This Spring Mix Salad is a beautiful blend of crisp lettuce with tomato, walnuts, dried cranberries, and salty olives all topped with some fresh mint leaves and Italian dressing. It is the perfect side dish to any meal or gathering.
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Salad Recipe with Spring Mix
So you bought the container of spring mix, lets not let it go to waste just to be thrown away in a few days. Lets make this absolutely delicious salad with it!
This salad turns boring spring mix (yes sometimes spring mix can be a little dull) into a super flavorful salad that hits all the right notes. Part of the secret is to mix in some fresh mint leaves to the salad for extra flavor bursts. There is also the perfect combination of sweet, crunch, salty, and savory toppings so that each bite has plenty of delicious flavors.
Ingredients
- Spring Mix Greens – While yes I did develop this salad particularly for a spring mix you can use other salad mixes you enjoy.
- Tomato – One nice medium sized tomato cut into pieces, you can use really any kind of tomato here.
- Red Onion – Just a little thinly sliced gives the salad a nice balance with some of the other flavors.
- English Cucumber – This gives a nice fresh flavor as well as a nice crunch, while I prefer using an English Cucumber in a salad because they are super crunchy you can use other varieties of cucumbers.
- Kalamata Olives – These give a nice salty/umami flavor this can be halved or whole but I would recommend using the ones that do not have pits.
- Chopped Walnuts – For the nutty flavor as well as the crunch.
- Dried Cranberries – These provide a great texture but also a nice sweetness.
- Sprig of Fresh Mint – Try not to skip this, tear up the leaves and add them to the salad, the little pops of flavor make eating this salad so enjoyable.
- Italian Dressing – Either use a high quality store bought Italian Dressing or make your own using my Homemade Italian Dressing Recipe.
Instructions
Add the spring mix to a large bowl.
Add the tomatoes, sliced red onion, cucumber, olives, walnuts, dried cranberries, and mint leaves to the bowl.
Drizzle the dressing over top and then use a tongs to toss well. Serve immediately.
This salad can be prepped ahead of time by adding everything except the dressing to a bowl and then covered for up to 12 hours. Add the dressing and toss when you are ready to serve.
For best results use a high quality or homemade Italian dressing.
tips, tricks and questions
Substitutions and Variations
Because this is just a salad feel free to make your variation on it as you see fit. Here are a few variation ideas:
- Use other blends of lettuce anything that is a mix or can hold up well will work for this salad.
- Use other nuts or seeds besides walnut try pecan, sunflower seed, or pumpkin seeds.
- Instead of dried cranberries try dried cherries.
- Use a different dressing any vinaigrette would be good on this salad as well as my hummus salad dressing.
- Add cheese like crumbled goat cheese or blue cheese.
- Add protein like chicken or salmon to make it a full meal.
Can I make this salad ahead of time?
As long as you leave out the dressing until you are ready to serve yes you can definitely prep this salad ahead of time. Just add everything but the dressing to a large bowl, cover, and keep in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
How many servings does this salad make? Is it good for a potluck?
This is a LARGE salad. It can easy feed 4 very large salads but if you are making it for a side dish or a potluck it will feed many.
What dished pair well with this salad?
This is actually a spin off of a house salad at a near by pizza place so right away I think how it pairs nicely with Homemade Pizza or other Italian foods like Oven Baked Chicken Parmesan. It would also be lovely with grilled or roated chicken like my Grilled Spatchcock Chicken or Herb Roasted Chicken.
If you like this Spring Mix Salad Recipe you might also like:
Spring Mix Salad
This not dull salad is filled with spring mix and topped with tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, walnuts, dried cranberries, and fresh mint all topped with Italian Dressing.
Ingredients
- 10-11 oz spring mix greens
- 1 medium tomato, cut into bite sized pieces
- ¼ of a red onion, thinly sliced
- ½ English cucumber, sliced into half moons
- ⅓ cup kalamata olives
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
- ⅓ cup dried cranberries
- 1 large sprig of fresh mint leaves, torn to pieces
- ¼ cup Italian dressing
Instructions
- Add the spring mix to a large bowl.
- Add the tomatoes, sliced red onion, cucumber, olives, walnuts, dried cranberries, and mint leaves to the bowl.
- Drizzle the dressing over top and then use a tongs to toss well. Serve immediately.
Notes
This salad can be prepped ahead of time by adding everything except the dressing to a bowl and then covered for up to 12 hours. Add the dressing and toss when you are ready to serve.
For best results use a high quality or homemade Italian dressing.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
10Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 158Total Fat: 6gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 229mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 7gSugar: 8gProtein: 8g
Nutritional data is automated and might not be 100% accurate, final nutritional information will depend on ingredients used and any changes made.
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