Vibrant, sweet, and tangy Blueberry-Basil Dressing on a simple spinach salad! (Vegan, gluten-free)
I was harvesting my wildly growing basil plant, trying to come up with new ways to use it, and recalled the small mountain of blueberries stashed in the fridge. Blueberries and basil together? YES!
I did some experimenting and came up with this deliciously tangy-sweet blueberry dressing with basil undertones. Plus the rich color is so wonderful and inviting – I love it! Drizzling it over a simple spinach salad is all it needs to really shine. Feel free to add other nuts, berries, or some thinly sliced onion if you prefer. Enjoy!
Blueberry Basil Dressing on Spinach Salad
Vibrant, sweet, and tangy Blueberry Dressing with fresh basil! So lovely and delicious drizzled over a simple spinach salad!
Prep Time:5 minutes
Total Time:5 minutes
Servings:4
Ingredients
For the Salad
- Baby spinach
- Blueberries (or other berries)
- Walnuts (or toasted almonds, maple-vanilla candied nuts, etc.)
For the Blueberry-Basil Dressing
- 1/2 cup fresh blueberries
- 1/8 cup fresh basil (chopped)
- 1 1/2 Tbsp. white wine vinegar
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil (omit for oil-free, replacing with water as needed)
- 1/2 tsp. agave
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, add all dressing ingredients and blend until relatively smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary. (Salt/pepper if needed, more agave for sweetness, more vinegar for tang, etc.)
- Assemble salad on a plate, and drizzle desired amount of dressing on top.
Notes
Upon sitting, the dressing will become more gel-like. Simply stir before drizzling, or add a touch of water to thin out if desired.
Stores in a covered container in the fridge for a couple days.
Nutrition Per Serving (estimate)
Calories: 79kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Potassium: 14mg | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 0.8% | Vitamin C: 2.2% | Iron: 0.3%
Did you make this recipe?Tag @thegardengrazer on Instagram and hashtag it #thegardengrazer. I love seeing your recreations!
Looking for more salads?
How many servings does this recipe make?
Hi! It makes just over a 1/2 cup dressing, which for us is enough for about 2 medium-large salads.
I have a basil plant now too AND a new food processor. This is what I need!
Oh yay!! Sounds like this was meant to be 😉
Sounds like this would be fabulous drizzled over grilled salmon. Thanks for the recipe.
-elizabeth lincourt
Sorry, I didn't see that this is a vegetarian site; I only saw the recipe. No offense intended.
Hi Elizabeth! No offense taken whatsoever! This is a judge-free zone, and vegan/vegetarian is simply just what works for my body 🙂 Thanks for your sweet comment – hope you enjoy it!!
Any chance you have a per-serving calorie count for this recipe? PS–i made the dressing with lemon basil leaves instead of regular basil… Amazing!
Hi! So glad you enjoyed it – lemon basil sounds incredible! Unfortunately I don't provide nutritional stats here, but if you'd like to calculate your own I've heard this website is pretty easy to use:
http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php
Hope that helps! 🙂
Hi there. Found this on Pinterest. Any chance this would work with frozen blueberries?
Hi Melanie! So sweet of you to stop by. Great thought (especially since blueberries are out of season right now!) I haven't tried it with frozen blueberries but I bet it would still work. Would love to hear if you give it a go 🙂 I'll try to update in the future when I get a chance to test it out with frozen ones!
Haha well I live in New Zealand, so we are in Summer right now, so they are definitely in season. We picked a whole lot a few weeks ago, but what we couldn't finish, we froze, so wanted ideas for frozen berries. Will totally give this a shot this weekend.
Ohhhh perfect! Can't beat fresh picked blueberries – YUM!! Hope it turns out! I admit to only having used frozen blueberries for smoothies 🙂