Panera Strawberry Poppyseed Salad

This Panera strawberry poppyseed salad is fresh, healthy, and delicious! This recipe combines an assortment of fruit and crispy lettuce, topped with chicken and a blend of chopped nuts. To finish it off, it’s drizzled with a homemade creamy poppyseed dressing that is to die for. And the best part is this restaurant classic can be made in just 10 minutes!

The Best Panera Strawberry Poppyseed Chicken Salad Recipe

It’s finally spring, and Panera’s strawberry poppyseed salad is just the recipe for this season!

And with this copycat Panera strawberry poppyseed salad recipe, you don’t have to leave your house to enjoy all of that deliciousness you’d get from the restaurant. Plus, you can enjoy it for a fraction of the price!

This copycat Panera strawberry poppyseed salad recipe has fresh berries, mandarin oranges, and pineapple chunks mixed into fresh, crispy romaine lettuce with chopped toasted pecans, almonds, and tender chicken. Then, it’s all topped off with a one-of-a-kind homemade poppyseed salad dressing.

It’s so healthy, delicious, and easy to make too!

In just 10 minutes, you can have this Panera poppyseed salad ready to eat for lunch or dinner! Seriously, all you have to do is mix all of the ingredients and then make the dressing. That’s it!

Since it’s so quick and easy to make, you can whip up anything you want to go along with it. If you’re looking for what to serve with Strawberry poppyseed salad, my go-to is this Sierra turkey sandwich or Panera broccoli cheese soup for a complete Panera meal.

An overhead view of A bowl with panera strawberry poppyseed salad in it served on a saucer with a fork next to it.

Ingredients

This Panera strawberry poppyseed salad recipe is made with all really simple ingredients. If you don’t have them at home already, then a quick trip to the grocery store is well worth it. And you can stock up on everything so you can whip up this Panera strawberry salad whenever the cravings hit!

Anyway, here’s what you’ll need to make this Panera strawberry poppyseed salad:

3.5oz. cooked chicken cut into strips
1 cup romaine lettuce or mixed lettuce
cup fresh strawberries, slices
cup fresh blueberries
cup canned mandarin oranges, juices drained
cup canned pineapple chunks juices drained
2 tablespoon chopped almonds or pecans, toasted, optional

And here’s what you’ll need for the poppyseed dressing:

2 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 tablespoon skim milk
2 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
teaspoon poppy seeds

Fresh, wholesome ingredients. It doesn’t get any better than this!

Now, this recipe calls for the cooked chicken to make it quicker to put together. You can use leftover grilled chicken from the night before or fresh rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Really, anything you want will work great!

Oh, if you want to make another delicious homemade salad with healthy ingredients, try this house salad or spicy southwest salad next!

An overhead view of multipole bowls each containing a different ingredient. Pineapple chunks, mixed greens, apple cider vinegar, milk, mayo, blueberries, mandarin oranges, strawberry slices, poppyseeds, sugar, and cooked chicken are all of the ingredients shown.

How To Make Panera Strawberry Poppyseed Salad

As I mentioned before, this Panera Bread copycat recipe is made in 10 minutes tops.

Essentially, you’re going to combine all the ingredients, make the salad dressing, and toss the salad in the dressing. Yep, it’s that easy!

So, let’s not waste any more time and get started!

An overhead view of all of the salad ingredients tossed in a mixing bowl.

Step 1: Combine All The Ingredients

First, you’ll want to drain all of the canned fruit, slice the strawberries, and cut the chicken into strips.

Then you can add the chicken, romaine lettuce, strawberries, blueberries, mandarin oranges, and pineapple to a large bowl. And if you’re using chopped nuts, you can add them to the bowl as well and set the salad aside while you make the dressing.

An overhead view of a small bowl with the ingredients to make poppyseed dressing in it.

Step 2: Make The Poppyseed Dressing

Next, you’re going to make the incredible poppyseed dressing. So start by combining the mayonnaise, milk, sugar, apple cider vinegar, and poppy seeds in a small bowl.

Then you can give all of the dressing ingredients a good whisk until you have a smooth, creamy mixture. You can also use a blender to combine the dressing ingredients.

A small bowl with the poppyseed dressing ingredients mixed together to make a creamy dressing.

Step 3: Complete The Salad

Now that the salad and dressing are both prepared, it’s time to bring it all together!

You can drizzle the poppyseed dressing over the salad, toss it with tongs or give it a mix until everything is evenly coated in the dressing.

Finally, serve the salad immediately and enjoy!

How To Store Panera Strawberry Poppyseed Salad

This Panera strawberry poppyseed salad makes 1 large serving, but you can double, triple, or quadruple the ingredients if you want to make this strawberry poppyseed salad for a crowd.

My wife and I love bringing this salad to cookouts or to our family’s house when we’re all getting together. It never fails to impress and is the only salad that everyone actually eats!

So to store the salad, you can first prepare the salad and the dressing and then keep them in separate airtight containers. Stored this way, they’ll keep best for about 1 or 2 days, so you’ll want to make sure you eat it within that time.

A bowl and saucer serving pair with strawberry poppyseed salad in it. A spoon is drizzling poppyseed dressing on it.

Panera Strawberry Poppyseed Salad Recipe FAQS

Can you make Panera Breads Poppyseed Dressing from scratch?

Yes, you can make Panera Bread’s poppyseed dressing from scratch. All you have to do is mix mayonnaise, milk, sugar, apple cider vinegar, and poppy seeds together until the ingredients combine into a creamy dressing.

Can I make this salad for a large group or gathering?

Yes, you can absolutely make this salad for a large group or gathering. As I mentioned above, you’ll want to prepare the salad and dressing, then store them separately. And I think this salad is best enjoyed fresh, so you’ll want to make the salad right before you’re ready to serve it or right before you leave the house.

Is Panera Strawberry Poppyseed Salad healthy?

Yes, the Panera strawberry poppyseed salad is healthy! It’s packed with vitamins and minerals from the fruit and lettuce and lean protein from the chicken.

How many calories in a Panera Strawberry Poppyseed Salad?

According to Panera’s website, the Panera strawberry poppyseed salad is said to have a total of 350 calories.

An overhead view of a bowl with panera strawberry poppyseed salad in it served on a saucer with a fork next to it.

Wrapping It Up

Well, that’s how to make Panera’s strawberry poppyseed salad!

The fresh berries mixed with the crisp romaine lettuce, tender chicken, and homemade poppyseed dressing are truly a combination like no other. Panera really nailed the creation of this recipe, and I think you’ll enjoy this copycat version even better than the original.

Anyway, I hope you like this Panera strawberry poppyseed salad recipe as much as I do.

As always, if you give this recipe a try, let me know how it goes in the comments below.

A close up of a bowl with panera strawberry poppyseed salad in it served on a saucer with a fork next to it.

More Copycat Recipes

Want to make some more delicious recipes from your favorite restaurants?

Check out all of these easy copycat recipes next:

Yield: 1 serving