Cranberry Almond Spinach Salad

Published December 1, 2018. Updated December 8, 2018

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A festive flavorful Spinach Salad! With these pretty red and green colors this is the perfect salad to serve for a Christmas party. It has the perfect blend of sweet, savory, toasted flavor and crunchy goodness. You’ll love every last bite of it!

Spinach salad on a vintage red and white plate layered with dried cranberries, sliced almonds and a sesame seed dressing.

Easy Spinach Salad with Cranberries and Almonds

This salad is a breeze to make and the only chopping required is for the shallot, gotta love that!

Fresh spinach is layered with chewy dried cranberries, crisp sliced almonds, and a sweet and simple toasted sesame seed vinaigrette.

Close up image of spinach salad in a white salad bowl.

Ingredients in This Salad

  • Baby spinach
  • Sliced almonds
  • Dried cranberries
  • White wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar
  • White sugar
  • Honey 
  • Olive oil
  • Shallot
  • Sesame seeds

Buy Pre-Toasted Sesame Seeds to Save Time

For this recipe you can use either store bought toasted sesame seeds or you can toast up some white sesame seeds yourself.

I toasted my own but I’m sure I didn’t get them golden enough. I tried to toast the almonds and sesame seeds at the same time and the almonds browned quicker surprisingly, so lesson learned.

Next time I’ll toast the almonds in the oven on the cookie sheet then the sesame seeds just in a skillet.

Sweet sesame seed vinaigrette in a mason jar.

Either way it was still completely delicious, plus with how easy it was to make I’m sure this will making plenty of appearances on my dinner table!

I also didn’t add poppy seeds this time around, next time I’ll add them and see which way I like it better. I’m sure it would even be good with just poppy seeds and no sesame seeds.

That’s the beauty of making a salad, they’re so versatile and there’s always room to switch things up.

Overhead image of spinach salad in a large salad bowl with wooden serving spoons.

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4.87 from 36 votes

Cranberry Almond Spinach Salad

A festive flavorful Spinach Salad! With these pretty red and green colors this is the perfect salad to serve for a Christmas party. It has the perfect blend of sweet, savory, toasted flavor and crunchy goodness. You'll love every last bite of it!
Servings: 8 servings
Prep15 minutes
Cook3 minutes
Ready in: 18 minutes

Ingredients

Salad

Sesame Seed Dressing

Instructions

  • For the dressing: In a bowl or jar whisk together white wine vinegar, apple cider vinegar and sugar until the sugar has dissolved. 
  • Stir in olive oil, honey, shallot, sesame seeds and optional poppy seeds until mixture is well blended.
  • For the salad: Add spinach, almonds and cranberries to a salad bowl. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss. Serve immediately after adding dressing.

Notes

Recipe adapted from Allrecipes
Nutrition Facts
Cranberry Almond Spinach Salad
Amount Per Serving
Calories 344 Calories from Fat 216
% Daily Value*
Fat 24g37%
Saturated Fat 2g13%
Sodium 47mg2%
Potassium 466mg13%
Carbohydrates 30g10%
Fiber 4g17%
Sugar 21g23%
Protein 5g10%
Vitamin A 5315IU106%
Vitamin C 15.9mg19%
Calcium 143mg14%
Iron 2.9mg16%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Nutrition values are estimates only. See full disclaimer here.