Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing and Homemade Candied Pecans Recipe – seriously delicious! We love this for a quick side at lunch or dinner. Romaine, strawberries, Vidalia onions tossed in a quick homemade dressing made from mayonnaise, sugar, sour cream, milk, cider vinegar, and poppy seed. Top the salad with some easy candied pecans. We love this with grilled chicken, quiche, and sandwiches. A family favorite!

plate of strawberry salad

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The BEST Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

This Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing screams summer! Fresh strawberries, romaine, sweet Vidalia onion, and homemade candied pecans tossed with a yummy homemade poppy seed dressing. We both absolutely loved this yummy salad. It is a great side dish or even a main dish! We had this salad for lunch last week with some grilled chicken – perfection! We also love it with quiche. This salad has quickly become a favorite. I can’t wait to make this again!

plate of strawberry salad

How to Make Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing and Homemade Candied Pecans

This salad is very easy to make. It mostly involves chopping and whisking. The hardest part of this salad is making the candied pecans. They actually aren’t hard to make at all. Put some sugar in a small non-stick skillet and heat it over low heat until the sugar starts to melt. Once the sugar has melted, add the pecans and toss. SO easy. If you don’t like pecans, feel free to use almonds, walnuts or cashews.

  • Sometimes we will add some bleu cheese crumbles, crumbled feta or goat cheese to the salad. This is also nice with some blueberries added to the mixture.
  • Can Strawberry Salad be Made in Advance? Yes! You can definitely make the candied pecans and the dressing in advance. You can also chop the romaine, onion, and strawberries and store them in an air-tight container in the refrigerator.
    • Store the dressing in the refrigerator until you are ready to toss and serve the salad. You want to toss everything together right before serving so the lettuce doesn’t get soggy.
plate of strawberry salad

What to Serve with Strawberry Salad

As I said, we love this salad as a side with grilled chicken. It also goes great with chicken salad, pasta salad, quiche, BLT sandwiches. Here are a few of our favorite recipes from the blog that go great with this delicious salad:

Pimento Cheese Egg Salad

The Masters Pimento Cheese Egg Salad – the best of both worlds! Can’t decide which Masters sandwich is your favorite?…

Curry Chicken Salad

Curry Chicken Salad – classic chicken salad with a great curry flavor. This is THE BEST chicken salad EVER!! Tender…

plate of strawberry salad

Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing

Yield: 4 people
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 20 minutes
Strawberry Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing and Homemade Candied Pecans Recipe – seriously delicious! We love this for a quick side at lunch or dinner. Romaine, strawberries, Vidalia onions tossed in a quick homemade dressing made from mayonnaise, sugar, sour cream, milk, cider vinegar, and poppy seed. Top the salad with some easy candied pecans. We love this with grilled chicken, quiche, and sandwiches. A family favorite!

Ingredients:

  • ¼ cup sugar
  • ½ cup pecan halves or pieces
  • 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
  • ½ Vidalia onion, sliced
  • 2 cups halved fresh strawberries
  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp sour cream
  • 1 Tbsp milk
  • 2 tsp cider vinegar
  • tsp poppy seeds

Instructions:

  • Place ¼ cup sugar in a small non-stick skillet. Cook over medium-low heat until the sugar starts to melt and caramelize. Add pecans. Spread on parchment paper or foil to cool.
  • In a large bowl, combine lettuce, onion, and strawberries.
  • Whisk together mayonnaise, 2 Tbsp sugar, sour cream, milk, cider vinegar, and poppy seeds.
  • Pour dressing over lettuce mixture and toss to coat. Add candied pecans. Serve immediately.

Notes:

Can make pecans and dressing ahead of time. Refrigerate dressing until ready to serve salad.
Can add goat cheese, bleu cheese crumbles or crumbled feta cheese.
Can use any nut you like – almonds, cashews or walnuts are nice.
Add grilled chicken for a main dish.

Steph

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Comments

  1. If I wanted to use bottled salad dressing how much would I need? This is one of my favorites but I don’t always have the time or ingredients on hand.

      1. Your comments above include sour cream but it wasn’t listed as an ingredient. Is sour cream needed in the dressing? I plan to make this for July 4th. Thanks!

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