We found salad in a hopeless place. We found salad in a hoooopelesssss place.
I'm not one to whip up a salad for lunch, or any meal for that matter. I blame it partially on my laziness, partially on lack of creativity, and partially on the difficulty of packing a salad in my lunchbox. Now that grad school is basically over, I've been treating myself to lunches at home. Like on anΒ actual plate. Oh Tupperware, how I don't miss thee.
Lunching at home opens up a whole world of possibilities. I can make scrambled eggs! Salad! Smoothies! It's the little things in life.
I also blame this ensalada on berries being $1.99 this week. Since I buy enough produce to feed a family of four, I obviously bought three packages. The weird part is that I only eat the berries either on oatmeal or just by the handful. I actually prefer frozen berries reheated in the microwave on my oatmeal since the juicinessΒ makes the oatmeal naturally sweeter, so lately I've just been shoving fresh berries in my face like it's nobody's biznass.
But this salad. This salad is your biznass.
I've eaten it every day for lunch for the past three days. Like I get excited to come home and eat it. It's that good. If it's just you at home or if you don't want to share, you can easily adjust this to one serving by just adding however many berries and almond you like. Keep the dressing in the fridge for future salading and the chickpeas in the pantry for snackities.
Can we talk about the chickpeas for a sec. Maple cinnamon roasted chickpeas > croutons. I mean they just killllllll it.
I feel like this salad would be the perfect picnic salad. I've never been on a picnic. I want to go on a picnic and eat almond butter and jelly sammies. All I want is a cute boy to ask me to go on a picnic.
I mean I would totally bring this salad and seal the deal, ya know? Kinda like my Best Balsamic Vinaigrette, if I do say so myself.
P.S. I may or may not be jamming to Classic by MKTO while I write this post...I don't hate it.
I wanna kiss you like Prince!
PrintBerry Spinach Salad with Maple Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas and Balsamic Dressing
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 35 mins
- Total Time: 50 mins
- Yield: 4
- Category: Salad
Description
The perfect spring spinach salad studded with fresh berries, crunchy maple cinnamon roasted chickpeas and homemade balsamic.
Ingredients
Maple Cinnamon Roasted Chickpeas:
- 1-15oz can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and patted dry
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 tsp grapeseed oil (or coconut oil, melted)
- Β½ tsp cinnamon
- ΒΌ tsp salt
Dressing:
- 4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- Β½ tsp dijon mustard
- 1 Β½ tbsp pure maple syrup
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- ΒΌ tsp salt
- Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Salad:
- 8 cups of spinach
- 1-6oz package raspberries
- 1-6oz package blackberries
- Β½ cup roasted and salted almonds, chopped
- 1 ripe avocado, cubed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with a silipat or parchment paper. Drain and rinse chickpeas and then roll them around in a paper towel until they're very dry. The more dry, the more crunchy. The more skin that comes off the chickpeas, the better!
- In a medium bowl, stir together chickpeas, maple syrup, oil, cinnamon and salt.
- Pour onto prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, tossing around with a spatula every 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, whisk together all the dressing ingredients in a medium bowl. I like to add all the ingredients to a mason jar and just shake it until combined.
- Place the salad ingredients in a large serving bowl. Toss everything together to combine. Pour dressing over top just prior to serving and stir to combine. Garnish with a few roasted almonds.
- Store any extra roasted chickpeas in an air-tight container. They will get less crunchy over time.
Leah Watson says
This looks insanely good!!! You've been full of ridiculously yummy recipes lately!!!! π π π Can't wait to try!
★★★★★
Kelli says
I can hardly wait for these chickpeas to finish roasting! They smell amazing! I'm going to tryyyyy to save some for my salads this week π I can't wait to get this salad in my belly! Love the blog! So glad I found it!
Alexis says
Awww thanks, Kelli! I definitely ate a large portion of the chickpeas before they made their way into the salad π No shame, girl.
Kelli says
First off, I have to give props to your photography skills. I took 2 jillion pictures of the salad to send my husband (since I've been blabbing about this salad since I saw it on Pinterest 5 days ago) and none of them did this gorgeous salad justice, as your pictures did. Although I did end up licking my phone screen, that was only because I spilled some dressing on it π Looooooved it!
★★★★★
Alexis says
Awwww I'm so glad to hear that, Kelli! I had the sun to thank for those pictures π Good lighting is everythanggg!
Darla says
AAHHHH!!! Just had this for supper (but used apricots, grapes and garden lettuce). It was amazing!!!