Don’t you just love salads that taste as delightful as they look? In this post, I’m sharing how to make a bright and happy Spring Greens Salad that’s guaranteed to light up your clean-eating life.
If you’re looking for a vibrant salad mix to spruce up your clean, green recipes, I suggest leveling up your salad game with this one.
The Spring Greens Salad is amazing y’all.
It’s nutrient-dense, perfect for mixing with a variety of textures and colors, and insanely easy to whip up. Plus, this salad is so pretty to look at. Sooo pretty.
Which equals = The perfect side for special meals (even Thanksgiving!)
When made with a variety of colors and textures, it looks like a beautiful garden party on your plate. Easily one of my fave salads.
So whether you want to add variety to your greens for weeknight dinners, or are looking for an elegant salad to serve for your next dinner party, this is it, my friend.
Read on further to see how easy and simple it is to make this beautiful, 5-star, Spring Greens Salad for all seasons. Let’s go!
Watch Me Make My Spring Greens Salad
What Greens Are In Spring Mix Salad?
A Spring Mix is basically a combo of up to 14 different young salad greens which usually include: lettuce, spinach, radicchio, and other greens.
If you wanna get all fancy, “Mesclun” is the term for it from its place of origin in Provence, France.
There’s no single way to make a Spring or Mesclun Mix. As long as your salad contains an assortment of baby greens or leaves, then there you have one!
This mix is available any time of the year BTW, so you can enjoy it all year-round. Woop!
What Is In This Spring Greens Salad?
You’ve got a beautiful blend of super healthy veggies, flavorful protein, crisp peas, fresh fruit, and cheese all tossed with the perfect tangy dressing. What’s not to love?
For the salad:
- Quinoa (uncooked): Per cup, quinoa has more protein than yogurt and double the amount of protein found in rice! It’s also super easy to digest and is loaded with protein, minerals, carbs, and essential amino acids.
- Chicken broth (low-sodium): We’re using low-sodium broth so you get all the flavor, protein, fatty acids, and vitamins without the added salt.
- Asparagus: Another flavorful low-calorie wonder, asparagus is a great source of fiber, folate, and vitamins.
- Snap peas: These add a nice crunch to the dish (not to mention a generous dose of dietary fiber and antioxidants).
- Radish: Another great veggie for heart health, radish is packed with antioxidants and minerals like calcium and magnesium.
- Zucchini: Low in fat, sugar, and calories. High in zeaxanthin and lutein--both powerful antioxidants.
- Baby spring lettuce: Rich in vitamins and flavor, this baby adds a nice peppery kick to this salad.
- Goat cheese: For alittle decadence. You’re also getting an added dose of healthy fats and protein from this cheese.
- Almonds (sliced): Apart from adding texture, almonds help reduce blood sugar levels, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
- Blackberries: For an extra luxurious feel. Blackberries are packed with vitamin C, fiber, and are linked to boosting brain health. Too good.
For the dressing:
We will be using a simple 7-ingredient mix of lemon juice and zest, vinegar, olive oil, raw honey, sea salt, and pepper.
Is Spring Mix Salad Healthy?
This spring greens salad is not only healthy, it is loaded with nutrients!
You’re mixing a wonderful blend of flavors, textures, and colors which makes this one of my favorite salads. It’s jam-packed with fiber, protein, and lots of healthy vitamins and minerals.
These greens are also filled with antioxidants, have no cholesterol, and are super low in sodium and calories, so it’s a big freakin’ YES! Wanna know where else to get antioxidants? Discover the Top 10 Antioxidant-Rich Foods | With Easy Recipes
Spring Mixes are ultimately nutrient-dense.
For this recipe, I added a boost of protein and fiber by combining the greens with quinoa. It also gives a lot of great texture and depth, just like in my quinoa lentil salad.
Which Vegetable Is Good In Green Salads?
Spring mix is a blend of lettuce so there’s a lot of room to experiment with a variety of amazing baby greens.
Some of the most nutrient-dense leafy greens include spinach, romaine, and arugula which are typically used for this type of salad.
They’re rich in potassium, B vitamins, and vitamins A, C, and K so you’re getting a good dose just from these options alone.
Don’t limit yourself to these though! Most of the veggies in the Spring Mix are naturally packed with nutrients so stick with that and you’re all good.
How Can I Make My Salad More Attractive?
Salads are so easy and fun to spruce up. If you’re using a bunch of healthy ingredients then you’ll naturally have lots of beautiful and vibrant colors on your plate (or bowl).
But what if you feel like taking it up a notch for date night or a fancy dinner?
Here are some simple but super effective ways to WOW with your greens:
- Add a pop of color and zest with fruits: Fruits Fruits are an amazing way to add more life, color, and brightness to your salads (like we do here in my Strawberry Salad with Chia Seed Vinaigrette).
- Add some texture: I like to play around with nuts, cheeses, and seeds. For my Spring Greens Salad, the goat cheese, snap peas, and almonds add a nice balance of crunch and softness to each bite.
- Play with flavors: Notice how I used quinoa in this recipe (boiled in chicken broth) to add a nice layer of savory saltiness (and more texture) to this dish.
- Have fun with flowers: If you want to go all-out gourmet on your salad, edible flowers are an amazing way to add a touch of elegance to your greens. Fantastique!
- Use a nice bowl: And lastly (but definitely the easiest way--duh), use a nice wooden, glass, or ceramic bowl to finish off your salad in style. Another cool idea: mason jars!
How To Store?
These types of greens tend to wilt faster than usual salads when they’re mixed with the dressing.
Whether you’re preparing the salad in advance or storing leftovers, I recommend separating the greens from the dressing in different containers.
Another fun way (which I normally do with my salads especially when you want to have them on the go) is to store them in mason jars! You can put the dressing first at the bottom followed by the greens all the way to the top.
Are you ready to master the Mesclun Mix? (Which you can do so in half an hour, really. )
The Spring Greens Salad is the perfect blend of color, nutrients, brightness, and zest. It’s the happiest salad I know, guaranteed to live up to its name. Bon Appetite!
More Healthy Salad Recipes
Looking to add more options to your salad menu? Here are a few more of my fave go-to recipes you might also love. Check these out:
- Mason Jar Salad for Meal Prep + A Killer Clean Honey Mustard Dressing!
- Healthy Broccoli Salad with Greek Yogurt Dressing
- Healthy Taco Salad Recipe
- Chopped Thai Salad with Peanut Dressing
- Steak Cobb Salad With Creamy Avocado Cilantro Lime Dressing
This post contains affiliate links for products I use regularly and highly recommend.
Spring Grains + Greens Salad with Honey Lemon Vinaigrette
Equipment
*This post may contain affiliate links for products I use often and highly recommend.
Ingredients
For the salad:
- 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
- 2 cups low sodium vegetable or chicken broth (use vegetable broth to keep vegetarian)
- ¼ bunch of asparagus, thick (to shave into ribbons)
- 1 cup fresh snap peas, sliced in half diagonally
- 4 small radishes, thinly sliced
- 1 medium zucchini
- 3 cups baby spring lettuce mix
- 3 oz goat cheese, crumbled
- 3 tablespoon sliced almonds
- ½ cup blackberries
For the dressing:
- 3 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 3 tablespoon rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon raw honey
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
Instructions
- Make the quinoa by combining quinoa with broth in a medium sauce pan. Heat over medium-high heat until simmering. Simmer for 20-25 minutes, covered, until quinoa has absorbed the liquid. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Slice the root end off the asparagus. The thicker the better when you’re shaving asparagus. Holding the tip of an asparagus spear, carefully slice into thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler. Repeat with remaining asparagus spears. Set aside.
- Repeat the same steps with the zucchini after removing both ends. Set aside.
- To assemble the salad, in a large mixing bowl, combine the mixed baby greens spring mix, the asparagus ribbons, the zucchini ribbons, thinly sliced radishes, cooked quinoa, sliced almonds, fresh blackberries, raw snap peas, and crumbled goat cheese.
- To make the honey lemon vinaigrette, in a medium mixing bowl, combine freshly squeezed lemon juice, rice vinegar, olive oil, lemon zest, raw honey, sea salt, ground black pepper and mix together well. Set aside.
- To serve, drizzle with the honey lemon vinaigrette and top with a few more sliced almonds.
Dustin
Love how this salad looks 🙂