Spring Green Salad Recipe with Honey Dijon Dressing | Hot Pan Kitchen (2024)

This Spring Green Salad is an easy, healthy gluten free recipe to celebrate the flavors of Spring. Great for Easter or just a weeknight dinner, it uses asparagus, peas, and pistachios for crunch. A simple honey dijon dressing recipe is also included!

*This post was updated 2/14/20 with new photographs and clearer instructions.

The color green is synonymous with spring for me. Green grass, green leaves, green for St. Patty’s Day. Just green all around. So this Spring Green Salad recipe fits right in.

This all green salad came out of a dinner smorgasbord. Every other week or so my husband and I invite my parents over for dinner. Partly to entertain our kids, but also because we enjoy their company. The week this salad was born we happened to have a bunch of leftovers that needed to get eaten, and my mom said to accompany it all she’d bring a salad.

She came over and started assembling a version of this salad, and when I tried it I knew she was on to something. It was light and crunchy, with a zing from the lemon in the dressing. So after she left I did a little research and made just some minor tweaks. I based my version of the dressing off this onefrom Epicurious, changing things up just a bit. And bam, out came this version of the salad.

This salad is a great accompaniment to heavier fare, or you could added a grilled chicken breast on top and enjoy it on its own. Either way, you’re getting your greens in.

Now to get to the nitty gritty of the recipe.

HOW TO MAKE THIS SPRING GREEN SALAD RECIPE

STEP 1: MAKE THE HONEY MUSTARD DRESSING

Measure out the dressing ingredients with measuring spoons and pour them into a small- or medium-sized bowl, beating them together swiftly with a whisk until well combined. Alternatively, you could pour all the ingredients into a small mason jar, seal it, and shake to combine. Once done, set aside.

STEP 2: PREP & COOK THE INGREDIENTS

If the pistachios aren’t already shelled, do that first as it will take the most time. To do so, simply pry apart the shell with your fingers. Otherwise, move on to cooking the asparagus.

In a large pot, pour in about an inch of water and place a steamer basket into the pot but above the water. Place the pot over medium heat to bring to a boil. Once boiling, turn down the heat to medium-low to maintain a simmer.

While you wait for the water to boil, prep the asparagus. Wash the asparagus, then using a large sharp knife and cutting board, cut off between 1.5 to 2 inches of the thicker, woody end of the asparagus. Then cut them into roughly 1 inch pieces.

Put the asparagus in the basket and cover, cooking for 5 minutes or until asparagus is bright green and slightly tender.

While asparagus is cooking, cook the frozen peas according to package directions, typically pouring a small amount of water into a small pot and cooking for 4 to 5 minutes, covered, over medium heat. Drain and set aside when peas are done cooking.

Once asparagus is cooked, remove it (still in the steamer basket) and run it under cold water for 10 to 15 seconds to keep it from over cooking. Then drain and set aside.

Wash the lettuce leaves, dry them off with a towel or in a salad spinner, then cut them into pieces with the large sharp knife and cutting board. Alternatively, you can tear them up into small pieces. Place them in a large bowl. Put the pistachios, peas, and asparagus in with the lettuce.

STEP 3: ASSEMBLE THE SALAD

Whisk the dressing again if it separated, then pour half the dressing over the lettuce mixture. Toss with a pair of tongs (or other utensils) to combine. If you like more dressing on your salad, pour remaining dressing over the lettuce mixture and toss to combine again. Serve immediately.

Cooking Tips

• Don’t bother with the pistachios that aren’t open – those you’ll have to either throw away or smash to get to the pistachio nut.
• To determine where to cut the asparagus, simply bend one of the ends until it snaps off. This is where the tender part starts to become woody and where you want to trim each piece. Typically this is no more than a 2 inch piece.
• Make sure every ingredient of the salad is dried off after rinsing or cooking. If not, you’ll end up with an watery salad and the dressing won’t stick to anything.

Recipe Variations

• Make this salad paleo! Simple replace the peas with small pieces of broccoli florets. You can purchase frozen ones and cook them according to the package directions, then cut them up to whatever size you prefer.
• The dressing is pretty tart, so if you want to sweeten it up a bit just add another teaspoon of honey.
• If you’re not a fan of pistachios (or don’t want to shell them and can’t find them unshelled), you can use a different nut in the salad – cashews, almonds, or even hazelnuts would work well.

Pin this Spring Green Salad Recipe for Later!

CHECK OUT THESE OTHER SALAD RECIPES!

• Corn Tomato Avocado Salad
• Gyro Salad
• Easy Nacho Salad
• Cranberry Pecan Chicken Salad

OR LOOK HERE FOR SOME DINNER RECIPES TO GO WITH THE SALAD!

• Pesto Prawns with Zoodles
• Lemon Thyme Chicken Sheet Pan Dinner
• Paleo Meatloaf Muffins
• Grilled Teriyaki Chicken Thighs
• Baked Paleo Turkey Meatballs

If you make this Spring Green Salad Recipe(or any other recipe) then don’t forget torate the recipeand let me know how it went in the comments below!

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