Salads are always a favorite because if you make it right, it can be both healthy and heavenly. Salads are also quick and easy to make, especially if you have some leftover vegetables or chicken from the night before. This chicken salad is the perfect weekday dinner, especially if you are short on time or looking for a delicious but healthier dinner option.
Personally, I do not like a lot of salad dressings and honestly, a salad dressing is the one ingredient that can make or break a tasty salad. At restaurants, I usually ask for olive oil instead as I think that many of the dressings are too creamy and taste too much, resulting in a dressing takeover. With that said, in my opinion, many times all you taste is the dressing and not any of the good stuff such as the vegetables or protein.
Therefore, I have come to find my go to dressing that is olive oil based and a healthier alternative. It is a walnut basil dressing and I use it for almost all of my salads. This chicken salad recipe that I am about to share with you is not a specific recipe apart from the recipe to make the basil walnut dressing. The reason being that a homemade salad is all about preference, time and whatever ingredients you have at home. As regards to the amount of the different ingredients, it is all up to you, or as for how many people you are making the salad for. In this case, I am going to use my absolute favorite vegetables, protein, seeds and cheese to create the ultimate chicken salad of my desire.
Ingredients to make the basil walnut dressing (4 portions):
· ¾ cup olive oil
· 1 tsp salt
· 2 tsp honey
· 3 tbsp chopped walnuts
· 3 tbsp lemon juice
· 1 garlic clove
· 1 cup basil
With these simple steps, you will have made your dressing in just 5 minutes:
1. Start by chopping the walnuts, press the garlic and squeeze the out the lemon juice.
2. Combine all the ingredients and place in a mixer to be mixed. If you do not have a mixer, you can use an omission blender.
3. Once the dressing is smooth and acquires a solid green color, it is done.
Salad ingredients:
· Carrots
· Broccoli
· Asparagus
· Romaine lettuce
· Arugula lettuce
· Parmesan cheese
· Sunflower seeds
· Grilled chicken
Steps to creating the salad:
1. Start by cooking the chicken. I always make the chicken using olive oil, salt and pepper. By cooking it now it will be done prior to the rest of the salad and its temperature will have cooled down a bit.
2. Cook the asparagus. Again, I tend to use olive oil, salt and pepper. You can also add other spices such as thyme or oregano. Cook for approximately 5 min. Then let it cool.
3. Cut the carrots into piece, you decide how you prefer to cut them.
4. Chop the broccoli or keep the broccoli florets.
5. Grate the parmesan cheese.
6. Now you can choose if you want to mix all of the ingredients together with the basil walnut dressing or if you want to lay it up nicely and sprinkle the dressing on top. As I said earlier, this salad is all about preference, so you decide!
Serve and enjoy this simple, healthy and delicious chicken salad or whatever source of protein you have picked as your option!
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