Berry Spinach Salad
This berry spinach salad features fresh raspberries, blueberries, goat cheese, sunflower seeds and balsamic vinaigrette. It's a lovely side salad.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on April 23, 2025
Hereโs my spring-to-summer side salad solution. It features chopped baby spinach, plenty of fresh berries, tangy goat cheese and a zippy balsamic dressing. For the berries, I used raspberries and blueberries, but sliced strawberries would be another great option.
The skillet-toasted, candied maple sunflower seeds are a simple addition that adds crunch and subtle heat from a dash of cayenne pepper (which is totally optional). Theyโre an unexpected addition that sends this salad over the top.
The result is a little sweet and a little spicy. Itโs healthy, yet irresistible. Itโs perfectly balanced. Itโs truly a fantastic side salad, and a fun alternative to my classic spinach salad.
I created this recipe nearly ten years ago, when I felt that I didnโt have enough simple salad recipes on the blog. Sometimes youโre tasked with making the green salad for a summer potluck, and you want to make something special, you know?
The recipe is still one of my favorites, so Iโm sharing it again today with new photos. I hope they entice you to try this salad if you havenโt already.
Recipe Tip
Be sure to wait until youโre ready to eat before tossing the dressing with the rest of the salad, since the spinach wilts relatively quickly when it comes into contact with it. If you intend to have leftovers, store the salad and dressing separately and dress individual servings as needed.
More Side Salads to Enjoy
Here are a few more green side salads from my salad collection:
- Favorite Green Salad with Apples, Cranberries and Pepitas
- Homemade Caesar Salad
- Peach & Avocado Green Salad
- Spinach Salad: with seasonal fruit suggestions
- Super Simple Arugula Salad
Please let me know how your salad turns out in the comments! I love hearing from you.
Berry Spinach Salad
This salad features fresh raspberries, blueberries, spinach and goat cheese. Tossed in homemade balsamic vinaigrette, itโs the perfect spring and summer side salad! Recipe yields 4 side salads, so multiply the recipe if youโre serving a crowd. The spinach wilts quickly once it comes into contact with vinaigrette, so store the two separately until youโre ready to eat.
Ingredients
Sunflower seeds
- โ cup sunflower seeds (I used raw seeds, roasted are probably fine)
- 1 ยฝ teaspoons maple syrup
- Pinch of salt (if your sunflower seeds are unsalted)
- Dash of cayenne, optional (if you like spice)
Salad
- 5 ounces baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 ยฝ cups fresh berries (any combination of raspberries, blueberries and/or chopped strawberries)
- โ cup (about 2 ounces) crumbled goat cheese, more if desired
Balsamic vinaigrette
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
- ยฝ teaspoon Dijon mustard
- ยฝ teaspoon maple syrup
- Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- To prepare the sunflower seeds, warm a small non-stick skillet over medium heat and add the sunflower seeds. Let the sunflower seeds warm up a bit, then pour in the maple syrup, a pinch of salt (if necessary) and a tiny dash of cayenne pepper, if desired. Toast the seeds while stirring constantly until most of the maple syrup has evaporated and the sunflower seeds are turning lightly golden on the edges, about 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer the seeds to a plate to cool.
- In a serving bowl, combine the spinach, berries, crumbled goat cheese and sunflower seeds. In a small measuring cup or bowl, whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients until well combined, then add salt and pepper to taste.
- Just before serving, drizzle in enough vinaigrette to lightly coat the leaves (you might have leftover dressing) and gently toss (careful with those delicate raspberries!). Serve immediately.
Notes
Make it dairy free/vegan: Omit the goat cheese.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionistโs advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
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I love simple salads! I tend to live on them in the summer. This looks super delish!
Youโve definitely upped the salad game with those spicy, maple sunflower seeds. Brilliant
Thanks!!!
Iโve been having a salad very similar to this all of last week! Love the addition of those spicy sunflower seeds though! YUM.
Those seeds are totally calling my name! Love this salad!
Hooray for salad! Berries and dark greens are one of those perfect combinations. Iโm also tempted to make up a double batch of those sunflower seeds just for snackingโฆ :)
I love this recipe! Spinach and berries taste amazing togetherโI would also make a smoothie, this salad and a spinach omelet with berries on the side!
Just made your salad. Didnโt have any spinach so I used arugula, kale and romaine. Also added pomegranite seeds and some red grapes with
the blueberriesโฆ It was delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
Thank you, Marion! So glad it turned out well for you!
Kate! This looks so refreshing and the perfect simple side salad to throw together to bring along to a family gathering, or to eat for lunch after too many treats on the weekend :)
Love the berries as the star player!
I am all about throwing fruits into salads lately and then inevitably eating so much of them, that Iโm forced to call them dinner. Itโs good stuff. This looks awesome!
yumm love the combination :D
I hear you with the salad thing! I feel like I make myself these salads I *think* are simple, but when I actually write them down for the blog Iโm like whoaโฆ there are way too many ingredients in here haha. Which isnโt necessarily a bad thing! But youโre right, sometimes simple salads are the best :)
Right?! I feel like side salads are such an overlooked portion of the meal, too. Trying to help out with this one. :)
I received a strawberry dressing as a gift recently and have been looking for a nice spinach salad recipe to go with it thatโs not the boiled egg variety. I love this recipe and I love the extra crunch of the seeds!
Perfect!
This does look like the perfect seasonal side salad! I have a ton of raw sunflower seeds on hand and Iโve been trying to use them up in salads, but they arenโt my favorite thing in the world. I think Iโll enjoy them more if I jazz them up with some maple syrup and cayenne pepper :)
Thanks, Alexa! I think youโll find that sunflower seeds with a little bit of maple and spice are totally addictive!
I tried this last night and itโs fantastic!! My 2 boys, aged 8 and 11 loved it as well and that isnโt always easy as they can be fussy eaters. I made it just as the recipe stated and it was perfect. I will be making it again very soon. Thank you!!
Thank you, Vicki! Delighted it hear it! It took me a while to learn to like goat cheese, so Iโm impressed your boys are already enjoying it! Hooray!
We canโt get enough of sunflower seeds. Theyโre a great salad topper and a nutritious and filling snack. You should check out Super Seedz brand and their awesome flavors (especially the Maple + Sea Salt) โ we have their products in our app!
Hi Kate,
thanks for the inspiration. I have never tasted baby spinach as a salad, I have always cooked it. So this was a grand premiere for me. I used blueberriesโฆ And since I am currently heavily into sprouts I mixed them in as well, also because I was to lazy to make the sunflower seeds. The dressing is great, I never used maple sirup โ makes a nice note and suits the balsamico very well.
Enjoying this delicious summer salad niw on the balcony
Thank you, Petra! Glad it turned out well for you!
I made this salad for guests the first day you posted it. Added strawberries, blueberries and raspberries since I had them all on hand.
The salad was AMAZING! We all agreed that it was the best salad any of us had ever had! The maple glazed sunflower seeds are the crowning touch!
Great job, Kate.
Thatโs quite a compliment, Cindy! Thank you very much! :)
Love berries in a salad, and we think that adding seeds makes a perfect combo! Thanks, what a great recipe!
Iโve used the sunflower seed portion of this recipe several times in other salads. really yummy.
So delicious! I love the toasted sunflower seeds!
This is amazingly delicious, and so quick to make. Love the heat of the cayenne on the sunflower seeds. I use so many of your recipes and am enjoying the new cookbook with the beautiful photos. Congratulations!
Awesome! Thanks, Susan! I love the cayenne on the sunflower seeds, tooโjust a little pop of heat to balance out the sweet.
I had an abundance of blueberries and decided to try them out in this recipe; boy, am I glad! This is delicious! I ate a big bowl of it for lunch and it was great.
Great! Iโm loving all the blueberries right now.
I just made this salad to eat with the mediterranean stuffed tomatoes with quinoa, and it was delicious! Such a good late summer light and refreshing meal. Also, the spicy maple sunflower seeds are a game-changer! I made a bigger batch and am storing them to add an extra kick to any salad!
YES I love those sunflower seeds, too! I can eat them by the handful.
Hello.
Do you have the nutritional information for the Berry Spinach Salad with Spicy Maple seeds?
Hi, Ingrid! Iโm currently working through all my recipes and manually adding the nutritional information to them. It can take a while, especially with the amount of recipes I have! In the meantime, hereโs a nutrition calculator that might come in handy.
Delicious! Thank you.
Youโre welcome, Sarah!
Another great salad, thanks Kate! I didnโt have the sunflower seeds, so substituted chopped (from whole) almonds. And, I didnโt have goat cheese, so substituted a little feta and a little queso fresco cheeses. Served it with pork tenderloin, and it was a perfect summer meal!
Thank you for sharing how you made it work for you, Kris! Iโm glad you loved it.
In this heat, I have been living on your favourite green salad, strawberry spinach salad, and I hoped you had another to use with summer blueberriesโฆ.and you did! Love it.
I was at Costco, hoping they had raw sunflower seeds. Found a salad topper (roasted sunflower seeds, roasted pepitas and cranberries) and used that instead. But one day I will get around to toasting raw sunflower seeds on my own and make as written :-)
We really enjoyed this salad and will have it again! But the maple syrup made the seeds stick together in clumps and stick to the foil on which I spread them to cool. Pain in the neck to scrape them off and try to separate them.So not doing that part in the future.
same here but added small amount of water, worked perfectly
Made it. Delicious, will make again. Thanks!
I make mine with halved strawberries instead of raspberries.
a very clever salad, the sunflower seeds with cayenne worked perfectly and added lovely crunch to the dish. if they stick when frying add water and problem solved
Absolutely delicious! Your recipes never fail us! The salad dressing was perfect!
I meal prepped this salad for lunch at work, and it was delicious! I *will* be making it again.
Delicious. Love the sunflower seeds.
This is simply delicious! A new favourite!