Strawberry Avocado Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing (Paleo)

This healthy strawberry avocado salad is made with fresh strawberries, ripe avocado and drizzled with a lemon poppy seed dressing. This paleo salad recipe is perfect for summer and can work as a satiating main meal or a simple side salad to go with your main course.

I was browsing through salad recipes last month and came across an avocado chicken salad. It looked amazing, and I had every intention of making it, until I realized I didn't have any chicken!

So I made do with avocado, strawberries and bacon instead. As they say, bacon makes everything better. And you can't go wrong with strawberries in a salad.

This strawberry avocado salad recipe has the perfect balance of sweet and savory, and all the textures one could ask for.

It's made on a bed of butter lettuce (my favorite) and layered with fresh strawberries, ripe avocado, cooked bacon, cucumbers, onion and dill. Then, drizzled in a homemade lemon poppy seed dressing, which really is the icing on top.

Even my husband, who isn't always thrilled about salad, absolutely LOVED this strawberry bacon avocado salad. He even asked for seconds!

Ingredients

Here's what you need for this strawberry avocado salad recipe:

For the Salad

• butter lettuce
• ripe avocado
• strawberries
• cooked bacon
• cucumbers
• red onion
• fresh dill

For the Dressing

• lemon juice
• olive oil
• balsamic vinegar
• mustard
• raw honey (omit for whole30)
• poppy seeds

How to Make a Strawberry Avocado Salad

This is a super simple strawberry salad recipe! Here's the step-by-step process:

Bacon

You'll need pre-cooked bacon. So, make sure you either have leftovers in the fridge or cook some before serving. I like cooking my bacon in the oven. Place it on a baking sheet and put the pan on the bottom rack of your oven. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until slightly crisp.

Once you've got the bacon taken care of, prep the veggies.

Lettuce

I used a head of butter lettuce, but also like baby butter lettuce for this recipe. Rinse the lettuce and dry it in a salad spinner. Then, shred the lettuce with your hands into bite-sized pieces.

Avocado

Slice the avocado in half, remove the pit and then cube.

Strawberries

Rinse the strawberries, pat dry and remove the stems. Then, slice the strawberries into bite-sized pieces.

Cucumber

I used miniature cucumbers, but larger ones will work too. For the small cucumbers, simply slice them into "coins". If using a larger cucumber, slice it into coins and then cut in fourths.

Onion

Red onion or shallots are my top choice for this whole30 strawberry avocado salad. Remove the skin from the onion, cut it in half and then slice the onion paper-thin.

Dill

Fresh dill is a great addition to this salad recipe, however it's not a must. If fresh dill is hard to come by or you'd rather use another fresh herb then feel free to omit it.

Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing

For the dressing, you'll need lemon juice, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey and poppy seeds. Omit the honey if you need a whole30 strawberry avocado salad. Any type of mustard will do - I used yellow mustard but Dijon would be great too.

Add all dressing ingredients to a small bowl or cup and mix until well combined.

Drizzle the dressing on top of the salad just before serving.

Storage

This avocado salad is best eaten the day you make it. Leftovers won't store well, as the lettuce becomes wilted and the avocado browns.

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