Copycat Cafe Zupas Poppyseed Dressing and Spinach Bleu Cheese Salad
I’m not gonna lie, this poppyseed salad dressing tastes really good without the poppyseeds. I know, because I made it again yesterday, trying (in vain) to shake out the last 12 poppyseeds stuck to the bottom of my empty jar.
But it still tastes amazing. I guess Poppyseed dressing sounds better than Mustardy Oil and Vinegar. And I will say that I do really like the hint of flavor the poppyseeds add.
Poppyseed-less dressing is one thing, but listen to this: One of Eric’s old coworker’s (who is LDS like us, and doesn’t drink alcohol) was at a business lunch one time. Everyone at the table was ordering fancy cocktails. He decided to branch out:
“I’d like a virgin mimosa please!”
Waitress: “So you want…a glass of orange juice?”
Speaking of Mormons, have you guys ever been to Cafe Zupas? It’s a Utah chain. I love the place. Good, cheap food, mostly soups and salads. I have a copycat version of their Easy Cheddar Cauliflower Soup and it never fails.
 P.S. Spellcheck did not scold me about the fact that the second word in this post is “gonna.” This concerns me. Even our computers are getting dumber guys.
Do you guys give up? Or are you thirsty for more?
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Copycat Cafe Zupas Poppyseed Dressing and Spinach Bleu Cheese Salad
Ingredients
For the Poppyseed Dressing:
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dry mustard powder
- 1/4 cup red onion, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup vegetable oil, I used half canola, half olive
For the salad:
- 16 ounces baby spinach
- 3 cups sliced strawberries
- 6 ounces bleu cheese, crumbled
- 1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
Instructions
- Add all the dressing ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- Toss all the salad ingredients except the almonds in a very large bowl. Add as much of the dressing as you want. Add the almonds. Toss and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Long live salad:
Bleu Cheese Dressing Recipe from Barefeet in the Kitchen
Sweet Sensation Salad with Blush Onion Vinaigrette from It’s Always Autumn
Homemade Buttermilk Ranch from Will Cook for Smiles
Fail-Proof Honey Mustard Salad Dressing from Heather’s Dish
And poppyseeds: Meyer Lemon Bars with Poppyseed Crust from Foxes Love Lemons <<–These slay me. SLAY i say.
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Delicious dressing! Tart and sweet at the same time. Great on this strawberry salad. ❤
This is 3 awesome recipes so delicious
This was perfect. Thank youÂ
So happy to hear that Carla! Thanks for reviewing!
Absolutely fantastic dressing! I did not make the salad, just the dressing. My boyfriend said it was better than any store-bought version he has had! :)Â
Homemade dressings almost always beat store bought! I don’t know why I don’t make it more often! Thanks for the reminder :)
Thanks for much for this dressing recipe. I use a store bought poppy seed dressing which we love but it has so many ingredients in it I would rather make it ourselves especially the type of oil used.
I just made the dressing and had to comment to tell you it’s fabulous! I did reduce the sugar to 1/2 c because my family doesn’t like things as sweet. I have only eaten it out of a spoon so far, but in sure it’ll taste even better on a salad! I made it to go on a broccoli apple slaw.
Oh yum this would be good on a broccoli salad! With apples! Yum I’ll have to try it out. Funny you mention the sugar amount, I just made this dressing again last week for the first time in a while, and I was like 3/4 cup sugar?? That’s a lot!! (I think I’m getting old and more health conscious :) I added a little less too. Haha!
The Nuts About Berries Salad is my favorite thing on this earth. I could honestly eat it every day. So I need this in my life asap!! (PS – do you live in Utah?? And if so, how did I miss this?)
Cafe Zupas is the best right Deborah?? I could eat soup and salad for days. And no, I live in Sacramento, but we just moved here 1.5 years ago from Orem (my husband and I met at BYU and then he worked at UVU for a few years). Too bad we’re not close enough to get together!
Thanks so much for posting this! I want our family to eat more salads and I think this dressing is gonna (like how I used “gonna”?) make that happen.
I’ve slayed you? Oh no, I hope you’re OK ;)
I have to admit, for a long time I’ve sort of been freaked out by strawberries in otherwise savory salads. But this spring, I keep seeing recipes that include strawberries and I’m thinking they look sooo good. And I think this one just set me over the top! Giving this a go next week!
Haha Lori. Really though, lemon bars are my favorite dessert of all time, but adding “poopyseeds” and meyers? done.
Hahaha, love your story about your husband’s coworker! I’m pretty ignorant of fancy alcoholic beverages myself and having babies doesn’t help me learn any faster. ;) Oddly enough, I missed bleu cheese crumbles during pregnancy more than alcohol. This looks so delicious and makes me glad that I can eat bleu cheese in salads without guilt now!
I love bleu cheese with all my heart, but no one in my family can stand it. This fact depresses me beyond words. But I may just have to make this beautiful salad anyway. To heck with the haters!
That’s what I say Ami. To heck with the haters! They will still love the salad, and you could Just have a little bowl of bleu cheese ALL TO YOURSELF.
I could so go for a mimosa right now, lol! I love poppyseed anything! This looks DIVINE!
Oh my word this sounds too good! I love love love a great salad :)
Karen! I am laughing SO much about ordering a “virgin mimosa” Haha! That’s a fancy way to order orange juice.
This salad is my kind of salad. I love poppy seed dressing. Those little specks sure do make dressing better.
Have a great 3 day weekend friend!
This salad is mind-blowing GORGEOUS, Karen! Seriously, I want/need this salad for my lunch today. Those gorgeous strawberries, all that bleu cheese, that luscious poppyseed dressing, gahh! I want it all! What a perfect salad for Memorial Day weekend! Pinned. :)
Haha, you always make me laugh, Karen! I love Zuppas! I’m up in northern Utah and we still don’t have one. Sad day. But this salad looks fabulous…can’t go wrong with blue cheese, berries, and poppy seed dressing!
Why do you use Canola Oil ? As an artist, I can say that it makes a pretty good cheap paint thinner, but from what I have read about it, it should not be eaten by human beings in search of good health. The same goes for microwave ovens—they are banned in several European countries because they destroy all of the good things in food. Like enzymes that we have to have to digest the food.
Interesting Malcolm! I’ve never heard of canola oil being bad for you. I’ve never sought any research though. To each his own I suppose! Olive oil will work great in this recipe.
Canola (a.k.a rapeseed) oil is not in and of itself unhealthy. There are a couple of issues with it though (sorry for the length of this post).
First, it’s been suggested that canola oil (and other sources of Omega-6) is being over-consumed displacing other necessary healthy fats from our diets (such as Omega-3 found in fatty fish, flaxseeds and walnuts among other foods).
Second, unless it’s been certified organic, there’s a good chance the canola seed, from which the oil is produced, is a genetically modified organism (GMO). The “raison-d’ĂŞtre” for GMO canola is so that it can resist the herbicide Roundup/glyphosate (which is sprayed to eliminate weeds competing against canola for space and nutrients in the soil). By consuming “regular” canola oil, you are exposing yourself to two man made substances for which the long term health risks of ingestion are unknown. (There was apparently a study showing that people who spray Roundup for a living have higher rates of stomach cancer than the general population and that’s apparently all that’s known about the safety — or lack thereof — of either one of those products in humans.)
I choose not to use canola oil, among other products derived from GMOs, because I happen to like monarch butterflies. Their caterpillars feed on milkweed which is one of the weeds targeted by Roundup. I use grape seed oil instead.
I’m not totally against GMO: apparently GMO tobacco plants are being used to produced experimental drugs (including an Ebola vaccine). But in this case, the plants are usually grown in greenhouses (this is more likely done to protect the plants against industrial espionage but it does limit their ability to contaminate the environment) and the drugs they produce are more extensively monitored and studied than other man made products, such as synthetic herbicides. In short, I’m for the promise of GMO but not its abuse or recklessness.
Wow! Thanks for the info M!
There is no proof that GMOs contaminate the environment. There is ample proof that GMOs are needed to feed the growing population. I don’t use canola oil due to the fact it goes bad fast. A lot faster then olive oil. There’s a reason but I don’t remember off the top of my head. :/ I don’t use it fast enough and for someone who builds up food storage, stocking up on an oil that goes bad fast didn’t make sense to me. I’ve replaced all use of it with extra light olive oil and I don’t have any more problems with rancid oil.
Hah! Spellcheck also tells me problematize is not a word. I beg to differ (though apparently anyone outside of academia has not heard it either…). I do love my salads on the sweeter side so I can imagine loving the original. Even with poppy seeds, sounds lovely!
I have never had strawberries in a salad, must try now. Thanks for sharing the recipe, the dressing looks awesome.
Love how easy this dressing looks to make. I oddly have this huge container of poppy seeds in my cupboard…. I don’t think I’ve even used it. I guess at some point in my life I thought I was going to need an abundance of poppy seeds.
I love this salad! It looks so fresh and tasty… :) I think the poppy seeds are also just too good looking in this dressing to not use them. :)