This vibrant, fresh, and lively Mango Salad is loaded with fresh fruit, cinnamon almonds, and dressed with a cinnamon-yogurt dressing. Be prepared for a salad addiction!
Mango Salad
My husband is obsessed with Zupas’ Mango Berry Salad, but he’ll tell you there is never enough fruit on it! So, of course, I re-created my own version and loaded up the fruit– just for him. 🙂
One of the best things about making your own meals is that you can customize them exactly how you want and in our case, that means adding more fruit and doubling up on those cinnamon almonds!
While this salad is similar to the salad at Zupa’s, I wouldn’t say it’s a total replica. The dressing is quite a bit different, and we’re 100% obsessed with it. While cinnamon is not a common ingredient in too many dressings, it works so well in this yogurt-based dressing and beautifully complements the fruits, lettuce, and almonds.
Cinnamon-Yogurt Dressing
So let’s chat about this dressing. It’s unique, sweet, and completely crave-able! It’s also very easy to make with only four ingredients (not including salt and pepper). With so few ingredients, each one really matters, so let’s discuss those below:
- Mango yogurt. I tested this dressing with so many different yogurts! While any sweet yogurt (one that you enjoy eating plain) will work, test taster’s favorites were Chobani’s® Mango Greek Yogurt.
- Ground cinnamon. Admittedly a weird dressing ingredient, but we’re obsessed! The cinnamon just works with all the fruit and emphasizes the cinnamon-roasted almonds’ flavor in the salad.
- Honey. This dressing is on the sweet side, so feel free to scale down the honey (or add a bit more if using a less sweet yogurt).
- Mandarin oranges. The juice from mandarins/clementines is tart and sweet — the perfect balancing component to this dressing. We felt like regular orange juice wasn’t as flavorful in this dressing.
- Salt and pepper. A pinch of each helps to accentuate all the great flavors going on in this Mango Salad.
Mango Salad Toppings
We kept the salad toppings simple (see variation options for this Mango Salad in the following paragraph). Below are the four toppings in this salad and a few notes on how to pick the best fruit for this salad.
- Mango. We love honey mangoes (also known as Ataulfo or yellow mangoes) best in this salad, but regular mangoes work great as well. (Honey Mangoes are sweeter and creamier than regular mangoes.) To tell if the mangoes are ripe, gently squeeze the fruit. If it’s ripe, it will give slightly. Wait to make this salad until the mango is at peak ripeness for the best flavor and texture. Here’s a quick and helpful visual guide on how to cut a mango.
- Blueberries. Look for berries that are firm, dry, and plump. Size isn’t an indicator of maturity, but the color is. Blueberries should be deep purple-blue or even blueish black.
- Strawberries. Look for bright red, plump berries–strawberries don’t continue to ripen after being picked (what you see is what you get!).
- Cinnamon-roasted almonds. Either make your own or pick up a bag at the grocery store! When shopping for candied almonds, they’re typically found with other candied nuts, trail mixes, chips, and popcorn, not in the baking aisle where you’ll find plain nuts.
Variation Ideas
- Add a diced avocado for some creaminess and good-for-you fats.
- Sprinkle in some cheese. Goat or feta cheese make nice complements to the fruits in this salad.
- Change up the dressing. If you’re unsure of the cinnamon-yogurt dressing, try a poppy seed dressing instead; we love the dressing on this Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad.
- Swap fruit. Change berries to your personal preference, such as blackberries or red raspberries instead of strawberries and blueberries. Feel free to add in more fruit; we’ve added a kiwi to this salad too and loved that!
- Adjust quantities. This salad has a high ratio of fruit to lettuce– which is exactly how we love it. Feel free to scale up or down the amount of fruit you add if you’d like the lettuce to be more central.
Storage
Once dressed, this Mango Salad needs to be eaten and enjoyed promptly. The dressing makes the lettuce wilt and berries soften. I’d recommend only dressing what you will enjoy the same day. Store the dressing and salad components separately.
More salad recipes
- Chipotle Chicken Salad with a chipotle vinaigrette
- Spinach Salad with an apple-Dijon vinaigrette
- Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad with quick candied almonds
- Roasted Sweet Potato Salad with a lemon-balsamic vinaigrette
- Quinoa Fruit Salad with a citrus vinaigrette
Mango Salad
Ingredients
- 8 cups (5 oz.) spring mix lettuce blend or your favorite salad greens
- 1 cup blueberries
- 1 cup peeled and diced honey mango (~2 mangoes)
- 1 cup thinly sliced or chopped strawberries
- 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cinnamon-roasted almonds
Dressing
- 1/4 cup mango yogurt (we love Chobani's mango yogurt)
- 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon honey
- 2 Mandarin oranges (1/2 teaspoon zest; 2 tablespoons (28g) juice)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- DRESSING: Stir the mango yogurt well; measure out 1/4 cup and add to a small blender jar. Add in the honey, zest and juice of the mandarins, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt and pepper (I add 1/8 teaspoon each). Blend until smooth and then transfer to a jar and store in the fridge until ready to use.
- SALAD PREP: Add lettuce to a large bowl. Top with blueberries, strawberries, and mango. Add in the almonds. Drizzle the dressing (See Note 1) over the salad. You may not want all of the dressing on the salad, so add to personal preference. Toss and enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Made this salad and it was so good!!! Love love the dressing. I added chicken and feta. Delicious!!
I am so thrilled to hear this! Thanks so much Susan! 🙂
I am literally sitting at zupas eating the mango berry salad and I decided to google mango yogurt dressing and your recipe came up!!! Crazy!! I’m gonna make this!!!
Hope you love it!
I looking forward to try this mango salad. It looks so delicious.