Strawberry Spinach Pasta Salad with Orange Poppy Seed Dressing
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Sweet and tangy strawberry spinach pasta salad with orange poppyseed dressing with pineapple, cashews, and tart cranberries is the perfect potluck side dish for every get together.
Need to change up your potluck game? Try this Mandarin Pasta Spinach Salad with Teriyaki Dressing, Pesto Chicken Pasta Salad, Strawberry Avocado Chicken Pasta Salad, and Greek Tortellini Pasta Salad.
I’m admitting it here and now, I have a pasta salad obsession.
Maybe it’s the fact that it’s been over a hundred degrees consistently this month and I have a hard time turning on the oven in these kinds of conditions, maybe it’s just that I I like the idea of taking lettuce, adding pasta and fruit or veggies, a handful of goodies like nuts and dried berries or cheese, and calling it a salad.
Whatever it is, I can’t get enough of this side dish/main dish/9pm leftovers snack.
For Memorial Day my family got together for a big barbecue to kick off Summer and my mother’s good friend Penny contributed a pasta salad to the plethora of potluck goodness. It had dried berries and spinach and penne noodles, along with pineapple, strawberries, and some kind of orange poppy seed dressing.
You see where I’m going with this.
I ate it. I love it. I had to recreate it for myself.
So this is my simplified version of that BOMB pasta salad. She actually added shredded chicken to her salad and I thought that was brilliant so if you’ve got some leftover chicken in the fridge or maybe some rotisserie chicken begging to be used up, put it in this salad. You will not regret it.
And feel free to customize this recipe, it’s very forgiving. Swap out the pineapple for mandarin oranges, or add dried blueberries or cherries instead of the cranberries. Don’t limit yourself to cashews if you prefer walnuts or pecans – go where your pantry takes you!
I like to use fresh-squeezed orange juice for the dressing but you can absolutely use that carton of OJ you’ve been reaching for at breakfast each morning.
If you want to make this salad ahead of time (more than one hour ahead) I would recommend waiting to add the dressing until just before serving. Just keep it in a covered jar until ready to serve, then toss and enjoy!
What people are saying about this Strawberry Spinach Pasta Salad with Orange Poppy Seed Dressing
“Made this salad for a family reunion this weekend and it was a huge hit with kids and adults alike. Cool, refreshing with a great combination of flavors.” – Becky
“My favorite salad!!! Love this poppy seed dressing.” – Iona
“Thanks for a great recipe! I made extra of the salad dressing and used it as a marinade for grilled chicken breasts. This is definitely a keeper!!” – Becky
Strawberry Spinach Pasta Salad with Orange Poppy Seed Dressing
Ingredients
- 8 ounces penne noodles, cooked according to package directions
- 2 cups packed fresh baby spinach leaves
- 1 cup sliced strawberries
- 1 cup pineapple chunks
- ¼ cup dried cranberries, or dried blueberries
- ½ cup salted cashews, or other nut like pecans or walnuts
Orange Poppyseed Dressing
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar
- ¼ cup plain greek yogurt
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 3 tablespoons honey
- ⅓ cup orange juice
- 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
- optional: pinch of salt and pepper
Instructions
- Combine all dressing ingredients in a jar, cover, and shake well. Set aside.
- Combine penne, spinach, strawberries, pineapple, cranberries, and cashews in a large bowl and toss with the prepared dressing.
- Serve immediately or cover and chill for 1 hour before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is a delicious salad!!!! It is now a family favorite!
LOOKS DELICIOUS! WOULD LOVE TO HAVE THIS RECIPE, SO THEN I COULD SHARE IT TO MY FACEBOOK PAGE.
I love your recipe videos ! My only suggestion would be to list the nutritional value after the recipe.
Great salad!! I used the whole box of pasta-16oz instead of just 8oz the recipe calls for. I had plenty of dressing to coat it all. Wonderful flavors! I’m not a fan on nuts in my salads so I left them out and had some goat cheese I really needed to use up so I crumbled that on top.
This recipe’s a keeper for me!
this looks like a great summer salad. Anyone ever tried making it more “fallish” by substituting apples for the strawberries and/or spaghetti squash for the pasta?
Thanks for a great recipe! I made extra of the salad dressing and used it as a marinade for grilled chicken breasts. This is definitely a keeper!!
Can you replace the pineapple with mandrin orange segments?
Yes, definitely!
Do you have calorie and carb count on this?
Hi Laurie – My Fitness Pal has a great tool that calculates calories for any recipe on the internet – you can go there and find calorie information for any recipe on my site! Thanks!
This salad is not in my fitness pal. Just checked. Id like calorie count as well
It may not be saved already, however you can use any online recipe URL and get all the nutrition facts on their website! It’s quite handy and useful for lots of recipes, not just mine!
How many calories?
Will definitely be making this one, would be a great Xmas salad
thank you so much for this! I changed it up a bit, since I eat whole foods/plant based. I subbed out the oil and yogurt for an avocado and put all the dressing ingredients except the poppy seeds in the blender, then added the seed. It was amazing, and I didn’t miss the other fats at ALL. My hubby ate FOUR bowls <3 Thanks, again!