A friend once made this for a party to celebrate the beginning of summer. It is cool, crisp and crunchy - just what a salad should be.
I used extra virgin reserve olive oil in this recipe as I always do for salad dressings because it is the best, however, next time I make this I will use vegetable oil as the recipe states. The olive oil was too heavy for the salad and I felt like I didn't do it justice. Toast the pecans in the microwave for a minute and a half for another added dimension. Next time I will cut the sugar down even more.
Read Morepretty good; nothing spectacular, but a good strawberry/chicken salad. I used all romaine lettuce and sliced toasted almonds.
Read MoreI used extra virgin reserve olive oil in this recipe as I always do for salad dressings because it is the best, however, next time I make this I will use vegetable oil as the recipe states. The olive oil was too heavy for the salad and I felt like I didn't do it justice. Toast the pecans in the microwave for a minute and a half for another added dimension. Next time I will cut the sugar down even more.
I made the dressing for this salad and used it on spinach, mangoes and candied pecans and it was delicious. Every single person I made this salad for has asked for the recipe since then!
WOW! This was DELICIOUS! I used slightly less than 3/4 cup of vegetable oil, all of the sugar (I first tried it with less and added in the rest as we liked it sweeter), deleted the poppy seeds and mushrooms, toasted the pecans and added crumbled feta cheese. The strawberries were just perfect, I used my Pampered Chef egg slicer to make perfect slices after I capped them and although I used mixed greens, I think just using spinach would have made a prettier presentation. Thank you Leslie for the awesome post! We served this with "Perfect Baked Potato" and "Savory Garlic Marinated Steaks" from this site. Yum!
What a great salad! I'm not sure why it's called 'spicy' but it's the best strawberry salad recipe I've come across. Be sure to whisk or beat the dressing thoroughly - the sugar doesn't dissolve properly if not mixed well. The dressing tastes even better the second day. Thanks for a great recipe :)
OK! As a lot of the other "raters", I made a few changes: sliced almonds instead of pecan, 1/2 cup of oil, 1/4 cup sugar and since I didn't have dry mustard, I used a teaspoon of a wholegrain dijon mustard and I left the mushrooms out. It was great! I will definitely make this again!
We really enjoyed this salad. I may cut down on the sugar next time but, otherwise, it was delicious and attractive!
Omitted the mushrooms because although we love mushrooms the combination of strawberries and mushrooms just didn't seem to work for us. I also added toasted almonds instead of the pecans, and a bit of chopped scallions. Wonderful flavor with just he right crunch. I served with grilled chicken and it was very tasty.
This salad is absolutely wonderful. Crisp, sweet, crunch and colorful. I may cut down a bit on the sugar next time, but otherwise fabulous.
So so so good!! Loved it. I didn't think it was spicy, but I loved it. I had to sub a few things, like I did spinach instead of mixed greens, and used sugared almonds. I also added blue cheese crumbles.....the dressing rocks. I bet this would be good with blueberries or blackberries too. even nectarines.
This is a great salad. I've made it several times and everyone raves about it. I don't put 3/4 cup of veg. oil. I usually cut it to 1/3-1/2 cup.
This is a very tasty salad but the dressing is a bit too thick. I switched the amounts of sugar to 1/4 cup and upped the amount of balsamic vinegar to 1/2 cup and it turned out great.
Game on for this recipe. The amount of sugar was a bit much and didn't really allow any type of "spicy" taste to hang in there. Made this for myself and my wife, both adding this recipe to the once a month meal. Going to try Agave instead of sugar next time. Also, didn't have pecans, so substituted them with pine nuts. Worked out great.
WONDERFUL!!! I will definitely make this again. Everyone loved it and wanted seconds.
I had a salad similar to this at a party, and I had to find a recipe for it! This one is it! Such a different combination of flavors, making for a memorable, distinctive salad. Thanks so much for posting it!
Followed as written, really good, too much dressing though, next time will half it.
Absolutely delicious! Everyone at the table had thirds -- I actually had to tell my four-year-old she couldn't have any more!
I used mixed brands of fresh lettuce from our garden and skipped the mushrooms. I also toasted my pecans before adding them to this salad. It was positively the BEST salad we've ever eaten. It was like something we'd have ordered in a fancy restaurant. Very impressive! The dressing was a wonderful compliment to the berries & salad.
I love this recipe after I made a few changes. First, I heated the vinegar with sugar, mustard and garlic just until the sugar was dissolved then pour in a blender and with blender running, I slowly added the oil. Also, I sprinkled a tiny bit of cinnamon on the pecans and toasted them. Good stuff!
This salad was FANTASTIC! I could have eaten the whole thing myself it was that good and guilt-free too. I did reduce the sugar to 1/3 c which seemed to be just right for sweetness. Also, I think my mustard and garlic powders may have been kind of old, since I didn't really notice the mustard flavor and I ended up adding an extra 1/2 tspn of the garlic powder. We will absolutely be making this one again!
pretty good; nothing spectacular, but a good strawberry/chicken salad. I used all romaine lettuce and sliced toasted almonds.
I followed this recipe very closely-not my usual M.O.-& it was fantastic! Very well recieved by everyone that tasted it & seconds were taken! All I added was some celery as I had a lot & I switched to almonds for the nuts. The dressing goes well w/it & really thickens afterwards also. I used an egg slicer to slice the strawberries-that made it very uniform & much easier! Thanks, Leslie-I'll be making this often.
This is a great summer salad. The only thing I would change is the amount of sugar in the dressing. I think 1/3 cup of sugar will do. Other than that, this salad is fantastic. Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Great salad, and so easy! I prefer dried fruit in salads, so I dehydrated the strawberries, and they were a perfect complement. I also subbed agave for sugar and used fresh garlic. This would also be great with spinach, and maybe some green onions or shallot. A new favorite!
It was good, but not spicy as others have stated. I like the dressing from Strawberry Avacado Salad better.
OMG!! This was amazing. I also used the candied pecan recipe from this site to mix into the salad. I've made it twice now in a week and everyone raves about this. The dressing alone is delicious!! You can use chicken in this salad, add blueberries or any other kind of fruit. It's just wonderful :)
EXCELLENT salad!! Took others advice and cut back on amount of sugar used, also toasted the pecans & can't imagine this tasting better.
Delicious. Used Splenda. Mushrooms are great in this recipe, don't leave them out. I've mad the dressing many times. I use it on spinach salads with strawberries, oranges, red onion and chopped nuts. Used raspberry balsamic vinegar. Awesome.
This dressing is sooo good. I add goat cheese in the salad and it mixes very well with the strawberry. I have made this many times now!
this is a great salad! i reduced the oil by a lot - 3/4 cup seemed like too much. i used maybe 2 - 3 tablespoons. didn't have any mustard powder so i used regular mustard - seemed to work okay (make sure you stir it so there aren't any lumps!. didn't have any poppy seeds either so i used sesame. left out the pecans and used a bit of crumbled blue cheese instead. i used spinach instead of mixed greens (hey, this is like a whole different recipe with all these changes!) this salad isn't really "spicy" though, but it's good if you like strawberries and want to try something different.
I made this as a dinner for two and adjusted the portion size to four and it was perfect. I did cut back on the sugar and thank goodness I did because I don't think it could have been any sweeter and enjoyable at the same time, at least for me. My granddaughter also was very pleased and we will definitely have it again!
Pretty good... I liked the combination of strawberries and mushrooms and poppyseeds.
This is delicious, just enough of a special taste to make it different than your run-of-the-mill fruit salads! Suez
This is a great salad! The dressing seemed a little thick, so I added extra vinegar and oil, I also exchanged the pecans for almonds and used spinach with the salad greens. We loved it and will make it again!
I have made this dressing and salad many times. I use Olive oil instead of vegetable oil and only half the sugar. I cut up red onions, kalamata olives and feta...YUM!!
I made this for a Dinner Party and substituted Pine Nuts for the pecans! everyone there raved about it and every bite was eaten! definitely five stars.
Looked stunning, and tasted like it came from a restaurant kitchen. I subbed regular mustard for the dry mustard (check the conversion rate online -- it's not 1:1), but followed everything else to a T. Absolutely a company-worthy dish.
Delicious! I made this for 30 people in the office and it got many thumbs up! It will be a regular addition to make a special meal really special.
This salad was very tasty and I made a few minor adjustments. cutting back on the sugar, adding a few extra veggies. But it wasn't spicy at all. I was hoping for a little something extra...still very good salad.
I made this for a small dinner party last night, and everyone LOVED it!! It's my new favorite! Thanks for sharing!
Loved it!As others did, I added candied pecans. I used the "pecan snack" recipe on this site. It was so delicious and simple. It really wasn't very spicy though but I still was not disappointed.
Only thing I changed with the dressing was subbed 1/4 c light brown sugar instead of 1/2 c white sugar and just didn't have poppy seed on hand. Loved the salad part made with spinach leaves and also toasted the pecans. Yummy! Just 3 of us here so had plenty of dressing left over for another couple of salads! Not complaining about at all!
I make this dressing all. the. time. I cut the sugar in half and up the spices a bit, but otherwise it's excellent. Stores well in the refrigerator and is great on any plain old greens you happen to have kicking around as well. A good way to make salad haters eat some greens!
Love this a great salad and so refreshing on a hot day. Make sure to use the poppy seeds!
I made this salad last year to go with Christmas dinner. It was a big hit. My guests always request it now. If you need further proof, my father-in-law does not eat greens, but devoured this salad. Enjoy!
Took this salad to a Potluck BBQ last night and it was well received by all...nothing left in the bowl! Had many compliments on the presentation and flavor. I liked the fact that the dressing has balsamic vinegar in it as I really enjoy that vinegar and other flavored vinegars in a lot of my salad dressings. Made the dressing recipe as is and liked the balance of sweetness to tanginess...but recipe is easily tweakable to change that balance if desired! Also liked that this dressing mixed well and the consistency was slightly thick and did not separate! This dressing does make alot so chose not to add it all to the salad...felt there was enough for two or three salads! Nice to have the dressing already made for the next salad. For the salad fixings I used what I had in the fridge. Mix of romaine and spinich, celery, red onion, pecans, and lots of strawberries and blueberries! Did not have any fresh mushrooms but I look forward to trying this salad with them next time. Thanks for submitting the recipe...one that I know I will enjoy all summer long!!!
This is delicious!!!! My whole family loved it. I candied the pecans for a little extra something.
Strawberries were out of season.....so I substituted them with cherries and blackberries............YUMMYYYYYYYYYY.
Update 2022:
This recipe deserves 7 stars, just for the dressing. I make big batches of dressing (exactly as indicated).... then mix and match the salad components.... lettuce, arugula, any type of berries/cherries some times.
IT IS A KEEPER
Wonderful! The dressing is amazing. I didn't change a thing with the exception of allowing each person to add their own dressing. Oh yeah and adding honey dijon mustard instead of dry. Yummmmm! :)
Very good salad. Loved the dressing! Followed the recipe exactly. Making again today for lunch with the left over dressing and adding some left over chicken to it.
I made the receipe exactly. Dressing was very thick and very sweet. Not spicy at all. If hubby is willing to try again I would cut the sugar in half.
Only thing I changed with the dressing was subbed 1/4 c light brown sugar instead of 1/2 c white sugar and just didn't have poppy seed on hand. Loved the salad part made with spinach leaves and also toasted the pecans. Yummy! Just 3 of us here so had plenty of dressing left over for another couple of salads! Not complaining about at all!
