Whether you’re looking for an easy lunch, side dish, or main course salad, this strawberry papaya salad fits the bill. It’s filled with nutrients and antioxidants and comes with a tropical, Asian fusion vibe. Perfect for a hot summer day—or any time of the year!
Strawberry Papaya Salad: It’s All About the Papaya
Just to be clear, the star of this delicious salad recipe is the strawberry papaya, not strawberries AND papayas. Although adding fresh sliced strawberries certainly is an option!
The strawberry papaya is a small fruit with green skin that turns gold when ripe. It’s also known as the Hawaiian Sunrise Papaya. Its flesh is sweet, pink or salmon-colored, and totally delicious. This tropical fruit is available year-round. A bonus is that because of its size, it’s easy to remove the seeds from this variety of papaya.
Strawberry papayas are great sources of Vitamin C, folate, potassium, fiber, and antioxidants. Papayas also contain the enzyme papain, which aids in digestion.
Papaya Options
Depending on where you live and what season it is, the papayas available in your local area will vary. The good news is that this papaya salad is super flexible and you can use many different types of papaya if you can’t find the sweet, delicious strawberry papayas.
Did you know that there are over a dozen varieties of papaya? Golden papayas, Hawaiian papayas, Maradrol papayas, Red Lady papayas, Formosa papayas, and more. Any of these could work in this salad.
Making Your Strawberry Papaya Salad
I’ve given my strawberry papaya salad a tropical, Asian fusion vibe with bean sprouts, cashews, basil, and a tangy papaya vinaigrette dressing. I also added some cherry tomatoes because I had so many on hand. You can follow my recipe exactly or you can get creative and add your own twist with added ingredients. As long as you remember the papaya.
Here’s a quick tip: Ripen them in a paper bag at room temperature. You’ll know your papayas are ripe when they’re soft to the touch.
Another option is to make your strawberry papaya salad the main course by adding your favorite protein such as chicken, shrimp, or tofu.
Looking for another type of papaya salad? Consider my Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad or my French Salad with Walnuts, Pears, and Grapes. Or try a totally different twist on the papaya salad, the Thai Green Papaya Salad (also known as som tum).
Strawberry Papaya Salad
Equipment
- blender
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups papaya cut into chunks
- 1 lime
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1/2 clove garlic minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 5 ounces mixed greens
- 1/4 cup fresh basil
- 1 cup bean sprouts
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes cut in half
- 1/2 cup cashew
Instructions
- Cut ripe papaya lengthwise in half. Scoop out the seeds and discard. Cut into cubes and set aside.
- Place 1/2 cup of papaya chunks, juice of one lime, honey, garlic, salt, and olive oil into blender and blend until smooth.
- Toss greens and basil on four salad plates.
- Top salads with bean sprouts, remaining papaya chunks, tomatoes, and cashews.
- Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of papaya lime dressing on each salad. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
14 comments
The fresh fruit and crunchy nuts make this a fun and yummy salad!
What a fun salad idea, I would have never of thought to add papaya.
This salad looks so refreshing. I love papaya so much 🙂
Yum! I love papaya but have never thought about making it into a salad. I will have to try this. Looks so delicious and refreshing.
This looks so refreshing. A salad like this is needed on a hot day!
Salads are a necessity these days and we try to have them as much as possible. Thanks for this recipe.
This is a beautiful summer salad! I didn’t know there are so many types of papayas! I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a strawberry papaya but I’ll look out for it! Otherwise, I’ll use a different kind!
What a fun idea to use basil (which I have a lot of in my yard) in this refreshing papaya salad. And I love the strawberry papaya too!
interesting combo of strawberries and papaya. must try it!
I love the idea of nuts in a salad! I think we need more salads like this!
Wao, this is a very interesting combination with the bean sprouts. I’d like to try this sometime soon.
It looks delicious!
This looks very interesting, I’ve never tried papaya. I’ll be sure to try this.
This looks very delicious and yum!
Darn I love papaya and this salad sounds delicious! I need to make this tonight!