This Raspberry Spinach Salad has spinach, romaine, grapes, dried cranberries, pear, raspberries, blue cheese and pistachios and is served with a homemade raspberry vinaigrette.
If you love berries in your salad, you should also try this Summer Chopped Salad with Berries.
I have come a long way since I first started blogging. Part of that proof is in this recipe. I am a lot more comfortable in the kitchen these days, and while looking through the archives, I came across this post, and it definitely needed some tweaking and updating.
The first time I made it, the dressing recipe was not great. So I took on the challenge and changed up this salad into something that I absolutely fell in love with.
The idea of this salad came from a local restaurant called Cafe Zupas. I was in love with that salad, and sadly, it’s not on the menu anymore. But it’s a good thing you can make it at home!
The restaurant version only has spinach, but I added in some romaine with the spinach because I like the crispness and texture from the romaine. And this salad dressing is so easy and flavorful, you’ll want to pour it on everything. This may become your new favorite salad
Ingredients
For the Dressing:
- Raspberry Jam: Use a good quality raspberry jam. If you don’t like the seeds, you can use seedless jam, but the seeds don’t bother me.
- Seasoned Rice Vinegar: Seasoned rice vinegar will be more flavorful with some added sugar, versus regular rice vinegar. But if you want to try a different vinegar, feel free to play around with the recipe.
- Oil: I usually use vegetable oil, but you can use any neutral flavored oil. I don’t care for olive oil in this recipe, but it may be something that you love.
For the Salad:
- Spinach: I like to chop the spinach first so that you don’t get big leaves in a bite.
- Romaine: If using a romaine heart, (which is my favorite), you’ll just need one. If you are using regular romaine, you will probably only need about 1/2 of the head.
- Grapes: I usually go for red grapes because they look pretty in this salad, but any color will work.
- Dried Cranberries: I love the tartness of the cranberries.
- Pear: The pear adds flavor and crunch. If you don’t have a pear, an apple would be a great substitution.
- Raspberries: The raspberries really are the star of this salad.
- Blue Cheese: The flavor of the blue cheese goes perfectly in this salad. You could also use feta.
- Pistachios: The pistachios add flavor and crunch.
How to Make This Raspberry Spinach Salad
- Make the dressing by combining the raspberry jam and the vinegar in a blender. With the blender on, slowly stream in the oil until it is all emulsified. You can also make this by just combining all three ingredients in a jar and shake it together until it is combined and slightly thickened.
- To make the salad, simply combine the spinach and the lettuce in a large bowl. Add the grapes, cranberries, pear, and raspberries. Sprinkle the blue cheese and the pistachios on top.
- Serve the salad with the dressing.
More Favorite Salad Recipes
Wedge Salad
Antipasto Salad
Shrimp Caesar Salad with Spicy Croutons
Italian Chopped Salad
Taco Salad
Raspberry Spinach Salad
Ingredients
Dressing
- 1/2 cup raspberry jam
- 1/2 cup seasoned rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salad
- 5 oz baby spinach chopped
- 1 romaine heart chopped
- 1 cup red grapes halved
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1 pear sliced
- 4 oz fresh raspberries
- 2.5 oz crumbled blue cheese
- 1/4 cup shelled pistachios chopped
Instructions
Make the Dressing:
- Combine the jam and the vinegar in a blender and pulse until combined. With the blender running, stream in the vegetable oil. Alternately, combine all ingredients in a jar with a tight fitting lid and shake until completely combined.
Make the Salad:
- Combine the spinach, romaine, grapes, cranberries, pear and raspberries in a large bowl and toss to combine. Sprinkle the blue cheese and pistachios on top. Serve with the raspberry vinaigrette.
Shandy says
Deb, This is my recipe for raspberry vinagrette:
1/4 c. olive oil
2 T. raspberry vinegar
1 T. honey
1 T. water
1/2 t. dried basil leaves
1/8 t. garlic salt
Dash coarsely ground pepper
Vinaigrette: Combine all ingredients in jar with tight-fittting lid; shake well.
I like it over a salad of mixed greens with raspberries and mandarin oranges tossed. =D
kat says
I’m like you I usually start with a recipe as a guideline rather than making things up completely. I wish I could help you with this one. If someone gives you one that works you’ll have to share
Mary says
Yeah, I’ve got nothing. But I admire your attempt to make something with no recipe. I tend to fail miserably when I try.
Kevin says
I haven’t tried making a raspberry vinaigrette yet but it is one of my favorite dressings. Trying to duplicate a recipe from a restaurant can be really fun and sometimes a bit frustrating.
noble pig says
I couldn’t invent to save my life.
This salad looks good, I need one for my supper club!
Vicarious Foodie says
What did you use in your original vinaigrette? I recently saw Rachael Ray make some fruit vinaigrette (can’t remember which fruit it was) and she used fruit preserves as a base.
MissMissy says
Here is a strawberry salad recipe – maybe you can substitute the strawberries for rasberries.
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spinach-and-Strawberry-Salad/Detail.aspx
Jessy and her dog Winnie says
That looks delicious. I can’t make up recipes to save my life!
Elle says
Good looking salad! I’ve got nothing in the raspberry dressing dept, though. Wish I did, because I love it!
Have you tried e mailing or calling the restaurant to ask? Sometimes they don’t mind giving out a recipe or two.
DawnsRecipes says
Ok, this dressing recipe in this post is not a raspberry vinaigrette, but is a sweet one. Everyone who’s tried it raves about it. My husband, who swears that no recipe is complete with out bacon, actually requests this all the time…and doesn’t even add bacon bits to his salad! It’s made for spinach salad, and complements any salad with berries very well. You could always mash a few raspberries into it while you’re dissolving the sugar if you want that extra raspberry kick!
Baby Spinach and Pomegranate Salad
Katerina says
I use a raspberry vinegar to make a vinaigrette quite often. Great for everyday but it isn’t the leve4l of raspberry you are likely interested in. It’s on my blog though if you are interested.
JennDZ - The Leftover Queen says
Hi Deborah,
I think the key is using fresh raspberries. I would put it in the blender with balsamic vinegar, a good extra virgin olive oil, fresh basil and salt and pepper. YUM.
glamah16 says
I haven’t made a raspberry vinaigerette from scratch before, but would say Balsamic vinegar is key. I would probaaly belend some fresh berries, balsamic, and a nice walnut oil together . Then I would strain the seeds and toss in a few herbs, salt, and pepper.If you want ti a touch sweeter maybe a touch of honey. Just thinking off the top of my head.
kimberleyblue says
I’m like you – I have a hard time inventing my own recipes, and I often rely on cookbooks as well (though I am getting better at combining parts of three or four similar recipes to come up with one complete one).
That salad sounds great – I love fruit and cheese salads!
Kelly-Jane says
I have a few recipes that I’ve been meaning to try, I’ll try and remember where they are! Sounds like a lovely salad – I love fruit in salads 🙂
Toni says
It’s not a rasberry vinaigrette, but my favorite dressing to do with a salad like this (cherries, pecan, goat cheese or similar) is canola oil, white balsamic vinegar and minced shallot. Olive oil seems to strong and peppery for this type of salad. White balsamic or champagne vinegar is great with a bit fruit, fresh or dried. Maybe you could try canola with rasberry vinegar?