Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad with Balsamic Glaze ~ Macheesmo

With the onset of spring, I’m already looking for quick and easy salads to serve alongside grilled dishes or just keep in the fridge for a quick lunch. This strawberry and goat cheese salad is so easy to throw together and a homemade balsamic glaze takes it to the next level.

I kept my ingredients and ingredients low for this strawberry salad, but you should see it as a starting point if you want to add more things. I’ve given a few ideas in the substitutions section below!

Welcome spring with this wonderful way to display delicious strawberries!

How to make the balsamic glaze

Actually, you only need to cook one thing for this salad: the balsamic glaze. Can you buy balsamic glaze in the store? Absolutely. But it’s quite expensive, so I usually make just enough for the recipe I’m making.

It’s not hard to do at all. Simply add balsamic vinegar and sugar to a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Once simmering, stir occasionally and continue cooking until the mixture has reduced to a thin syrup. It should reduce by about half in the pot. This will probably take 8-10 minutes.

If it seems too thin to drizzle, that’s fine. It will continue to thicken as it cools. Once off the heat, let cool, then drizzle over the salad.

Extra frosting is delicious on so many things from burgers and rotisserie chicken to eggs.

Ingredients for this Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad

Here are the basics for this Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad. Almost half of the ingredients are in the name of the salad!

• Arugula. I like this as a base for the salad as it adds a peppery flavor to the salad.
• strawberries Find good, ripe strawberries. Yummy!
• goat cheese. You don’t need a bundle for this salad. A few sprinkles will do.
• Snappeas. I wanted to add another crunchy veggie to this mix, so I chopped up some sugar snap peas.
• sunflower seeds. You could use a wide variety of nuts and seeds but I went with these.
• lemon juice and olive oil. These are a great way to lightly dress up the arugula.

How to arrange the arugula for this salad

Normally I’d wait until I’ve added everything before dressing the salad, but since this salad has a balsamic glaze, I like to dress the arugula with a little olive oil and lemon juice.

Drizzle these ingredients over your arugula, then stir or shake the arugula well so the light dressing coats all the leaves. It should add little shine to the leaves and no liquid should collect.

This gives the salad a nice base flavor to build on!

Substitutes and ideas for this salad

Finishing this salad is very simple. Simply top the dressed rocket with the toppings and then drizzle the glaze over it. I recommend drizzled over the glaze for each serving instead of adding it all over the dressing.

Try the salad with a little dash of balsamic vinegar and see if you need to adjust the flavors. The salad might need a pinch of salt and pepper.

So what are some substitutes for this salad? I have you!

• Adding extra crunch to this salad is a good idea. You can do this with other seeds and nuts like walnuts, pecans, or pine nuts.
• Instead of goat cheese, try feta cheese or even blue cheese for a stronger flavor.
• Instead of strawberries, try different fruits like raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, or a mix of fruits.
• Change up the greens with kale or baby spinach
• Add some extra protein with crumbled bacon, poached shrimp, or even grilled flank steak.
• Keep it up with the veggies! You can add crunchy things like red onions, grated carrots, or even apples.
• Add some maple syrup to a standard vinaigrette dressing in place of the balsamic glaze and it will be the perfect sweetness.

What to serve with this strawberry salad

This salad is great in a large salad bowl with a wide range of lunch and dinner dishes. It goes great with grilled main courses like grilled yogurt chicken, grilled burgers, or even these grilled halloumi skewers.

When you’re not in the BBQ mood, this would be a great side to any pasta recipe like this One Pot Cheeseburger Pasta Recipe or this Carrot Pasta Sauce!

Want a different twist on strawberries? Try this Strawberry Dole Whip Recipe from Butter & Bliss!

My strawberry goat cheese salad recipe