This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
A delicious salad with tomatoes, chicken, craisins, sunflower seeds and a delicious homemade lemon poppy seed dressing. The dressing only requires 4 ingredients and takes minutes to make!
A new, easy salad dressing recipe that the whole family loves. Other favorites include our homemade ranch dressing and homemade caesar salad dressing. Homemade is definitely our favorite!
go-to salad dressing
Who here loves a good salad? I especially love trying a salad that comes with a delicious dressing to go with it. Ranch and Thousand Island dressings are always good to have on hand, but nothing beats a homemade dressing that is custom to the salad you are having.
All of my favorite salads from restaurants have special dressings to go with them, including the Luau Salad from Cheesecake Factory or the Oriental Salad from Applebee’s.
Today’s recipe for Lemon Poppy Seed Salad is a new favorite because it not only has a delicious lemon poppy seed dressing, but it’s full of flavor and yummy ingredients—making it a go-to.
The salad itself is great with yummy ingredients, but if you’re not a fan of chicken – just keep it out. We love that the poultry makes it more hearty, but it can definitely be customized based on what you like most.
Only 4 Ingredients!
This Lemon Poppy Seed dressing would go great with a myriad of salads, and it’s easy to have on hand because it only takes 4 simple ingredients!
- Mayo
- Lemon Juice
- Sugar
- Poppy Seeds
All you have to do is whisk the four ingredients together, and refrigerate until you’re ready to serve with the salad. You can keep it in the fridge up to 10 days, stored in an airtight container.
Dressing Substitutions and adjustments:
- Mayo: Use Light mayo
- Sugar: use swerve or honey. You can also cut the amount of sugar in half, and then add more to your taste.
- Lemon Juice: you can decide whether you want to use freshly squeezed lemon juice, or the store-bought refrigerated kind.
Choose your own salad mix
There is salad kit at Costco that comes with salad mix, craisins and sunflower seeds. We just use our own dressing and add the tomatoes and chicken. 😉
Of course, you can always make your salad fresh from the same produce, and chop it all yourself. Regardless of what salad you use, the dressing will taste phenomenal with it!
Change up the salad ingredients: Use a coleslaw cabbage mix, spinach with strawberries and almonds, or even a tropical salad made of pineapple, oranges, coconut, and apples.
If you love salads as much as we do, then I suggest giving this one a try. The poppy seed dressing is amazing and takes just minutes to put together!
For more great salads, check out:
- Asian Noodle Salad
- Ultimate Chicken Caesar Salad
- Crispy Chicken Cobb Salad
- Kale Salad
- Broccoli Strawberry Salad
- Honey Mustard Chicken Salad
- Southwest Salad
Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing Recipe
Ingredients
Salad
- 3 cups salad mix chopped
- 2-3 chicken breasts cooked and sliced
- 1/2 cup tomatoes chopped
- 1/2 cup craisins
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Lemon Poppy Seed Dressing
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tsp poppy seeds
Instructions
- Add chopped salad, craisins and sunflower seeds to a large bowl and mix.
- Make dressing by whisking together mayo, sugar, lemon juice and poppy seeds (refrigerate until ready to serve).
- Right before serving add chicken pieces and dressing and toss to coat. ENJOY!
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This is the perfect summer Salad! Yum!
I love this salad! It’s so light & refreshing! I need to use this dressing on all my salads!
Oh, my, this salad is so good!! The dressing is so refreshing & tasty!
Homemade Dressing is SO much better than store bought. I love know exactly was is in it. This poppyseed dressing is so simple to make and adds a light, delicious flavor.
I love ranch and thousand island dressIng. Poppy seed is my next favorite. It has such a great taste and its easy to make.
Looks amazing , and really easy to cook.
It really is!! Hope you try it! Thank you!
Love the sweet dressing!