Beautiful Salad

  4.8 – 228 reviews  • Spinach Salad Recipes

This recipe was born out of a sudden craving for something colorful, flavorful, and quick to make. It features baby spinach, vibrant cranberries, and mandarin oranges, as well as the crunch of sweetened almonds and the tang of feta cheese. It has since become a family favorite. You can use any kind of sweetened pecans or walnuts in place of the almonds and blue cheese in place of the feta, if you like.

Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 10 mins
Servings: 6
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients

  1. 8 cups baby spinach leaves
  2. ½ medium red onion, sliced and separated into rings
  3. 1 (11 ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
  4. 1 ½ cups sweetened dried cranberries
  5. 1 cup honey-roasted sliced almonds
  6. 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
  7. 1 cup balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing, or to taste

Instructions

  1. Place servings of spinach onto salad plates. Top with red onion, mandarin oranges, cranberries, sliced almonds and feta cheese in that order. Drizzle dressing over each salad.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 459 kcal
Carbohydrate 44 g
Cholesterol 22 mg
Dietary Fiber 6 g
Protein 10 g
Saturated Fat 6 g
Sodium 811 mg
Sugars 31 g
Fat 30 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

John Bell
I have made this a number of times and everyone loves it!! It truly is a ‘beautiful salad’! I made it just as it is and used a Creamy Poppyseed dressing with it! Yum!
Brandon Randall
This was pretty good. I guess I prefer fresh fruit on my salad more than canned.
Shannon Moore
Delicious. Perhaps a bit heavy on the quantity of craisans and dressing. I used regular slivered almonds but did toast them first.
Donald Peters
This is delicious. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
Christopher Raymond
Great tasting and looking summer salad. We loved it!
Joshua Lee
I have been making this salad for years! It is fantastic! Every time I make it, I get rave reviews! It is absolutely delicious. And, beautiful, too!
Kenneth Robertson
Because I cannot eat onions or too much acid, I eliminated the onions and the cranberries. I substituted roasted and salted almonds because I have them available for snacks. Other than these changes, made as directed and have continued making it as it has become a family favorite. The combination of the sweet mandarins with the vinaigrette and the saltiness of the almonds made it a very balanced tasty salad.
William Hawkins
I’m always looking for quick, healthy lunch options, and this tasty salad fit the bill perfectly. The sweet mandarin oranges and dried cranberries are nicely balanced by the savory balsamic vinaigrette dressing and crispy onions. I used smaller portions of the ingredients to make an individual serving for lunch on the go. For added convenience, I used a prepackaged mix of sliced almonds and dried cranberries that I had bought from Walmart.
Shirley Webb
Delicious and easy!
Antonio Adams
Great salad for dinner parties. And SO SO fast and easy to make. The second time I substituted blue cheese crumbles for the feta, and everyone raved about it. I think it was a bit more flavorful.
Rebecca Cook
Great salad for dinner parties. And SO SO fast and easy to make. The second time I substituted blue cheese crumbles for the feta, and everyone raved about it. I think it was a bit more flavorful.
Pamela Peterson
Awesome recipe. Will do it again
Angela Lee
Served this with grilled teriyaki chicken on top and it was a delicious, fresh-tasting, mid-week meal. Also experimented with edamame as a topping and could take it or leave it.
Mrs. Sandra Silva
Husband and I love this salad. My market had big beautiful blueberries which I substituted for the cranberries. It made a perfect side for a quiche Lorraine.
Charles Watson
Beautiful and tasty salad! I added pine nuts and fennel. Delish!
Lori Lee
I have been making this salad for years and it is such a hit that I get requests for it over and over again at potlucks. It is absolutely incredible as-is… why change amazing? But over the years I have made a few changes when I have extra time that everyone seems to love. First, I often substitute sliced fresh strawberries for the cranberries. I also usually use half and half baby spinach and torn romaine hearts to give the salad more crunch. And lastly, when I have time and want to be fancy, I caramelize whole almonds vs. buying packaged honey roasted. This last step is a pain, but reeeaaalllly puts it over the top when you’re trying to blow people’s minds. 🙂
Caitlyn Taylor
I used mango blue cheese and a bit of poppyseed dressing
James Wilkerson
I’ve made this several times so that speaks volumes because I don’t make it again if we didn’t love it the first time. It’s versatile in that this is a good any season salad.
Christopher Moore
I made this for a family Easter brunch. Everybody loved it. I substituted slivered almonds for roasted almonds, and this minor change didn’t detract from flavor or appearance.
William Good
This salad was great! I used red leaf lettuce instead of spinach, just a preference and fresh orange segments instead of canned. Great taste.
Haley Wolf
I made this but used goat cheese instead of feta because I love goat cheese…..this is sooooo good!!! You do not want to pass this recipe up!!

 

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