Microgreen Salad with Peaches & Avocado

This seasonal microgreen salad is a great way to highlight summer produce while enjoying healthy greens that can grow year around. With fresh peaches, nuts, salty cheese and an easy homemade dressing, you’ll fall in love with microgreens as your new salad go to.

If you’ve been here before, you know I love a good salad, especially one that highlights whatever is in season at the moment. Today, we’re using sweet, juicy peaches and tender pea shoot microgreens to make one that’s so easy, and so good.

Microgreens are a fantastic way to make summer salads too, since lettuce is often best in the cooler times of the year. Microgreens can grow all year, and are even so easy to grow indoors that I’m already planning to try my hands at growing them myself.

Between those and the peaches, all you need are a few more toppings and a super easy dressing to get everything whipped up and tasting great.

Why You’ll Love This Salad

• Microgreens are packed with nutrition – think of them as a concentrated form of their bigger siblings, high in nutrients and high in flavor.
• With no cooking and easy prep, it only takes 10 minutes to make this.
• Summer peaches are at the peak of flavor and pair perfectly with tender, crisp pea shoots.

What are Microgreens?

Microgreens are baby versions of adult plants that are harvested while they’re still young and tender. They tend to taste just like the mature plant, carrot microgreens taste like carrots, and so on.

But they’re also very tender and very nutritious. They have all the antioxidants and vitamins found in their adult versions, but concentrated, giving you big healthy perks with every little bite.

There are tons of varieties of microgreens out there, but the most popular ones are sunflower, radish, kale, broccoli, herbs, and pea shoots – which is what we’ll be using today. They all have distinct flavors, so I recommend you try them all when you have a chance.

Ingredients  

Before we get to the quick how to, let’s go over the perfect set of ingredients that make this microgreen salad really sing with flavor.

For the dressing you’ll need just these easy to find ingredients:

• Olive oil -use a good quality extra virgin olive oil for best flavor.
• Balsamic vinegar -If you can’t find or don’t have this, red wine vinegar is also tasty.
• Dijon mustard – stone ground or even yellow mustard can be swapped in a pinch.
• Maple syrup – honey or agave syrup also tastes great.
• Garlic clove – You just need ½ of a clove, finely minced.
• Salt & pepper – adjust these to taste for a perfect dressing.

Of course, what’s a dressing without a salad? To make this vibrant, summer microgreen salad, you’ll also need:

• Microgreens – I used pea shoots for this, which are delicate, crisp, and mildly sweet.
• Peaches – yellow, white, really any variety of fresh summer peach is perfect!
• Avocado – a creamy, and healthy addition to our salad.
• Red onion – the crunch and spice of onion is perfect here. If not red, use what you have.
• Feta cheese – salty, crumbly cheeses like a dry goat cheese are also good.
• Pecans – feel free to use walnuts, almonds, or your favorite instead.

If you can’t find, or prefer to use something different than pea shoots, keep in mind that most microgreens taste pretty different from each other. Kale or sunflower microgreens might be a good option, or you can opt for tender lettuces like butter or watercress instead.

Instructions

Since this is a cold, seasonal salad, there’s no cooking required to get this vibrant lunch or dinner on the table.

Simply combine all the dressing ingredients, except for salt and pepper, in a jar and shake. When it’s mixed thoroughly, taste it and add salt and pepper as you like.

Then prepare your salad. Combine the pea shoots, sliced peaches, onions, avocado, cheese, and pecans in a large bowl. Toss everything gently, then pour over the fresh dressing and toss again. Serve it right away and enjoy a crisp, bright salad bursting with the flavors of summer.

With a couple of bites I think you’ll be sold on microgreen salads too. Once I get them growing at home, I can’t wait to discover all the delicious ways to use pea shoots and many more varieties. In the meantime, don’t forget to check out these other summer salads and enjoy the best flavors of the season.

• Italian-Style Snow Pea Salad
• Strawberry Walnut Salad
• Arugula Watermelon Salad
• Shrimp Mango Avocado Salad
• Blueberry Watermelon Feta Salad