Strawberry Ricotta Salad
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This Strawberry Ricotta Salad combines spinach, fresh fruit, pecans & ricotta cheese with homemade lemon vinaigrette for the perfect summer salad recipe!
This salad is the first of 3 new low-sodium recipes I’ll be adding to the blog in the next 24 hours!
Why the surge of new low sodium dishes you ask? Because I’ve been asked to host a low sodium cooking segment on San Diego 6 News tomorrow morning!
This will be my first live cooking segment and I could not be more excited! If you’re in San Diego, tune in at 8:20 AM. If you’re elsewhere in the world, look for a link to the video on my Facebook page tomorrow afternoon!
You can also follow me on Instagram and Twitter for live updates leading up to the segment tomorrow morning!
Now on to this delicious salad recipe!
In addition to being low sodium, the news station asked that the dishes I prepare be easy to make, consist of only a few ingredients and require no cooking.
My mind immediately went to a fresh, summer salad!
Most of the sodium in a salad comes from the cheese and the salad dressing. The first step in creating a salad low in sodium is making your own salad dressing.
The dressing I created for this recipe contains only 5 mg of sodium per cup. Compare that to a light Italian dressing purchased in the bottle which is 380 mg for 2 tablespoons and you’re saving some serious sodium intake!
Ricotta cheese, as well as mozzarella cheese are the lowest in sodium of all cheeses, so I sprinkled that on top to give the salad a little creaminess.
The entire salad contains only 140 mg of sodium, making it a delicious low sodium choice for a scrumptious lunch or fantastic side dish at summer BBQ’s!
Strawberry Ricotta Salad Ingredients
- 2 cups spinach
- 1/4 cup strawberries (stems removed and sliced)
- 1/4 cup blueberries
- 1/4 cup pecans
- 1 tomato
- 1/4 cup ricotta cheese (crumbled)
Lemon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing Ingredients
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 lemon (zested and juiced)
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Whisk the balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, zest, and black pepper together. Add the olive oil while whisking well to combine.
Add the spinach to a large bowl, then add the strawberries, blueberries and pecans. Top with the crumbled ricotta cheese.
Serve with 1/4 cup of the salad dressing and reserve the rest. This salad dressing will keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
I decided to add a little protein with a sliced piece of Lemon Rosemary Basil Grilled Chicken.
Leave out the steak seasoning in my recipe for Lemon Grilled Chicken and one chicken breast only adds 70 mg of sodium to the salad, keeping it at approximately 200 mg of sodium total.
The recommended intake of sodium is around 2,000 mg per day, but can vary based on age, gender, height and weight.
Leave off the cheese and this recipe is also paleo!
Strawberry Ricotta Salad
Ingredients
- 2 cups spinach
- 1/4 cup strawberries, stems removed and sliced
- 1/4 cup blueberries
- 1/4 cup pecans
- 1 tomato
- 1/4 cup ricotta cheese, crumbled
Lemon Vinaigrette Salad Dressing
- 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Instructions
- Whisk the balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, zest, and black pepper together.
- Add the olive oil while whisking well to combine.
- Add the spinach to a large bowl, then add the strawberries, blueberries and pecans.
- Top with the crumbled ricotta cheese.
- Serve with 1/4 cup of the salad dressing and reserve the rest.
Nutrition Facts
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