Blueberry Salad

If you’ve never had a berry salad before—not a fruit salad, but a salad where berries and greens share the stage—then this blueberry salad will be a real treat. Sweet, juicy berries pair well with crisp spinach, topped with crumbled blue cheese and toasted nuts. This and other berry salads are easy to make and pack well in lunches, as long as you have access to a refrigerator for storage. This is a nutritious side dish or main course, and if you’re tired of plain salads, this recipe gives you the variety you’ve been craving. From the sweet-tart flavor of blueberries in each bite to the tangy raspberry vinaigrette mixed throughout, this salad is a berry fan’s dream.

Ingredients for Blueberry Salad

• Raspberry vinegar: The raspberry vinegar provides the dressing with a lovely berry flavor.
• Dijon mustard: Dijon mustard adds a very bright flavor to the dressing, and makes it a little thicker too.
• Sugar: A little sugar will take the edge off the tartness of the vinegar and mustard.
• Canola oil: We use canola oil specifically here, for its neutral flavor.

Salad:

• Baby spinach: The smaller the leaves, the more tender and sweet they should be.
• Blueberries: Look for firm fresh blueberries—in fact, try a few from the pints first to ensure they taste good. If you can find fresh wild blueberries, those may have a stronger flavor. Wild blueberries aren’t commonly cultivated, but some blueberry farms manage fields of wild blueberry bushes, so look for pick-your-own opportunities.
• Blue cheese: This provides a savory counterpart to the sweetness of the berries.
• Toasted pecans: Toasted and chopped pecans give this spinach blueberry salad a little more of a crunchy texture, for variety.

Directions

Step 1: Make the dressing

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In a small bowl, mix the raspberry vinegar, Dijon mustard, sugar and salt. Whisk in the canola oil slowly, until the dressing is completely blended.

Step 2: Assemble the salad

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In a separate large bowl, place the spinach, blueberries, blue cheese and pecans. Drizzle the dressing over the salad, and toss to combine.

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Blueberry Salad Variations

• Use regular spinach instead of baby spinach: This recipe calls for baby spinach, but you can use regular spinach as well. Baby spinach leaves are smaller, sweeter and more tender than those of regular spinach, but regular spinach has great flavor. Baby spinach can occasionally seem kind of, well, bland. If you want more flavor from the greens, use regular spinach. If the leaves are bigger than you’d like, cut them into ribbons: Stack the leaves on top of each other, roll them into a cylinder and slice crosswise. And if you end up with a lot of leftover spinach after making this recipe, try using it in one of these spinach recipes.
• Change the cheese: Blue cheese isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. Gorgonzola, a specific type of blue cheese, often gets the spotlight as a substitute. But if you’re just not into the blue cheese family, feta and shaved Parmesan both work very well in spinach salads.
• Add sliced strawberries: For a colorful variation, add some sliced strawberries. Not only do they pair well with blueberries, they also taste great with greens, including spinach. If you’re on a berry salad roll, try this berry tossed salad, and if you want to add even more berries, try this four-berry spinach salad.

How to Store Blueberry Salad

Any leftovers from this blueberry salad recipe should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for no more than four days. Keep an eye on the quality of the ingredients, especially the spinach leaves. Leftover dressing can also be stored in the refrigerator for no more than four days; you may need to stir or shake it again before using.

Can you freeze blueberry salad?

Unfortunately, you can’t freeze this salad or the dressing. While spinach and blueberries can both be frozen in general, their texture changes drastically when you thaw them.

Blueberry Salad Tips

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Should you leave the dressing and cheese on the side when serving to others?

While the salad looks wonderful when fully assembled, leaving the dressing and cheese on the side when you serve it allows people to add only the amounts they want. Some don’t like blue cheese; others won’t want that much dressing. Place the dressing and cheese in nice bowls with spoons and let people know that you’ve kept them separate so they can add them as desired. By the way, if you’ve got someone who is a big blue cheese fan, try making them this blue cheese salad.

Can you use other salad greens in place of spinach?

Yes! If you find that all the spinach available in stores doesn’t look good, you can try arugula (also called rocket) or even romaine, such as in this blueberry romaine salad.

Can you leave out the nuts?

If you or someone you’re serving is allergic to nuts, leave them out. The nuts add a nice crunch to the salad, but they’re not necessary. If you still want something in the salad that’s crunchy, see if sunflower seeds would be safe for the person to eat.