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This strawberry spinach salad with steak actually eats like a meal. Perfectly pink steak, fresh strawberries, toasted walnuts, and feta, doing exactly what salty cheese should. It’s the kind of sweet-savory combination that sounds a little offbeat until you’re eating it, and suddenly, it makes complete sense. A maple balsamic dressing ties it all together.
A salad for dinner works when it’s actually built like a meal, and this strawberry spinach salad with steak is. Spinach, tender sliced steak, fresh strawberries, salty feta, toasted walnuts. It’s got crunch, it’s got sweetness, it’s got the kind of smoky warmth from the steak that makes the whole thing feel intentional rather than thrown together. It’s fresh and nourishing without being the least bit boring about it.
If you’re on a dinner salad kick (a great place to be, honestly), the Greek Steak Salad and the Grilled Tuna Steak Salad are both worth your time as well.
Table of Contents
- Why You’ll Love This Dinner Salad
- Ingredient Overview
- Step-by-Step: How to Make Strawberry Spinach Salad With Steak
- Recipe Tip
- Substitutions & Variations
- Storage & Reheating
- What to Serve With It
- Frequently Asked Questions
- More Homemade Dressings You’ll Love…
- Strawberry Spinach Salad With Steak Recipe
- More Salads That Eat Like a Meal
Why You’ll Love This Dinner Salad
- High-protein with a whopping 61 grams per serving
- Healthy without sacrificing flavor and enjoyment
- Ready in less than 30 minutes
- Easy to customize depending on mood or diet (more on this below)
Ingredient Overview
A quick look at the essentials before we dive into the recipe card:
- Steak: For a salad, you want something lean enough to slice thin and flavorful enough to hold its own. Flank, skirt, and top sirloin are the workhorses here and they’re all excellent. If you’re feeling a little more generous with yourself, flat iron or filet mignon will give you something noticeably more tender. And if you’ve got a New York strip or ribeye on hand, nobody’s stopping you. More marbling, more flavor, zero complaints.
- Walnuts: I love toasting my walnuts because they add a nice, warm, rich flavor to the salad. You could skip toasting if you prefer; however, they really add warmth to a salad with steak.
- Onion: Finely shaved or diced red onion is fantastic for salads. It’s mild compared to other onions, but still zesty! You could also use a shallot, minced or thinly sliced.
Step-by-Step: How to Make Strawberry Spinach Salad With Steak
Step 1: Prep Those Steaks
Gently pat the steaks with paper towels to remove excess moisture. Brush a light coat of oil over the fillets, then season with a generous amount of coarse Kosher salt (about 1-1.5 teaspoons per pound) and freshly ground pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon per pound). Set aside and let the fillets come to room temperature.
Step 2: Toast the Walnuts (Optional)
Heat a small dry pan (no oil or butter) over medium heat. Once the pan is hot, reduce the heat to low and add 4 tablespoons of chopped walnuts. Let the walnuts toast, shaking the pan occasionally, until golden in color and aromatic. Remove from the heat and set aside. (Keep a close eye on these. It feels like they take a while to start toasting, but once they do, they do fast, and it’s easy to accidentally burn them.)
Step 3: It’s Steak-Searing Time!
Heat a cast iron grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat on the stove (or an outdoor grill to 450–500°F). Grease the pan or grates with olive oil or butter, then add the steak to the pan. Add the steak and grill for 4-5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness. (See recipe tip below.)
Step 4: Bring the Salad Together
Transfer the spinach, toasted walnuts, strawberries, red onion, and crumbled feta to a large mixing bowl. Drizzle your dressing of choice over it all and toss to coat. I like using this maple balsamic dressing—it’s sweet, tangy, and it pairs perfectly with everything going on here.
Step 5: Give the Steak a Rest
When the steak is done, remove it from the heat and set it on a cutting board. Let it rest for 5 minutes so the juices set. Finally, slice into it against the grain.
Step 6: Bring It All Together
Plate the tossed salad onto individual plates, top with steak, sprinkle some extra pepper over it all, and drizzle with a little extra dressing if you wish. Enjoy!
Recipe Tip
For a nice, perfect medium-rare steak, you typically want to cook it for 4 minutes per side if 1 inch thick and about 5 minutes per side if 1.5 inches thick. You can use a meat thermometer to guide you.
Substitutions & Variations
- High-Fiber Option: You can bulk this salad up by adding 1/4 cup of cooked grains, like farro, quinoa, or bulgur.
- Different Proteins: Grilled chicken or shrimp work great in this recipe.
- Change Up the Cheese: Try goat cheese or brie.
- Dairy-Free Option: Omit the cheese completely. There are a lot of flavors to enjoy here.
Storage & Reheating
- Fridge: If you have leftover steak, you can store it in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Salad, however, doesn’t store well as it gets soggy.
- Reheat: Warm it low and slow in the oven until it’s just heated through, then hit it in a hot pan for a quick sear to get that crust back. Another option of course is in the microwave, if you’re in a hurry. Heat it in 15-second increments until warmed through. Careful not to overcook it.
What to Serve With It
Frequently Asked Questions
Spinach wants something tangy and a little sweet, like this maple balsamic dressing. You could also go with a red wine vinaigrette or a poppyseed dressing if you’re feeling it. The earthiness of the leaves needs something bright to cut through it, which is why heavy and creamy doesn’t work as well here.
Feta is the move, but goat cheese works beautifully here too—creamy, tangy, a little funky in the best way. If you’re feeling bold, a mild blue like gorgonzola.
This is a matter of preference. I like my steak to be warm, but you can definitely wait until it cools or use leftover cold steak.
Strawberry Spinach Salad With Steak
Ingredients
- 10 oz flank steak, skirt steak, or top sirloin
- Coarse kosher salt & cracked black pepper
- 2 TBSP Olive oil, plus more to grease the grill
- 4 handfuls of baby spinach
- 8 large strawberries, sliced or quartered
- 1/4 cup toasted walnuts, *See notes
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion
- Dressing of your choice, This Maple Balsamic Dressing goes really well with this salad.
Instructions
- With paper towels, gently pat the steaks to remove excess moisture.
- Brush a light coat of oil over the fillets, then season with a generous amount of coarse Kosher salt (about 1-1.5 teaspoons per pound) and freshly ground pepper (about 1/2 teaspoon per pound). Set the fillets aside to come to room temperature.
- Heat a cast-iron grill pan or skillet over medium-high heat on the stove. (For an outdoor grill, heat to 450–500°F.)
- Grease the pan or grates with olive oil or butter, then add the steak to the pan and grill for 4-5 minutes per side, depending on the thickness. (For a nice, perfect medium-rare steak, you typically want to cook it for 4 minutes per side if 1 inch thick and about 5 minutes per side if 1.5 inches thick. You can use a meat thermometer to guide you.)
- While the steak cooks, mix the baby spinach, toasted walnuts, strawberries, red onion, and crumbled feta in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle your dressing of choice over it all and toss to coat. (I like using my maple balsamic dressing)
- Remove the steak from the heat when it's done and set it on a cutting board. Let it rest for 5 minutes before cutting into it so the juices set. Then, slice it against the grain.
- Transfer the tossed salad onto individual plates, top with steak, sprinkle some extra pepper over it all, and drizzle with a little extra dressing if you wish.
Notes
Nutrition
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