I’d guesstimate it will keep for 4 to 5 days in the fridge.
… A salad as beautiful as it was delicious! This dressing is possibly the best I’ve ever made, and was definitely perfect on this salad. We used giant blueberries and soft goat cheese versus the more solid crumbles we’ve succumbed to in the past. THANKS Jenn! Your recipes are wonderful every time!!!
I made this tonight and my husband said it was one of the best salads he has ever had. Delish! I used balsamic vinegar and added candied pecans. Perfection:) thanks jenn!
Just another person leaving a review to say this is, indeed, one terriffic salad!
This was an excellent refreshing summer salad! Super easy and fast to put together and got rave reviews!!
I made this to compliment the Beef Tenderloin, the parmesan roasted potatoes, and fresh strawberry cake for a Birthday meal I was cooking for my mother-n-laws Birthday meal. I don’t have a lot of confidence in myself to cook nice dinners for special occasions, but had used some of Jenn’s recipes in the past with Fantastic results. I went to Jenn’s site to plan this meal, due to the confidence I have in her recipes. My guests were delighted (my fresh strawberry cake looked just like the picture!) This salad was delicious, since I had some of the fresh strawberries left over from the cake recipe. I used a mix of baby spinach, chard & kale (Costco package)–the nuts, cranberry goat cheese. For the dressing I didn’t have the exact ingredients (but used a mix of balsalmic vinegar, EVOO, raspberry chipotle (from Costco also) to try to mimic the best I could and the result was great. What can I say Jenn, but thanks again. I really appreciate all your recipes, and the format you use to present them help someone like me to make quality meals… 🙂
So glad you had success with the recipes for your MIL’s birthday — thanks for letting me know! ❤️
This is great! I’m not typically a salad person, but I thought this combination of flavors would be great, and I was right 🙂 I omitted the blueberries since some people here don’t like them. I didn’t feel like it was missing anything. Thanks so much!
Great! The dressing is really tasty
I loved this salad but decreased the honey by half because I was serving it to a diabetic. I think I would decrease it even more as I tend to not like things too sweet. I also tried it with goat cheese and blue cheese and preferred the blue. Great recipe, especially in August when all the berries are so prevalent.
Love this recipe! Was just looking for inspiration for a gender reveal potluck and this one came to mind to stick with the pink and blue theme. Jenn, you are the best-thank you for sharing your gift of creative and delicious food with us!
💕
Hi Jenn, I don’t know why I never provided a review for this salad before, especially since we have it several times a month. This is probably my favorite salad. The dressing is fabulous and the salad is perfect as is. I never make modifications and get compliments every time I make it. I’ve also been asked to provide the recipe multiple times. It pairs well with quiche and grilled chicken, fish, or steak. It is also fabulous for a light lunch. We’re having this again tonight with grilled tri-tip and corn on the cob. Thanks again for another fabulous recipe!!! Katy
Wow, this was a hit. I’m a cop and work with a platoon full of “dudes” on the night shift. We had a work potluck, and as everyone else (seriously) was bringing some form of meat, I thought I’d try to balance it out with a salad. I used the recipe’s ingredients to make this and modified the dressing slightly for what I had in my kitchen. From across the room my sergeant commented that he doesn’t eat salad, but that this was pretty darn good. Another officer stated that he couldn’t believe he was going back for seconds for a salad! Definitely a huge winner, thanks for the recipe!!
LOL – glad everyone enjoyed! 🙂
Hi Jenn,
Can you substitute pears for the strawberries? I’m looking for a pear salad and thought it might work in this one. Thanks!
Sure, Rosalie, I think that would be nice!
Delicious and SO easy to put together. This salad has it all – sweet from the fruit, crunchy from the pecans, creamy from the goat cheese and balanced out with a sweet oniony dressing. We served this with steak which was a nice combination… Kept all of the ingredients separate so we could enjoy leftovers the next day. We will certainly be making this often during berry season.
Hi, Jenn,
This salad is a firm favourite, but I’ve run out of raspberry vinegar and the only vinegar I have found with raspberries is Beaufor’s Raspberry Red Wine Vinegar. Will this work for the dressing? BTW, we love your cookbook; anything made from it is always a “success story”! Thank you.
So happy you’re enjoying the cookbook, Karen! And yes, the raspberry red wine vinegar will definitely work for the dressing. 🙂
What kind of goats cheese do you recommend? I have trouble finding a good brand!
Hi Erin, I honestly don’t have one that I’m partial to. I basically will pick up whatever is available in the store I’m in. A couple that I’ve purchased are Montchevre and Chavrie.
I’m looking forward to making this. Is there a particular reason you use vegetable oil instead of olive oil here? Thx!
Hi Carol, In some salads, the flavor of olive can be a little overwhelming but it’s fine to use it, if you like.
Yes, that makes sense. Thanks for responding so quickly. I’m getting ready to make it now. I’ll let folks know how it goes.
Thx!
This is a fantastic recipe. I really don’t like salad but lately, I have been obsessed with spinach, so I decided to give it a try. I used Golden Balsalmic vinegar instead of raspberry vinegar and added feta cheese and it was excellent.
Delicious! I made a dressing with ACV instead of the raspberry vinegarette and it was still fantastic.
This salad is awesome. Be careful not to over dress it. So Yummy!
This was absolutely delicious with blue cheese. I did have to water down the dressing with more vinegar and oil because the honey made it too thick. I will certainly make this again!
Can you use an immersion blender for the dressing?
It would make it a bit thicker but, yes, an immersion blender will work here. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Jenn:
I cannot find raspberry vinegar in my area so I plan on substituting raspberry vinaigrette. My question is what ingredients from your dressing should I incorporate into the vinaigrette? I’m assuming at least the shallots but wanted to ask. Looking forward to salad. Thanks for your time and all your amazing recipes.
Hi Gregg, Yes the shallots and maybe some Dijon mustard, if you feel like it could use a little bite. You could also just replace the raspberry vinegar with apple cider vinegar – it’ll be a little different, but still good. Hope you enjoy the salad!
Thank you!
Delicious! I subbed Apple cider vinegar because I couldn’t find raspberry, other than that I followed as is. This salad presents beautifully before tossing also. Also would be great with chicken for an entree. Tons of compliments and an empty bowl, so I would say it’s a hit!
This is a perfect summer salad! I serve it with my mom’s lemon poppyseed dressing, so I can’t speak to Jenn’s dressing, but I’m sure it’s a winner like everything else on this blog. I also used glazed pecans, you can buy a bag of them at the store with the salad toppings. The goat cheese with the strawberries is such a great combination and the nuts add the needed crunch. I also recently started cutting the spinach into smaller pieces because I was served a salad at a restaurant that way; it just makes it easier to eat and my preference. Another wonderful recipe!
I had several potlucks to attend this summer where I needed to feed a crowd but wanted to bring something fresh and in season. This was my go to salad this summer with fresh strawberries and plump blueberries. It was a hit every time! The shallots in the dressing were key to offset the sweetness of the berries and added a depth to the dressing that was fantastic. I substituted balsamic vinegar for the raspberry vinegar since I didn’t have any and it was so tasty. I also used feta cheese instead of goat cheese and the salty crumbled feta paired so nicely with the fruit. Thanks for the tip to add the cheese right before serving to keep it from taking on the color of the dressing. I never had any leftover and was asked for the recipe several times.