Turn your seasonal farmers market produce into this delightful Cherry Goat Cheese Spinach Salad this weekend. Fresh, tart cherries, tangy goat cheese, and salty pistachios pair together in a way guaranteed to impress even your pickiest guests.
It’s finally summer, which means some of the best produce is in season! This time of year, farmers markets are filled with heirloom tomatoes, fresh peaches, and my favorite fruit: juicy, sweet cherries. May through August is the best time to buy sweet cherries. When selecting the perfect pint, look for the cherries with shiny skin and green stems still attached. There are endless ways to use this delicious summer fruit, whether they’re in a pie, on top of ice cream, or in a fresh summer salad like this Cherry Goat Cheese Spinach Salad.
This Cherry Goat Cheese Spinach Salad is healthy, light, and balanced. It’s especially nice to make on hot days when you don’t want to turn on the stove or oven. In this salad, cherries and blueberries add a natural sweetness against the spinach and goat cheese, and the pistachios provide a delicious salty crunch.
Cherry Goat Cheese Spinach Salad
You can eat this dish as a healthy side or spruce it up with some grilled chicken or tofu for a protein-packed lunch. It’s even great for summer barbecues and potlucks! Simply prep all of the salad ingredients in advance and whenever you’re ready to eat, just toss it lightly with the dressing.
Make sure to follow these two tips to perfect this summer salad:
- Soak the red onion slices in water or milk for 10 minutes before adding them in the salad. This takes the bite out of the onions and gives them a much more mellow taste.
- If you don’t own a cherry pitter, you can easily pit your cherries by using a chopstick. Using the narrow end of the chopstick, poke a hole where the stem was, and carefully push the pit out the other end. Do this over a bowl so that the pits and juices don’t go everywhere. Once all of the cherries are pitted, slice them in half and add them to the salad.
For a vegan variation of this salad, you can leave out the goat cheese and substitute maple syrup in place of honey in the salad dressing.
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup red onion, very thinly sliced
- 4 cups baby spinach
- 1 cup cherries, pitted and halved
- 1/3 cup fresh blueberries
- 1 oz (about 1/4 cup) goat cheese, crumbled
- 1/4 cup salted dry-roasted pistachios
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp honey
- 1/2 tsp dijon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Soak the red onion in water or milk. Set aside for 10 minutes, then rinse and drain.
- Place the spinach at the bottom of a large bowl. Top with the red onion, cherries, blueberries, goat cheese, and pistachios. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the minced garlic, lemon juice, honey, dijon, salt, and pepper. Gradually mix in the extra-virgin olive oil until emulsified.
- Pour 3/4 of the dressing onto the salad and toss to combine. Taste and add additional dressing, salt, and pepper as needed. Serve immediately.
Notes
Home Chef Tip: Soak red onion slices in water or milk for 10 minutes before adding them in the salad. This takes the bite out of the onions.
We hope you love this delightful Cherry Goat Cheese Spinach Salad recipe from SoFabFood Contributor, Rachel from Little Chef Big Appetite, as much as we do. If you enjoyed this delicious dish, be sure to check out our other salad recipes for more like it. Don’t forget to subscribe to our newsletter so that you never miss a single recipe, and for daily recipe inspiration, like us on Facebook and follow us on Pinterest. Enjoy!
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