Strawberry Cucumber Salad with Poppy Seed Yogurt Dressing

Arugula salad with strawberries, pecans and a yogurt dressing in a white square bowl next to salad tongs and glass pitcher of more dressing.

5 from 14 votes

Strawberry Cucumber Salad with Poppy Seed Yogurt Dressing

A vibrant, fresh and easy salad that's bursting with flavor and texture. And it's all coated in a creamy dressing that you can make dairy-free, vegan, Paleo or Whole30 friendly!

Prep Time15

Cook Time8

Total Time23

Course: Salad

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 218kcal

Author: Don Baiocchi

Ingredients

For the Poppy Seed Yogurt Dressing

¾ cup plain unsweetened yogurt of your choice (see above for dairy-free/Whole30-compliant notes)
1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (white wine or apple cider vinegar or lemon juice would also work)
¾ teaspoon poppy seeds
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

For the salad

½ cup pecan halves
1 lb. strawberries
1 cucumber
5 oz baby arugula (about 4 cups packed)
1 small bunch fresh dill
fine sea salt, for seasoning
freshly ground black pepper, for seasoning (optional)

Instructions

For the dressing:

Add all the ingredients to a mason jar and shake until combined, or whisk in a bowl. Taste it - need more salt? Want it more tangy by adding more vinegar? Want it thicker by adding more yogurt? Adjust if necessary. Makes about 1 cup.

For the salad

Add the pecan halves to a cold, dry 8" skillet. Put it over medium heat and toast for 7-8 minutes, tossing occasionally, until the pecans are darker and aromatic. Pour onto a plate to cool to room temperature. Coarsely chop.
Trim the green ends off the strawberries. Halve if medium or quarter if very large.
Slice the cucumber in half crosswise, then halve both pieces lengthwise. With the pieces cut side down, slice crosswise into 1/2" thick chunks.
Add the arugula to a large bowl. Add in the pecans, strawberries and cucumbers. Rip off small sprigs of most of the dill, reserving the rest. Season with salt and, if desired, black pepper. Toss gently.
Shake or whisk the dressing again if necessary and pour about 3/4 of it over the salad and toss until coated. Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle more dressing and the remaining dill over the top, if desired.

Notes

Make ahead

You can toast and chop the pecans up to 2 weeks advance. Keep covered at room temperature or in the fridge.

You can make the dressing up to a week in advance and keep it in the fridge. Give it a good whisk before serving if necessary.

Do not dress the salad until you want to serve it.

Variations and substitutions

Raspberries would work, or chopped peaches, nectarines or apricots.
You could add 1 cup blueberries to the strawberries for a red, white and blue 4th of July salad! Or use blueberries in place of the strawberries.
If you don't like fruit in a salad, swap out the strawberries for cherry tomatoes.
You can use spinach instead of arugula. You could also go with kale (the baby variety or use this trick if you want to tenderize tougher kale leaves), butter lettuce, mixed greens or dandelion greens.
If you want to make sure this a Whole30 strawberry salad, you have to find compliant yogurt. I used Kite Hill Plain Unsweetened Almond Milk Yogurt here and found its thickness to be just right.
For a vegan strawberry salad, use an unsweetened dairy-free yogurt. The I mentioned above, Kite Hill, would work well.
If you don’t need this to be Whole30 compliant or even dairy-free, any plain, unsweetened yogurt will do. If you want a really thick dressing, use full-fat Greek yogurt.
You could add feta, goat cheese or blue cheese.
Instead of dill, you could use basil or mint.
Instead of pecans, you could really use any toasted nut or seed you like.
To make this a full meal, top with chicken, shrimp or hard-boiled eggs.

Nutrition