Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges and Berries

This Spinach Salad with Mandarin Oranges and Berries salad is loaded with goodies like pistachios, cranberries, goat cheese, oranges and blackberries. It's perfect for either a winter or summer salad!

Spinach Salad Recipe with Mandarin Oranges and Berries

A while back, a new soup, salad and panini-style restaurant opened down the street from us. We couldn't wait to try it!

My eyes grew wide as soon as I stumbled across this spinach salad on their menu that has all of my favorite ingredients: fruit, goat cheese, spinach and a light, sweet dressing! Really what sold me was the goat cheese.

Anything with creamy goat cheese and I'm in! (I seriously love it in everything from biscuits to meatballs). I never know if I'll like a salad enough to order it again, but this one definitely had me coming back for more and more.

Why you'll love this recipe

I've mentioned before that I've not always been a huge salad lover. My mom, on the other hand, loves salads and is always coming up with creative ones to go with dinner.

We typically have a salad with dinner every night, whether it's a homemade one or prepackaged and I used to let the bowl skip over me. I'm finicky about lettuce and really only like spinach salads. So when I'm in charge of the salad, it's going to be a spinach salad!

This recipe is so easy and delicious, and you're going to fall in love with it.

• It can be made in all seasons with sweet mandarin oranges or any berries.
• Salads make a great meal-prep lunch to take to work or school.
• Spinach makes for a delicious base for all the bright and fruity ingredients.

There are so many textures in this salad, which makes every bite super interesting and tasty. If you need an easy side salad to go with dinner or to take as a lunch, this totally has to be it!

Ingredients

After ordering the mandarin orange salad a handful of times, I decided it was time to try to make it myself at home. Luckily this salad was so easy to replicate because it has simple, whole ingredients.

It's fruity, crunch, sweet and tangy, so it checks all of the boxes. It's also super customizable with whatever is in season or your favorite salad toppings.

These are the simple ingredients you'll need:

• can of mandarin oranges: Make sure to get the no-sugar-added kind. You could also sub canned peaches.
• fresh spinach: My favorite is fresh baby spinach, but you can use kale instead.
• dried cranberries: Raisins or dried apricots would work here.
• blackberries: You can use strawberries or blueberries.
• goat cheese crumbles: Substitute any crumbly cheese like feta cheese.
• chopped pistachios: You can use sunflower seeds, sliced almonds or chopped pecans instead.

This salad is just so light, I could literally eat a huge bowl of it myself. It works well as a side salad with grilled turkey burgers or lemon pepper chicken thighs.

Or you can make it the main dish by adding your favorite protein. You could try it with slices of steak or chicken strips. I usually add leftovers (often these pan seared chicken thighs) from dinner the night before.

Other toppings you can add are red onions, green onion, sunflower seeds, peaches or other berries.

Honey Orange Vinaigrette Dressing

I have really loved experimenting with salad dressings over the last few years of enjoying salads, so I always try to make simple vinaigrettes when I can.

Once you've made them once, it's really easy to substitute out the flavor (in this case orange juice) for another acid that goes with your spinach salad, such as lime juice or lemon juice.

Here are the dressing ingredients:

• red wine vinegar
• extra-virgin olive oil
• honey
• fresh orange juice
• salt and pepper to taste

If you like tangier dressings, you can easily add a bit more vinegar or less honey to make it a tangier dressing instead of a sweet vinaigrette.

If you're not up for making your own dressing, you can use balsamic vinaigrette or poppy seed dressing instead. Or this miso tahini dressing would be divine!

How to make Mandarin Orange Spinach Salad

This salad is so easy to put together. Let's walk through it together.

First, make the dressing. Measure out the red wine vinegar, olive oil, honey and orange juice into a salad dressing shaker or a mason jar. Shake well to combine ingredients.

Add salt and pepper to taste and shake again. Set aside while you make the salad.

Next, wash and dry the spinach (you can use a salad spinner (affiliate)) and drain the juice from the mandarin oranges.

Then combine the mandarin orange slices, spinach, dried cranberries, blackberries, goat cheese and pistachios into a large bowl. Gently toss with tongs to combine.

If you are serving it right away, you can add the salad dressing to the bowl and toss with the spinach leaves some more. Plate it up on a large platter, salad plates or simply serve this simple salad in the large salad bowl you mixed it in.

If you're meal prepping for later, don't add the dressing until you're ready to eat.

More salad recipes

• Simple Fruit Salad Recipe
• Asparagus Chickpea Mediterranean Couscous Salad
• Pomegranate Brown Rice Kale Salad
• Easy Pasta Salad without Mayo

Do you eat salads on a regular basis? What's your favorite ingredient to add in? Let me know in the comments!