Raspberry Avocado Salad with Maple Balsamic Dressing (Paleo, AIP, Vegan)

This colorful salad is light, delicious, healthy and really quick to throw together. I love having fresh easy meals like this especially in the spring and summer months. Just cut up your fruits and veggies, mix the dressing, and you have a great salad in less than 20 minutes. This salad is gluten-free, dairy-free, AIP compliant, and vegan. It works great as a side dish or even as the main meal with some chicken added in...or not. 

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My daughter was so excited about the salad, she kept asking if it was done yet. When I finally let her eat it, she wolfed down 2 bowls before the rest of us even made it to the table. The combination of raspberries and avocado is kind of irresistible I guess. 

The dressing for this salad is the perfect blend of avocado oil, balsamic vinegar, maple syrup, a couple of spices, and orange zest. It is just slightly sweet and tangy.

Here's What's in the Gorgeous Salad:

• Romaine Lettuce- When you wash the lettuce, make sure it gets nice and dry before adding it to the bowl. This will prevent the salad from getting soggy. To dry the lettuce you can shake it off, dry it with a towel or paper towels, or use a salad spinner. I've had mine for 6 years so it's not available anymore but it's similar to this one. I got tired of getting everything getting soaking wet from trying to dry of lettuce leaves. It sounds silly but it does get annoying if you're doing it often.
• Raspberries- These are added to the salad whole. 
• Cucumbers- These should be thinly sliced and halved.
• Purple Cabbage- This should be thinly sliced. 
• Carrots- Peel the outer layers with a vegetable peeler then continue peeling it to make ribbons.
• Avocados- Do these last so they don't get brown while you're prepping everything else.
• Avocado Oil- I really like avocado oil for this dressing because of its nice mild flavor but olive oil works too.
• Balsamic Vinegar- Use red wine vinegar as an AIP compliant alternative.
• Sea Salt- Use pink Himalayan sea salt preferably as it is rich in minerals not found in regular salt. I like having the bag of finely ground sea salt for baking and then also having a grinder of sea salt for mealtimes.
• Maple Syrup- If you don't have maple syrup, you can use honey. 
• Orange Zest- My husband suggested this addition and it really gives the dressing a unique twist.

Tips

• Choose organic produce whenever possible to reduce your pesticide exposure. Organic produce are grown without the use of synthetic pesticides. If buying everything organic is not feasible,  the Environmental Working Group's (EWG) Dirty Dozen and Clean 15  lists are handy tools for making decisions on which fruits and veggies to buy organic. The Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 guides contain the top 12 foods that contain the highest amounts of pesticides and top 15 with the lowest amounts. If you can't buy organic, briefly soak the veggies/fruits in a bowl of water with a splash of vinegar to help remove pesticide residue. This post goes into a little more detail on how to clean your fruits and veggies. 
• Make sure your veggies and fruits are nice and dry when you add them to the salad. 
• Add the avocados last. If it's going to be a little while before you eat, either wait to cut the avocados or squeeze some lemon juice over them to keep them from browning.
• Use a good knife. This is more important than you might think, especially when it comes to slicing things very thinly- the cabbage in this salad, for example, needs to be sliced thinly. This is actually really hard to do with a dull knife. If your knife is dull enough, it can actually be dangerous because you have to use more force than you normally would to make a cut. The extra force can increase the odds of the knife slipping and causing an injury. Safety aside, sharp knives make much neater cuts which means much prettier food. Over the past few years, I've really gotten into ceramic knives. They're super sharp and come in a lot of really cool designs. I always ask for them as gifts for birthdays and during the holidays just because they're really handy and there are so many different ones. 
• Add the dressing to each individual salad vs pouring it on the whole thing if you think you'll have leftovers. Soggy salad just isn't appealing and won't hold up. The dressing will stay good in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week. This is a really versatile dressing so you can use it for other salads if you don't use it all for this one.
• Also, consider adding the avocados to each individual salad if you think you'll have leftovers. Avocados brown pretty quickly and don't hold up for long. If you keep these out of the main salad, it'll hold up longer in the fridge- maybe a few days. 

Storage

As mentioned above, this salad (like most salads) won't keep for very long once it has dressing on it. It'll stay fresh in the fridge in an airtight container for 2-3 days without the dressing and avocados. Just add these when you are ready to serve the salad. 

If you like this recipe, you may also like: 

Rainbow Chard with Sweet Potatoes and Mushrooms

Warm Kale Salad with Apples and Maple Lemon Dressing

Roasted Sweet Potato Kale Salad with Beets

No Mayo Broccoli Salad

Beginner's Guide to the Autoimmune Protocol

 

Conclusion: I hope you enjoyed this recipe. If you made it, leave a comment below and let me know what you thought. I'd love to hear from you!

Don't forget to follow me on Instagram @foodcourage for the latest AIP/Paleo recipes and Food Courage happenings!

This recipe is shared on the Paleo AIP Recipe Roundtable. 

 

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