Cranberry Almond Spinach Salad
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A festive flavorful Spinach Salad! With these pretty red and green colors this is the perfect salad to serve for a Christmas party. It has the perfect blend of sweet, savory, toasted flavor and crunchy goodness. You’ll love every last bite of it!
Easy Spinach Salad with Cranberries and Almonds
This salad is a breeze to make and the only chopping required is for the shallot, gotta love that!
Fresh spinach is layered with chewy dried cranberries, crisp sliced almonds, and a sweet and simple toasted sesame seed vinaigrette.
Ingredients in This Salad
- Baby spinach
- Sliced almonds
- Dried cranberries
- White wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar
- White sugar
- Honey
- Olive oil
- Shallot
- Sesame seeds
Buy Pre-Toasted Sesame Seeds to Save Time
For this recipe you can use either store bought toasted sesame seeds or you can toast up some white sesame seeds yourself.
I toasted my own but I’m sure I didn’t get them golden enough. I tried to toast the almonds and sesame seeds at the same time and the almonds browned quicker surprisingly, so lesson learned.
Next time I’ll toast the almonds in the oven on the cookie sheet then the sesame seeds just in a skillet.
Either way it was still completely delicious, plus with how easy it was to make I’m sure this will making plenty of appearances on my dinner table!
I also didn’t add poppy seeds this time around, next time I’ll add them and see which way I like it better. I’m sure it would even be good with just poppy seeds and no sesame seeds.
That’s the beauty of making a salad, they’re so versatile and there’s always room to switch things up.
More Delicious Salads to Try!
- Apple Kale Quinoa Salad
- Salad de Mason
- Pear Pomegranate and Spinach Salad
- Butternut Squash and Bacon Kale Salad
- Strawberry Spinach Salad
Follow Easy Cooking Zone
Cranberry Almond Spinach Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 16 oz baby spinach
- 1 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- 1 cup dried cranberries
Sesame Seed Dressing
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 3 Tbsp white sugar
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 1 Tbsp finely minced shallot
- 2 Tbsp sesame seeds , toasted
- 1 Tbsp poppy seeds (optional)
Instructions
- For the dressing: In a bowl or jar whisk together white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar and sugar until the sugar has dissolved.
- Stir in olive oil, honey, shallot, sesame seeds and optional poppy seeds until mixture is well blended.
- For the salad: Add spinach, almonds and cranberries to a salad bowl. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss. Serve immediately after adding dressing.