Tropical Spinach Salad with Creamy Coconut Lime Dressing

This Tropical Spinach Salad with Creamy Coconut Lime Dressing is full of bright flavor from the tropical fruits to the juicy crunch of the pomegranate arils. It’s all drizzled with and oil free creamy coconut dressing that pairs so well with all these flavors. It’s gluten free, dairy free, vegan and paleo as well.

I’m really quite predictable with my seasonal cravings. With every fall that arrives I’m overly enthusiastic about all things apple and of course sweet potatoes. But as the months wear on into winter I start longing for the summer produce again.

I know there’s things in season for a lot of people, but from where I’m sitting, the world outside is a winter wonderland, and it’s a chilly 2ºF right now. So I always do what any northerner does, I turn to tropical and citrus fruits to get me by until something is in season again!

(Which as a funny side note, our strawberry season is in July, just to give you some perspective. But at least we get California strawberries around April, so there’s that to look forward to!)

Luckily for us in this modern world, we’re really enjoying the champagne mangoes that have been coming in. Even though we’re in the middle of a snowy/icy extra cold winter, we still get some pretty good produce.

Champagne mangos are my favorite, and I hope you’ll be able to find them where you are. They’re recognizable by their yellow skins, and they’re a bit better than the usual mangos, (in my opinion). They’re less fibrous, and they have a wonderful sweetness the other ones seem to lack.

Let’s talk about how to make this Tropical Spinach Salad with Creamy Coconut Lime Dressing!

I’m not sure you could classify pomegranates as tropical, but I had a couple in the fridge, and they add the perfect juicy crunch to this salad. They also pair nicely with fresh pineapple and mango chunks.

From there the dressing comes together in a flash in the blender. And you can pile everything together and toss with dressing, or serve it on the side as well.

For the dressing, I added a pinch of garam masala which adds a really great depth to this tropical based dressing. And finally macadamia nuts add a buttery crunch, but you can use any nut that you prefer, or leave them out if you have an allergy.

Print