I'll be making this spring salad recipe all season long! Simple, bright, and delicious, it's the perfect way to showcase the season's best produce.
When the weather warms up in the spring, there’s nothing I crave more than this spring salad. Light, bright, and packed with spring’s best produce, it’s a perfect example of why eating seasonally is so exciting. This spring salad recipe is almost entirely veggies, but because each one is at its snappiest, sweetest, or softest right now, you don’t have to do much to turn them into a tasty dish. Toss them with a zesty dressing, sprinkle on a little cheese, and add a handful of nuts for crunch. With just a few minutes of effort, you’ll have made a spring salad that’s bursting with texture and flavor. It’s so simple and delicious, and I think you’re going to love it.
Spring Salad Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this spring salad recipe:
- Asparagus – I blanch it until it’s crisp-tender but still bright green.
- Peas – Their sweet flavor is delicious in this spring green salad! I almost always use thawed frozen peas, but blanched fresh peas would be equally tasty.
- Radishes – For crunch and a pop of pink! I like to use a mix of watermelon radishes and red radishes, but just one variety would work fine too.
- Feta cheese – It adds delicious tangy flavor.
- Toasted pistachios and roasted chickpeas – They add protein, nutty flavor, and crunch.
- Avocado – A rich and creamy contrast to the crisp veggies and crunchy chickpeas.
- Fresh herbs – Choose one or use a mix! I love to make this spring green salad with a blend of basil, mint, and chives.
- Salad greens – Any tender spring greens would be good. Butterhead and red leaf lettuce, mesclun, and arugula are some of my favorites.
- And a bright, herb-flecked dressing – I toss this zippy mix of lemon juice, white wine vinegar, olive oil, and basil with the asparagus and peas first. Then, I drizzle more dressing over the entire salad when I assemble it. Yum!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
Variations
A good salad recipe is always flexible, and this spring salad is no exception. Here are a few of my favorite ways to change it up:
- Swap the cheese, or skip it. Use soft goat cheese or mini mozzarella balls instead of feta, or skip the cheese to make this asparagus salad vegan.
- Mix up the veggies. Use whatever looks good at the farmers market or grocery store! If you can’t find radishes, shaved kohlrabi or Japanese turnips would be a great substitute. I also like to make this spring pea salad with blanched sugar snaps or green beans instead of the asparagus.
- Try a different nut or seed. Toasted almonds, walnuts, or pepitas would be fantastic.
- Switch the dressing. If you happen to have pesto on hand, it makes a delicious dressing for this spring salad! If your pesto is thick, thin it out with extra olive oil or lemon juice.
- Make a spinach salad. If you can get your hands on tender baby spinach, this asparagus, pea, and radish salad is a perfect way to use it.
- Add an extra pop of pink. Top the salad with a few pickled red onions.
Let me know what variations you try!
Spring Salad Serving Suggestions
Thanks to the chickpeas, feta, and avocado, this spring salad recipe makes a light, satisfying meal on its own. Pair it with a slice of crusty bread, homemade focaccia, or avocado toast to make it heartier, and enjoy it for lunch!
This tasty salad is also one of my favorite spring side dishes. Serve it with a frittata for an easy dinner or brunch, with veggie burgers or portobello mushroom burgers for a spring cookout, or with slices of Margherita pizza for a fun homemade pizza night! It would also be delicious with any of these pasta recipes:
- Tagliatelle with Asparagus and Peas
- Spaghetti Aglio e Olio
- Fettuccine Alfredo
- Easy Pesto Pasta
- Linguine with Lemon and Tomatoes
- Roasted Vegetable Pasta
More Favorite Salad Recipes
If you love this spring salad recipe, try one of these fresh salads next:
- Caesar Salad
- Greek Salad
- Watermelon Salad with Feta
- Cucumber Salad
- Cherry Tomato Couscous Salad
- Best Potato Salad
- Strawberry Salad
- Or any of these 51 Best Salad Recipes!
Bright Spring Salad
Ingredients
- 1 bunch asparagus, tender parts, chopped into 1-inch pieces
- ½ cup frozen peas, thawed
- A few handfuls salad greens
- 2 radishes, thinly sliced
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ½ avocado, pitted and diced
- ¼ cup chopped toasted pistachios
- ½ cup roasted chickpeas
- Fresh herbs, for garnish (basil, mint and/or chives)
- Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
Dressing
- ¼ cup fresh basil leaves, or a mix of basil and mint leaves
- 1 small garlic clove
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more as desired
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and set a bowl of ice water nearby. Blanch the asparagus for about 1 minute, or until tender but still bright green. Transfer to the ice water for 1 minute, then drain. Allow the asparagus to dry and transfer it back to the bowl and add the peas.
- Make the dressing: In a food processor, pulse together the basil, garlic, lemon juice and zest, vinegar, olive oil, and salt. Season to taste, adding more oil as desired.
- Add half of the dressing to the bowl with the asparagus and toss to coat. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Assemble the salad. Arrange the salad greens on a platter, then layer the asparagus/pea mixture, the radishes, feta, avocado, pistachios, chickpeas, and herbs on top. Drizzle with the remaining dressing, season to taste with more salt and pepper, and serve.
This salad took a bit of time to prepare, but it was worth it! I’m trying to fit more veggies into my diet, and this salad is chock-full of great ones. It’s light, bright, beautiful, and so very delicious. Absolutely perfect for the start of spring with Easter egg radishes – thank you! I’ll be making this again and again.
Delicious! Simple to assemble, light and fresh flavors, but enhanced with heartiness via chickpeas and feta. Thank you!
This is a winner! There were three of us eating it and we demolished the whole thing. So fresh and tasty. I used a vinaigrette I had on hand but was similar to your recipe.
Hi Christina, I’m so glad you loved it!
This is so delicious! It is truly a burst of spring with every bite!!
I’m so glad you loved it!
What on earth? Did you change the recipe? Why not just post it as a new recipe rather than edit one from 2014? Or post an edit at the top? Now there’s no way to see the old recipe.
Feel like we’re being gaslighted…
Both are delicious, but miss the original.
Hi Samuel, it’s the same recipe, I just updated it with new photos and clarified some of the measurements. The only thing significant change is the feta vs. mini mozzarella balls. I hope you enjoy the salad.
This was delish! I used edamame instead of peas for some added protein and it was very tasty. The dressing was also phenomenal…I opted out of using oil as I follow an oil-free diet but it still turned out EXCELLENT! thank you for this great recipe.
Hi Amanda, I’m so glad you loved it!
This is salad is awesome! Thanks for sharing. I used basil and mint from my garden and the dressing was scrumptious! Looking forward to trying your other recipes 🙂
Would love to know how to measure the amount of basil and mint for the dressing. Making it for company the first time…..sounds wonderful.
Hi Jeanne, about 1/4 cup in the dressing, more can go in the salad itself. I hope that helps!
This is honestly such a delicious salad… I knew it from looking at the ingredients. Only thing I did differently is doubled the dressing (because we like it saucy!) and used Boccochini cheese. Fresh herbs from my garden would be the only thing to make this salad better in my opinion but considering we had snow 2 weeks ago I’ll take some good organic grown ones… was such a hit at our Easter dinner!
How did you measure the basil and mint in the dressing? I’ll need to double it, too. Approximate amounts? Thanks.
Hi. Beautiful salad. Will be making as party of my Easter dinner. Curious how many as written this serves?
Thanks.
Hi Jodi – it should serve 4 as a side. Happy Easter!
Great – thanks, Jeanine. Happy Easter to you as well!
I made this for Easter lunch yesterday, and it was wonderful! I had the leftovers for lunch today, and it was even better. This is the PERFECT Spring/Summer salad!
Hi Emily! Glad you loved this one, it’s one of my favorites for spring too 🙂
This is a beautiful and tasty salad. However, the photo was taken with no dressing on the salad. Just FYI.
How many servings does this recipe make?
Hi Jeanine & Jack,
I can’t tell you how much I love your site. As a foodie… as a photographer, as a graphic designer AND as a wordpress fanatic… you are hitting all my buttons!
Love your recipes (after living in Istanbul for 2 years and Spain for 15 I put lemon juice on everything too) such variety! And, as a “pescatarian”, (I don’t eat land animals – I eat fish though…) your site delivers time after time.
Absolutely fantastic. Immense enjoyment.
Thank you.
Matt
Hi Matt – thank you! You’re so kind. This comment just made my day…
Hello I have a ASAP question cause I’m making this tonight for tomorrow …I wanted to know when you said to omit the salad greens overnight , did that include the dressing also? Wouldn’t it make the vegetables mush
You can toss it with the dressing, the asparagus, etc, will stay plenty crispy, but the greens would become soggy. (Or you can wait to add the dressing at the end, that’ll work too).
One of the best salads ever. I used both Mozz and avocado and skipped the chick peas. Forgot to buy basil so used pesto. Perfect salad for our community Mother’s Day dinner!
so glad you liked it!
Made this tonight for dinner with farmers market veggies and it was so, so good! Definitely going into our dinner rotation while the veggies are in season!
so glad you liked it!
Oh, love those blue plates! So pretty. The salad is gorgeous, too! I’ve been putting radishes in everything lately.
I find myself getting excited each time i visit your website! And with each recipe i say i can’t wait to try this… thx for being passionate about your food and sharing. This recipe like them all seems like a winner.
Really beautiful – just the colors of a perfect spring day. I’m so hungry for green things!