With avocados and honey balsamic vinaigrette, this pistachio strawberry goat cheese salad is the best combination of savory with a little bit sweet.
Like most of us, I can’t resist a sale. For me, it’s food that I get more excited about than clothes, specifically berries.
Berry season hasn’t made it to our Midwest farmers markets yet for many reasons including the fact that we’re a month out from outdoor markets starting again. Plus there are still stretches of cold.
But things look different at the grocery store where there are A LOT of berries. Somehow it’s already that time of year. They are such a good deal that I end up buying them in big quantities.
I can’t fill my cart with enough sweet strawberries to last us through the week. The other day I had to go on another shopping trip after my 7-year-old polished off a half pound of ripe strawberries in one sitting. He was so proud of the pile of leafy tops leftover on his plate.
When it comes to snacking, I prefer raspberries or blackberries. What I do love to do with strawberries is use them in salads.
Starting in late spring and going through summer, fruit is my favorite feature ingredient in a seasonal salad. That includes anything from blueberries to peaches to apricots.
This pistachio goat cheese strawberry salad is the perfect balance of savory with hints of sweet. It has a tasty combination of strawberries and balsamic vinegar.
This is what you need for the salad recipe:
If you don’t have time to prep the creamy goat cheese, coat it in nuts and bake it, just skip that part. Of course, I know that’s the star of the salad, but you really can’t beat that combination of strawberries, goat cheese, nuts and avocados. So just use a 1/4 – 1/3 cup of cheese crumbled. Feta and blue cheese would also be great substitutes for this simple recipe.
If the vinaigrette becomes solid in the chill of the fridge, let it sit out at room temperature and the oil will turn to liquid again.
You absolutely can serve the salad as is or add a protein like a sliced chicken breast. I think it’s worthy of being called a main dish in when it’s vegetarian, but I totally understand if you want to make this addition.
As with any salad, if you know you aren’t going to eat it all at one meal, don’t toss the entire salad in the dressing. Store a portion of the undressed salad in an airtight container (up to 2 days), and the vinaigrette in a mason jar or something else. The nuts will loose some of their crunch as they sit in the fridge.
Strawberry Cucumber Pasta Salad
Stone Fruit Salad
Watermelon Cucumber Corn Salad
Nectarine Grape Salad
Watermelon Peach Salad
With avocados and honey balsamic vinaigrette, this pistachio strawberry goat cheese salad is the best combination of savory with a little bit sweet.
This salad is so good! I made it for my guests and they were really impressed. Thank you! We need more delicious salads in our lives.
★★★★★
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed it!!!
This salad was incredibly delicious. I did not use the oven at all – I just added crumbled goat cheese and honey roasted pistachios at the end separately.
★★★★★
Love this salad! Made to many pistachio crusted goat cheese rounds the first time, so I froze them in a zip lock. They are rich, so I took out (2) for tonight’s dinner. We each had one on our salad & I added roasted chicken for additional protein. I am typically a strawberry fan when blended in a smoothie. However, the strawberries in this salad with balsamic is absolutely Delicious!
★★★★★
My husband & I loved this recipe! He said it tasted like a restaurant meal. Absolutlely delicious & will be a great meal for summer dinners. I added grilled shrimp!
★★★★★