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Home » All posts » Lunch

Rainbow Salad with Blueberry Vinaigrette

Updated: Aug 15, 2024 · Published: Jun 26, 2020 by Laura Yautz · This post may contain affiliate links · Leave a Comment

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Have you ever heard the phrase "eat the rainbow"? It refers to eating a great variety of colors of fruits and vegetables for a variety of nutrients. Well, now you can eat the entire rainbow at once with this gorgeous Rainbow Salad paired with the most delightful Blueberry Vinaigrette! Serves 2 as an entree salad, or 4-6 as a side salad.

This post may contain affiliate links. See our Disclaimer for more information

Two plates of salad with rainbow colored vegetables, and a bottle of blueberry dressing.

Great for St. Patrick's Day or every single summer day! High in protein, fiber, and lots of vitamins and minerals, it's almost like its own pot of gold!

Pair this Rainbow Salad with some crusty bread or my whole wheat drop biscuits, and drizzle on that delicious Blueberry Vinaigrette that's really easy to pull together. No cooking makes this perfect for scorching summer days.

Jump to:
  • Heart Health Benefits of Rainbow Salad
  • Ingredients
  • Instructions
  • Substitutions
  • Equipment
  • Storage
  • Pro tip
  • FAQ
  • Related
  • Pairing
  • 📖 Recipe
  • Food safety

Heart Health Benefits of Rainbow Salad

We packed a ton of produce into our Rainbow Salad to capitalize on all the benefits of summer!

The red in our rainbow is a combination of tomatoes and red raspberries. Tomatoes are high in lycopene (an antioxidant), which is well known for its role in prostate health. But did you know it also protects your heart? Lycopene seems to not only lower your risk of stroke, but also lower your risk of having additional cardiac events. Raspberries have many of the same antioxidant powers as blueberries, below, and deserve a spot on your plate, too!

We chose carrots for orange! Besides being low in calories, and high in fiber, carrots are also an excellent source of vitamin A, with a bit of Vitamin K and potassium, to boot.

Yellow Bell peppers for yellow, of course! Bell peppers come in a variety of colors: red, yellow, green, purple. Peppers are an excellent source of vitamin C, and very low in calories, since they are high in water content.

Our base is spinach, and our green representative! It's is a great source of vitamin A and vitamin K, in addition to its high fiber content. It’s important to eat leafy greens daily, whether fresh, cooked, or blended into other dishes.

Blueberries for blue! Blueberries are like little heart protecting powerhouses. They have been shown to improve markers of cardiovascular function when eaten daily in a 6 month trial, and another study found berries may be able to play an important role in cardiovascular disease prevention. Blueberries and other dark blue, purple, and red fruits and vegetables are high in anthocyanins, a type of flavanoid that seems to have a strong heart protective effect.

Purple cabbage is next, and it contains anthocyanins, like blueberries. They're also cruciferous vegetables, so provide many of the same health benefits of broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts. This group of food is known to have anti-cancer properties, as well as overall strong antioxidant activity.

Lastly, black beans are incredibly nutritious, and most people don’t eat enough. Beans are high in phytochemicals and magnesium, among other nutrients. I recommend eating them at least once every day – more if you can!

Salad with rainbow colored vegetables, and a bottle of blueberry dressing beside it.

Ingredients

A few ingredients besides those listed above complete this simple Rainbow Salad.

Ingredients for rainbow salad and blueberry balsamic dressing.
  • Spinach
  • Tomatoes
  • Red raspberries
  • Carrot
  • Yellow Bell pepper
  • Blueberries
  • Purple cabbage
  • Black beans
  • Olive oil
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Walnuts
  • Water for thinning (not pictured)

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

You have the option of tossing everything together in a minute or spending a bit more time to arrange the produce. Either is perfectly fine! You're going to eat it all mixed up anyway, right?

Two salad plates with spinach on them.
  1. Step 1: Divide the spinach between 2 large plates.
Chopped tomatoes.
  1. Step 2: prepare the vegetables. Chop the tomatoes.
Shredded carrots in a small bowl.
  1. Step 3: Shred the carrots.
Chopped yellow peppers.
  1. Step 4: Chop the peppers.
Shredded purple cabbage in a small bowl.
  1. Step 5: Shred the cabbage.
Two plates of salad with red raspberries and chopped tomatoes added in a column along the left side of the plate.
  1. Step 6: Add the chopped tomatoes and red raspberries to the plate, in a column along the left side of the plate.
Two plate of salad with a column of shredded carrots place beside the tomatoes.
  1. Step 7: Place the shredded carrots on the plates in the same way, beside the red column.
Two plates of salad with a column of yellow peppers and a column of black beans added.
  1. Step 8: Place the yellow bell peppers beside the carrots. And add the black beans along the right hand side of the plate.
Two plates of salad with a column of purple cabbage added beside the black beans.
  1. Step 9: Place the purple cabbage beside the black beans.
Two plates of salad with a column of blueberries place beside the cabbage.
  1. Step 10: Add the blueberries beside the cabbage, leaving the green spinach to have its own column between the blueberries and yellow peppers.
Salad dressing ingredients in a bowl.

Step 11: Now make the dressing. Add all the ingredients to a bowl (or small food processor or blender).

Blueberry dressing being blended with an immersion blender.

Step 12: Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth. Add a little water at a time to thin, if needed. Taste and add some honey if needed. Drizzle over salads.

Hint: If you have them, frozen blueberries actually work better for the dressing! Just thaw them before you use them.

Substitutions

Salads are super customizable! Here are some alternates - or additions! - to consider for each color of the rainbow!

  • Red - try strawberries, cherries, red bell peppers, radishes, or red beets
  • Orange - use orange bell peppers, roasted sweet potatoes or butternut squash
  • Yellow - try corn, yellow tomatoes, or yellow summer squash
  • Green - green peppers, any leafy green, cucumbers, broccoli, or peas
  • Blue - blackberries, black raspberries, or roasted blue potatoes
  • Purple - eggplant, purple carrots, beets, or purple cauliflower

Equipment

There are a few pieces of equipment I do recommend for this recipe, although they certainly aren't required.

The first thing I recommend is a multifunction vegetable chopper/slicer/shredder. This tool makes it easy to fly through prepping all the veggies for this salad, so you can get to eating it faster! But a cutting board and knife will also be just fine if you're not into purchasing another tool.

You will also need something to blend the blueberry balsamic dressing. I like my immersion blender for this, because it's small and makes for less dishes to do. A small blender or food processor will work, too.

*As an Amazon affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Salad with rainbow colored vegetables, with blueberry dressing being poured on it.

Storage

You can store the assembled salads, without dressing on them, in an airtight container for about 2-3 days.

The dressing will last about a week in the refrigerator.

Pro tip

Don't wash the raspberries until just before adding them to the salad. And drain them very well. Otherwise, they may end up waterlogged and mushy.

FAQ

Can I make this nut free?

Absolutely! Simply leave the walnuts out of the dressing.

Related

Looking for other salad recipes? Try one of these:

  • Strawberry cucumber salad on a small plate, from overhead
    Strawberry Cucumber Salad with Basil and Mozzarella
  • Overhead picture of large plate with salad on it.
    Arugula Avocado Salad with Pineapple Vinaigrette
  • Plate of salad with sundried tomatoes, pine nuts, fried garlic, and dressing.
    Deconstructed Pesto Herb Salad with Cracked Peppercorn Parmesan Dressing
  • Overhead shot of carrot top tabbouleh in a blue bowl, half of the bowl shown, with a bunch of carrots with the tops still attached lying beside the bowl.
    Carrot Top Tabbouleh Salad

Pairing

These are my favorite dishes to serve with Rainbow Salad:

  • Whole wheat drop biscuits on a serving tray.
    Whole Wheat Drop Biscuits
  • Glasses of agua fresca, with strawberries, watermelon slices, limes and mint scattered around. Carafe of beverage in background.
    Strawberry Watermelon Agua Fresca
  • Iced tea in Mason jars, with ice, blackberries, and mint.
    Blackberry Iced Tea
  • Overhead shot of a whole pie, with fresh peaches beside it.
    Fresh Peach Pie {no added sugar}
Want to say thank you?

📖 Recipe

Salad with rainbow colored vegetables, and dressing being poured on.

Rainbow Salad with Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

Laura Yautz
This heart healthy salad is everything summer! A simple throw-together meal that's great for packing for lunch, or dinner on a steamy evening.
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Prep Time 15 minutes mins
Total Time 15 minutes mins
Course Main Course, Salad
Cuisine American
Servings 2
Calories 303 kcal

Equipment

  • Vegetable Slicer/Shredder
  • Immersion blender or small food processor

Ingredients
  

For the Rainbow Salad

  • 4 cups Baby Spinach
  • ½ cup chopped Tomatoes (or whole grape tomatoes)
  • ¼ cup Red Raspberries
  • 1 Carrot julienne or shredded
  • ½ Yellow Pepper chopped
  • ½ cup Blueberries
  • ½ cup Purple Cabbage shredded
  • 1 cup Black Beans (canned without salt if possible)

For the Blueberry Balsamic Vinaigrette (makes ~10 servings)

  • ½ cup Blueberries
  • ½ cup Olive Oil
  • 3 tablespoon Balsamic Vinegar
  • 2 tablespoon Walnuts
  • Water to thin
  • optional 2 tsp Honey if needed to reduce tartness

Instructions
 

  • Prep the vegetables by shredding the carrot and cabbage, and chopping the tomato and pepper.
  • Arrange the salad ingredients on two plates, in any way you like.
  • Note: to arrange in a rainbow pattern, make columns of the following, in this order - tomatoes and raspberries, carrots, yellow pepper, space for green spinach, blueberries, cabbage, and black beans.
    To save on time, simply toss all the ingredients together!
  • Make the dressing by adding all the dressing ingredients to a small food processor, and process on high until blueberries are completely pureed into the dressing. If the dressing is thick, add a tablespoon or so of water to thin it out.
    An immersion blender will work for this as well.
  • Taste, and add some honey if needed to tame the tartness. This will depend on the sweetness of your blueberries.
  • Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of the dressing on each salad.

Nutrition

Serving: 2Tbsp dressing on ½ salad recipeCalories: 303kcal (15%)Carbohydrates: 40g (13%)Protein: 12g (24%)Fat: 12g (18%)Saturated Fat: 2g (13%)Polyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 8gSodium: 79mg (3%)Potassium: 1054mg (30%)Fiber: 13g (54%)Sugar: 12g (13%)Vitamin A: 1911IU (38%)Vitamin C: 128mg (155%)Vitamin K: 322µg (307%)Calcium: 119mg (12%)Iron: 4.4mg (24%)Magnesium: 133mg (33%)

*Nutrition information is an estimate, and will change based on the brand and individual ingredients and amounts you use. This is provided for your convenience only.

Keyword blueberry vinaigrette, rainbow salad bowl
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Food safety

Safety is our top priority in the kitchen! Always keep these tips in mind.

  • Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat
  • Wash hands before touching food, and after touching raw meat, your hair, face, pets, etc.
  • Don't leave food that should be either hot or cold sitting out at room temperature for longer than 2 hours (or 1 hour if the weather is hot)

See more guidelines at USDA.gov.

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Laura Yautz in her kitchen

Hi, I'm Laura!

I’m a Registered Dietitian and I love food and cooking, It’s my passion to help you discover how delicious and easy heart healthy eating can be! I’m glad you’re here! Take a look around. You’re going to LOVE Being Nutritious!

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