Spinach and Arugula Salad with Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
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This delicious spinach and arugula salad with fresh cherry tomatoes and goat cheese is simple and easy to make – ready in 10 minutes! Tossed with a homemade dressing, it is the perfect accompaniment to a picnic, bbq, potluck, or a light lunch.
Summer produce is in full bloom here in Seattle! Just the other day I dropped by my neighbor’s house to pick up a bounty of cherry tomatoes that appeared in their garden out of nowhere! And what did I do with all those tomatoes? I threw them into this salad with peppery arugula, baby spinach sweet corn and creamy goat cheese 🙂
Simple side dishes are some of my favorites because they can add a nice pop of flavor to any meal, without a ton of effort. For this dish, I literally just mixed all of the ingredients together in a salad bowl and made my favorite, easy, homemade salad dressing: olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and fresh minced garlic (optional)
Tools and Equipment You’ll Need
How to make this Spinach and Arugula Salad – Step by Step
Step 1: Add your arugula, baby spinach, corn, tomatoes and goat cheese to a salad bowl and toss gently.
Step 2: Make your salad dressing by combining 1 tbsp olive oil, 1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. You can also add 1/2 tsp fresh minced garlic for even more flavor!
Step 3: Whisk the salad dressing ingredients together until combined.
Step 4: Toss the dressing with the salad ingredients, and then top with slivered toasted almonds.
What Makes This Spinach and Arugula Salad Healthy?
- High in Vitamins and Minerals: Spinach, arugula, and tomatoes are all high in Vitamins A, C and K, iron, potassium, folate and calcium.
- High in Antioxidants: Both arugula and tomatoes are rich in antioxidants that have cancer preventative properties.
- Good Source of Fiber: One of the reasons salads are so good for you is because they are packed with vegetables — and veggies are a great source of fiber! Fiber plays a major role in digestive health, maintaining a healthy weight, and in heart health.
Will Kids Enjoy This Summer Salad?
My older daughter really likes this salad, because she enjoys salads in general. My toddler will eat a few bites, but because it’s tough for little ones to chew raw veggies, he gets tired of eating this after a little while.
If you have older kids this salad would be a great side dish for them! If you have younger kids, I recommend either turning this into a chopped salad so the raw veggies are in super tiny pieces (so they are easy to chew), or serving a very small portion of this alongside a dish they will love.
We served it with this red lentil pasta recipe and some crusty whole grain bread on the side and it was the perfect weeknight dinner!
What does Arugula taste like?
Arugula has a bold, distinct, peppery flavor and can be very slightly bitter. I like pairing it with a milder green like spinach to balance it out. Arugula can add great flavor to salads and works wonderfully with many ingredients.
What to serve with this Spinach and Arugula Salad
This salad is a really versatile side dish, and will sit perfectly on a plate with most main courses. I love it as a pairing with Italian food: Pasta, Lasagna, Pizza are delicious entrees for this salad. I have even used it as a pizza topping! It’s great to make a huge bowl of this for a table and let people help themselves.
Top tips for making Spinach and Arugula Salad with Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
- You can prepare the salad ingredients and salad dressing separately and keep them in the fridge for several hours before tossing the salad and serving.
- Toss the salad 5-10 minutes before serving so the arugula doesn’t wilt before people have a chance to eat it!
- You can use any kind of cheese you like: parmesan would work great in this salad, as would a sharp cheddar
- I recommend fresh corn if you can find some, but if not you can also use frozen & thawed or canned corn as well.
- To make this dish vegan, simply omit the goat cheese or use a vegan substitute
- Feel free to add chopped fresh herbs to this salad! Fresh basil, marjoram, parsley, or even chives would all work well.
Be sure to try these other healthy, vegetarian salad recipes!
- High Protein Pasta Salad with Olives and Herbs
- Chickpea, Tomato, and Feta Salad
- Beetroot And Feta Salad
- Superfood Salad with Healthy Ranch Dressing
- Apple and Date Salad with Brie
If you have tried this spinach and arugula salad recipe, or any other recipe on my blog, then please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious, healthy, family friendly food!
Spinach and Arugula Salad with Tomatoes and Goat Cheese
This salad is bright, light, and peppery – the perfect summer salad! Pair it with any entree for an easy and healthy dinner.
Servings: 6 servings
Calories: 74kcal
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup Organic corn
- 1 cup Cherry tomatoes quartered or halved
- 5 cups Fresh arugula
- 1 cup fresh baby spinach
- 1/4 cup Goat Cheese Crumbles
- 2 tbsp Sliced almonds
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1/2 tsp minced fresh garlic (optional)
Instructions
- Add your arugula, spinach, corn, tomatoes and goat cheese to a salad bowl and toss gently.
- Make your salad dressing by combining 1 tbsp olive oil, 1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper to taste. You can also add 1/2 tsp fresh minced garlic for even more flavor!
- Whisk the salad dressing ingredients together until combined.
- Toss the dressing with the salad ingredients, and then top with slivered toasted almonds.
Notes
Top tips for making Spinach and Arugula Salad
- You can prepare the salad ingredients and salad dressing separately and keep them in the fridge for several hours before tossing the salad and serving.
- Toss the salad 5-10 minutes before serving so the arugula doesn’t wilt before people have a chance to eat it!
- You can use any kind of cheese you like: parmesan would work great in this salad, as would a sharp cheddar
- I recommend fresh corn if you can find some, but if not you can also use frozen & thawed or canned corn as well.
- To make this dish vegan, simply omit the goat cheese or use a vegan substitute
- Feel free to add chopped fresh herbs to this salad! Fresh basil, marjoram, parsley, or even chives would all work well.
Nutrition
Calories: 74kcal | Carbohydrates: 6g | Protein: 2.6g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 4.2mg | Sodium: 53.6mg | Potassium: 144mg | Fiber: 1.5g | Sugar: 2g
I’m definitely going to add this to recipes of salads!! My family and I love salads… and this one is definitely going to be a hit!
Great!! Enjoy!
Arugula and goat cheese sound perfect together to bring out all flavors in a salad. Can’t wait to try this.
Thanks so much Andrea! You will love it!
I love that it is so colorful and healthy and crunchy too. Best for a light Summery Dinner option.
Thank you so much Veena!
You are lucky to have kids who will eat salad! Two out of three of mine refuse vegetable matter in any form. I absolutely love arugula in salads, so this is at the top of my list!
Haha it was a long road to get here – they weren’t always so open to veggies! I totally understand the struggle though! Hope you love this when you try it!
Best, colorful and healthy salad for summer. Love it
Yes!! Totally agree thanks so much!
WOW! What a colorful salad! It looks so summery and delicious. I cannot wait to give it a try!
Thank you so much Irina!! Enjoy!
Love all your recipes and keep it up.
I am still at cooking 101 level so pardon the naivety.
The almonds if you can post which one you usually buy? Are they already sliced and toasted?
By what I am reading on your other recipes if I had to guess you usually buy those from Trader Joe’s as well 🙂
Loved the Healthy Omelette by the way.
Thanks.
Thank you so much!! And no worries at all these are great questions! For the almonds, yes, I usually buy sliced and toasted almonds – saves a lot of prep time that way 🙂 You can get them from any store, Trader Joe’s definitely has some delicious roasted and sliced almonds as well 🙂 Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions!
I made this for our Super Bowl party as a healthy alternative (it was a pretty high carb menu). I couldn’t find straight arugula at the grocery store so I used spring mix. They didn’t have goat cheese either so I substituted feta. I made a homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It was great and I had enough left for lunch today. Thanks 🙂
Yaaay!! Substituting feta is perfect for this salad 🙂 And a homemade balsamic dressing is my go-to in almost every salad I make! So glad it turned out well and that you enjoyed it! Thanks for letting me know!
This looks so tasty, i’m going to have to give this ago for a light lunch.
I love the idea of the simplicity of this salad: 5 ingredients and 5 minutes. So many people wrongly believe that healthy eating is time consuming. This post helps dispel that belief. Visually appealing, healthy and delicious! How can you go wrong?
Thanks for sharing,
Michelle
Thanks so much! And yes – totally agree – healthy eating doesn’t have to be time consuming, boring, or tasteless. It can be as delicious and easy as making something less healthy if you know the right ingredients to put together. Thanks again, so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
i forget how much i love canned corn on salads!
Wow what a gorgeous salad, I would devour this right up!! If you haven’t already, feel free to stop by my blog and check out the $50 Williams-Sonoma gift card giveaway going on right now! xoxo
Thanks so much! And great giveaway btw – I just entered on your blog! 🙂
1st of all this is a nice post, i am gonna try what you did, it is great advice thank you!!
Easy and delicious, I make a salad like this all the time. Yum thanks for sharing
Wow this salad looks so fresh and delicious!
arugula and corn is one of my favorite combinations! I also like to add cucumbers for added crispness. yum!
oh great idea to add cucumber! english cucumbers are my fav – ill have to add that next time!