A delicious and healthy chicken salad with avocado, strawberry and spinach that you can make in under 30 minutes.
How often do you find yourself looking for healthy salad recipes?
And how often those salads are dull and utterly tasteless.
And there is one more issue here. Most of us are looking for salads because we want to eat healthy and lose unwanted weight. And a lot of them are light, low-carb, but the problem is that they are too light. And we always end up feeling constantly hungry.
So what do we do?
Eat more salads and more ‘healthy’ snacks, of course. Does that help with losing weight?
Heck no!
Stuffing ourselves with veggies and snacks is not going to lose us any weight. We need to find light and healthy salads that are also nutritious so we won’t feel the need to snack all the time.
And this is why I made this chicken salad recipe. I wanted an easy and healthy salad that’s tasty and super nutritious in the same time.
Actually, that’s why I think this is the best chicken salad recipe I’ve made in a while. It satisfies all the requirements I could possibly have from any dish: it’s light, healthy, tasty and easy to make.
So today I will show you how to make chicken salad using avocado, strawberry, and spinach.
Strawberry and Avocado Chicken Salad Recipe
All these ingredients give a lot of flavor to our chicken salad.
But here is a great tip that will supercharge its taste. Make a large quantity of balsamic dressing. Use half of it to marinate the chicken before cooking. Keep the other half in a separate container, so you can use it when serving the chicken salad.
You can marinate it for 10 minutes up to 24 hours. The longer you do, the better it will taste.
Keep in mind that even though it’s the same sauce/dressing, you shouldn’t use it for both marinating and serving tasks.
After you have marinated the chicken, discard the sauce, throw the chicken in a pan and cook it as you normally would.
When serving it, always use the fresh balsamic dressing that you’ve kept in a different container.
If you want to make a large batch of chicken salad and keep it in the fridge for a few days, don’t mix it with the dressing. Keep them separated and only mix them before serving.
If you are familiar with my recipes already, then you know that I like to marinate most of the meats I cook. I think it makes them tender and supercharges their taste and flavor.
There are different ways of marinating meat as you can see in my BLT Chicken Sandwich or the Roast Duck with Sweet potato puree. For every type of meat, there are probably at least 10 ways to marinate it. I think it’s best to choose the easiest of them and the one that enhances taste the most.
Now, coming back to our chicken salad recipe, I made it using avocado, strawberry, and spinach. But you can replace these ingredients with your favorite veggies and fruits.
I always say, be creative when cooking as you can never know what goodie might come out until you try. And it’s fun playing with flavors and trying them in different combinations. I always add my own touch to every recipe I find and make.
One of my favorite ingredients in the chicken salad is Avocado. You’ll see it in most of my recipes. As you probably know, it has many proven benefits. But apart from its benefits, I like it because it’s super nutritious and it goes perfectly with a lot of ingredients. As you can see below, I actually make burgers (vegetarian) with avocados.
More Recipes with Avocado:
- Shakshuka with Cherry Tomatoes, Avocado, and Goat Cheese
- Vegetarian Burger with Avocado and Blue Cheese
In case you are wondering, you can have this chicken salad for dinner as well. I enjoy it most after my gym training when I am hungry I could eat a horse.
If you make a large batch, you can use it in your weekly meal prep. Again, don’t forget to keep it separately from the dressing until you serve it.
I usually make it on Sundays and serve it throughout the following days. You can place it in containers and simply grab one when you go to work.
Do try it and let me know what you think of it. Do you find it easy? Tasty?
Let me know in the comments below.
And now let’s see how it’s made.
How to make Chicken Salad with Avocado, Strawberry, and spinach
Strawberry and Avocado Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
- ¼ cup (60ml) balsamic vinegar
- 3 Tbsp olive oil - extra virgin
- 3 Tbsp honey
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 2 boneless chicken breasts - skin on
- 8 cups (240g) baby spinach
- 1 cup (150g) strawberries - hulled and quartered
- 1 avocado - sliced
- 1/2 red onion - sliced
- ¼ cup (40g) feta cheese - crumbled
- 1/4 cup (30g) hazelnuts - raw or toasted
Instructions
- In a small bowl, whisk the balsamic vinegar with olive oil, honey, smoked paprika, fennel seeds, salt, and pepper, until blended.
- Place the chicken breasts in a shallow bowl and pour half of the dressing. Cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes to 2 hours.
- Spray a grill pan or non-stick pan with cooking spray and heat to medium-high. Place the chicken breasts on the hot pan. Cook for 3 minutes then flip them. Cook for another 3 minutes, and turn. Reduce the cooking temperature to medium low and cook the chicken for 15 minutes more, turning every 5 minutes or so. Cooking time depends on the chicken's thickness, but it will be fully cooked when it hits 75C/165F degrees internal temperature. Let it rest for 5 minutes then slice it.
- Place the spinach, strawberries and red onion in a bowl. Add the avocado, sliced chicken, and top with feta and hazelnuts.
- Pour the remaining dressing, mix and serve immediately.
Nutrition
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looks delicious