Packed with green veggies and tonnes of crunchy flavour this bright spring greens salad is an easy vegan recipe showcasing the season’s best produce!

Do you get stuck in a salad rut?  I definitely used to.  They were always a mixed lettuce base, chopped peppers, thinly sliced onion, cherry tomatoes, grapes and cheese.  And I don’t know why, but since becoming vegan I’ve been getting so much more creative with salad recipes.  Stepping outside my salad comfort zone.  Throwing caution to the salad wind.  And this bright and crunchy spring greens salad ticks all the salad boxes.

So many wonderful ingredients.  And I’ll admit I go a bit bonkers with asparagus when it’s in season as it’s such a short window.  I love those bright green spears, packed full of goodness including vitamins A, C and K.  And did you know just 5 spears of asparagus count towards one of your five-a-day?  It can be boiled, steamed, baked, griddled and roasted.  For this easy salad recipe I’ve simply pan fried it with a little oil and lemon juice.

The dressing for this salad recipe is also super simple – just 4 ingredients:

Basil – my favourite herb, so versatile.  And of course, THAT smell <3

Lemon juice – astringent and zingy this gives the whole salad extra bright flavour.

Apple Cider vinegar – sour and pungent, you only need a little to offset the bright lemon juice.

Avocado oil – feel free to change the oil to whichever you prefer, I just wanted the deep, rich flavour of avocado oil.  But any nut, seed or olive oil would work too.

I thought about adding tahini but I wanted a clear rather than cloudy dressing.  However I’m sure it would be a delicious addition!

I’ve also added some crunchy, lightly toasted pine nuts and cashews.  I love these creamy little nuts, especially toasted with just a sprinkle of sea salt.  And I’ve served this with some plain cooked quinoa.  I don’t think there’s a week goes by I’m not eating quinoa in some form or another.  I’m currently regularly making this Roasted Carrots with Quinoa and Cauliflower Steaks while it’s still mild enough to have the oven on!  You could also add some creamy avocado or even mini mozzarella balls if you’re not vegan.  There’s only two rules – make the most of the asparagus while it’s here and slather on the dressing 😉

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