Strawberry salad dressing with poppy seeds

This strawberry poppy seed dressing is easy to make and only takes 5 minutes. Simply blend fresh strawberries, your favorite vinegar, olive oil, honey (optional), salt, pepper, and poppy seeds together.

The more flavorful your strawberries, the more prominent the flavor will be. However, a salad dressing is a perfect way to use up bland strawberries. The honey (or sugar) sweetens them up while vinegar adds to their tart flavor.

Recipe

Fresh strawberries

Fresh, in-season strawberries from the farmers market have the best chance of being flavorful. When you find really flavorful ones, it feels wrong to use them for anything other than a fresh, whole snack.

But sometimes we don't eat them fast enough, and this dressing is a great way to prolong their life before they go bad. I've also made this dressing when my garden is overrun with strawberries - a good problem to have!

A strawberry poppy seed dressing can also help save bland strawberries from the compost pile. Honey adds to their lacking sweetness, vinegar adds tartness back in, and poppy seeds can distract you from the lacking strawberry flavor.

Poppy seeds

Fresh, flavorful poppy seeds are essential for any poppy seed dressing. They add that distinct sweet, nutty flavor which can really make or break a basic green salad.

Poppy seeds have a shorter shelf life than other flavors in your spice drawer. As a seed, their are full of heathly oils. Those oils can go rancid, giving the poppy seeds a bitter, off flavor.

When properly stored, poppy seeds last about a year. However, they can lose flavor over time. Store them away from light and heat sources - keep them away from ovens and don't store them in the cabinet over a stovetop. You can also store them in the freezer.

Substitutions

One thing I love about homemade salad dressings is their flexibility to accommodate changes. I have a few other options for you to try:

• Sweetener: leave out entirely, or use white sugar or maple syrup
• Vinegar: you can also try a good syrupy red or white balsamic vinegar, white wine or champagne vinegar, or even a fruity one that pairs well with strawberries.
• Olive oil: a high quality flavorless oil, like avocado, could work well, as could a walnut (or other nut) based oil. Be sure to check the nut oil for freshness (they can go rancid over time).

Salads

You might already have a salad in mind for this dressing. If not, I have some recommendations.

Make your own salad

Mix arugula and spinach together, topped with a creamy cheese and candied nuts. I like using a fun flavored goat cheese, like honey jalapeno. An herbal or pepper based feta is another great option.

Plain walnuts, pecans, pine nuts, or pistachios make for a pretty good topping. I'm a fan of salt & pepper pistachios on a salad to pair with this fruity dressing. Candied pecans or walnuts add a perfect sweet crunch factor.

Top the salad with grilled chicken or fish for extra protein. When in-season, you could also add some grilled or roasted asparagus. Other than that, I like keeping the salad pretty simple so that the strawberry poppy seed dressing is the featured flavor.

Other strawberry dressings to try

I've come across a bunch of different strawberry salad dressings that are all great for a spring or summer salad. Here are a few to try:

• Strawberry poppy seed salad dressing with orange juice and red onions blended in. Recipe at Simple Joy.
• Strawberry basil balsamic vinaigrette by Walder Wellness
• Strawberry salad dressing with yogurt to make it creamy - recipe by Clean Eating Kitchen
• Strawberry poppy seed dressing with rosemary from Meatified.

More recipes & resources

If you're looking for more strawberry recipes, look no further. My strawberry recipe collection has over 75 recipes from various food bloggers. It includes 8 different strawberry shortcake variations, pairings with rhubarb, chocolate, and even flowers.

Check out recipes for other fruits and vegetables in season at the same time as strawberries.