Name: Strawberry Burrata Salad with Toasted Pine Nuts
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 30 min
Ingredients: ¼ cup pine nuts; ½ lb strawberries; 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar; 8 ounces burrata; 3-4 tightly packed cup (or a 4-ounce container crisp green lettuce); ¼ cup pickled onions; ¼ cup balsamic vinegar; ¼ cup olive oil; 1 tablespoon honey; Salt; Pepper

There’s nothing not to love about this incredibly delicious salad. If you’re at all skeptical about fruit in salad (or even if you already love it!), this is a great place to start.

I used to think have multiple misbeliefs about salads when I struggled with my relationship with food.

For starters, I believed I had to load my salad with as much as humanly possible so that it didn’t need dressing.

Now, I know that this is totally false. Dressing should be added to salads. It’s delicious. It adds flavor. And also, the fat in salad dressing helps to better absorb the fat-soluble vitamins in the salad.

Secondly, I thought salads didn’t “count” (for what, you might ask?!) if they weren’t loaded with veggies.

Also false. While it’s awesome to load salads with a lot of veggies, salads can be perfectly nutritious with only 1 or 2 vegetables too.

There are no rules about how to make a salad.

Which, alas, leads to me to this incredibly delicious Strawberry Burrata Salad.

Contrary to my old beliefs, it has just 2 veggies (lettuce and pickled onion) and has dressing and is still perfectly nutritious.

Not only is it nutritious, but it’s also just SO GOOD. It’s packed with crunchy lettuce, creamy burrata cheese, nutty toasted pine nuts, tangy pickled onion, and of course, sweet seasonal strawberries.

Everything is tied together with a simple but flavorful vinaigrette.

I recommend pairing this salad with simple grilled proteins. It would be perfect for a barbecue! Add some chicken kebabs or grilled salmon with it, and you’ve got a delicious warm weather meal in no time.

Toast the pine nuts

Preheat the oven to 300 F. Add pine nuts to a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, tossing halfway through. Let cool.

Marinate the strawberries

Slice the strawberries into thin slices, cutting in half as needed for bigger slices.

Add strawberries to a large bowl and drizzle with 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Set aside and let strawberries marinate for a few minutes.

Prepare the dressing

Mix the olive oil, ¼ cup balsamic vinegar, honey, salt, and pepper. Whisk well and set aside.

Assemble the salad

Add the lettuce to a large bowl or serving dish. Add the marinated strawberries.

Add all the ingredients

Mix in sliced burrata, and pickled onions. Top with toasted pine nuts, salt, and pepper and drizzle with the dressing.

Notes

To make quick pickled onions: Thinly slice a red onion. Place the sliced onion into a jar. In a large saucepan, add 1/2 cup white vinegar, 1/2 cup water, and 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. Bring to a low boil. Pour the mixture into the jar with the onions and let sit for at least 30 minutes.
Lettuce: Little Leaf Farms is my go to lettuce brand if you’re local to the Northeast. It’s super fresh, comes pre-washed and ready to go, and stays fresh for about 2 weeks. The baby crispy green lettuce is perfectly crisp for this recipe! If you’re using a different brand, look for a crisp lettuce like a crispy leaf or butter lettuce.
Make ahead/storage: I recommend making this salad right before serving or eating. If you’d like to prepare anything ahead of time, you can make the dressing in advance. Otherwise, prepare and add all salad components right before serving.

Course: Salad