Summer Salad with Grilled Peaches + Strawberries

A bowl of salad with grilled peaches and strawberries, toasted almonds, baby spinach and sugar snap peas. There is also a jug of ginger and lemon salad dressing.

You will be all set for summer with this Grilled Peach and Strawberry salad! Aside from all the outdoor living, one of our favorite things about summer is the fresh, seasonal produce. So, we were in the mood for two of our favorites – peaches and strawberries. In addition, the grill was calling! Surely you see where we’re going with this. We put together a delicious summer salad with grilled peaches and strawberries!

Do Yourself a Flavor

Obviously, we aren’t the first to create a salad with grilled peaches – they’re popular every summer! So, we decided to develop our own twist. Things really kicked into gear when we cracked open Karen Page’s Vegetarian Flavor Bible. This book is super-special because it lists hundreds of ingredients and explains how to pair them for maximum flavor. Our deep dive into flavor heaven gave us a bunch of tips.

Fresh cut peaches and strawberries spread out on a marble surface.

To begin with, toasted almonds match really well with both peaches and strawberries. Next, we thought about the salad dressing. It turns out that ginger and lemon juice + zest are also a great match for our grilled fruits (orange juice + zest are also strongly recommended). Finally, we discovered that pepper and strawberries are a perfect match!

So as a result of our research, we had our summer salad building blocks. Grilled peaches and strawberries, toasted almonds, and a dressing of ginger, lemon juice + zest, and pepper. Finally, we decided to add some greens. To start with, we made a bed of baby spinach. In addition, we threw in sugar snap peas for crunch! Surely a salad can’t be more “summer” than that?

Sweet, Sticky and Char-Grilled!

Of course, we have a few tips about cooking the ingredients, too. Let’s start with the fruit. Firstly, wash and slice all the fruit. We recommend cutting the strawberries in half. Then, cut the peaches into pieces of similar size. In our hands, splitting the peaches into sixths was about right. After that, toss the fruit in olive oil and place it face down on the grill pan or outdoor grill. Now, cook until you see nice charred “grill lines”, then flip onto another side. Be careful, because cooking on a grill can happen very fast!

A cast iron pan filled with grilled peaches and strawberries.

Coming to the Crunch

In terms of the “crunchy” ingredients, toast the almonds and crush them into pieces. To prepare the sugar snap peas, top and tail them and remove the fibrous thread from the back of the pod (your teeth will thank you later). That’s it! You’re ready to mix everything together and drop it on top of the spinach.

Zest and Pep!

You’re also going to need some dressing. Now, we know this part appears near the end of the post. However, prepare the dressing in advance if you want your summer salad while the fruit is still warm. When you prepare the ginger and zest, make sure both are in very small pieces. This is because large chunks of such strong ingredients would unbalance the dish. Next, add some pepper and stir in the olive oil. And perhaps the most important point about the dressing is – mix it up right before drizzling it on the salad! Otherwise, all the ingredients will separate or settle out.

We hope you had fun with our Summer Salad and enjoyed the grilled peaches and strawberries! If you made it, please let us know how it went with a comment and a rating. Every bit of feedback helps make the blog even better!

If you’re looking for more salad ideas, check out our Quinoa Salad with Grilled Veggies! Alternatively, for something more substantial try our Potato Salad. Finally, if you’re in the DIY mood – who not level-up your fresh salads by Growing your own Sprouts?