Chicken salad is a perfect idea for a filling second breakfast, quick lunch or light snack. The salad will also be a perfect addition to main courses or a barbecue.
The best known version of chicken salad is Caesar Salad, whose main ingredients are romaine lettuce, croutons, and Parmesan cheese. The salad is named after its creator, Italian Caesar Cardini, who first created this unusual combination of ingredients in his restaurant in the Mexican city of Tijuana in 1924. According to his daughter, Cardini invented this salad when one day his kitchen ran out of supplies and he had to cook something from what was left in his pantry.
And we have a lot of room for manoeuvre here, because chicken salad can actually be made with whatever we have on hand! If you want to prepare a unique salad, all you need is a crispy coating for chicken or an unusual dressing! Below you will find two of our favorite chicken salad recipes, but the final result depends only on your imagination and taste!
Table of Contents
CHICKEN & PINEAPPLE SALAD
It’s like Hawaiian pizza with this one. You either love it or hate it – we definitely love the first one ? The sweet pineapple blends perfectly with the rest of the salad ingredients, gives it sweetness and lightness making it the perfect accompaniment to heavier dishes but also a healthy solo dish. So go for it!
INGREDIENTS:
- – lettuce mix or any other salad
- – 2 x chicken fillet (single)
- – 2 x teaspoon of potato flour
- – 2 x tablespoon olive oil
- – 1 x leek
- – 1 x tin of corn
- – 1 x can of pineapple
- – 1 x can of red beans
- – 150 g yellow cheese
INGREDIENTS FOR THE SAUCE:
- 4 x tablespoon of mayonnaise
- 2 x tablespoons thick natural yogurt
- seasonings: salt, pepper, optional Mexican seasoning
PREPARATION
- – Cut the chicken fillets into small pieces, sprinkle with salt and pepper as desired then coat in flour sprinkled into a bowl.
- – Heat up the fat in a pan, fry the chicken on each side until golden brown.
- – Wash the leek, peel, cut it lengthwise in half and cut into strips, put it into a sieve and pour boiling water over it and then drain it.
- – Put beans in a strainer and rinse with running water, drain the corn and pineapple (if the pineapple is sliced, cut it into cubes). Grate the yellow cheese.
- – Mix mayonnaise with yoghurt or cream, season to taste.
- – Put all the salad ingredients into a bowl, pour the dressing over them and mix.
This chicken salad with pineapple is a really great addition to breakfast or dinner, you can take it with you instead of a sandwich to work or serve it at a house party. Enjoy!
AMERICAN COBB SALAD (chicken and egg salad)
A salad that is perfect for lunch or dinner. It is also perfect for a party! It is colorful, tasty and nutritious. Its preparation will take a bit more time than salad with pineapple, because in this version we use chicken breading mix. The result is worth the effort!
INGREDIENTS:
- – Iceberg lettuce or other lettuce as preferred
- – 1 large chicken breast
- – 250 g raw smoked bacon (sliced)
- – 1 avocado
- – juice of half a lemon
- – 2-3 tomatoes
- – blue cheese
- – 3 eggs
- – 1 red onion
MARINATE:
- – 2 tablespoons oil
- – 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- – 1 tablespoon honey
- – 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
SAUCE:
- – 3 tablespoons olive oil
- – 2 tablespoons wine vinegar
- – 3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce (can be purchased at most markets)
- – 2 teaspoons honey mustard
- – 1 clove of garlic (crushed through a press)
- – Salt to taste
PREPARATION
- Cut the chicken breast crosswise. Mix the marinade ingredients: oil, soy sauce, honey and smoked paprika powder in a bowl. Place the chicken in the marinade mixture, coat thoroughly in the coating for chicken and put it in the fridge for a few minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the remaining ingredients.
- – Hard boil the eggs.
- – Fry bacon in a frying pan until golden brown on both sides.
- – Fry the chicken breast on both sides in the fat which has melted from the bacon.
- – Cut the avocado in half, remove the pit, take the flesh from the peel, cut it into cubes and sprinkle with lemon juice.
- – In a bowl mix together all the ingredients for the sauce until combined.
- – Place the chopped lettuce on a large plate and pour a little of the dressing over it. Place the tomatoes, cut into pieces, next to the lettuce, then the boiled eggs cut into quarters, the chicken cut into longitudinal pieces and sprinkle with sliced onion. Next put diced blue cheese, fried and chopped bacon and finally avocado.
- – Pour the sauce over the whole dish and serve. Enjoy your meal
The two chicken salads are different despite having similar ingredients. Whether you prepare them with iceberg lettuce, arugula and use a salad mix they will be just as tasty!
Do you like our recipes but want to make them more interesting? You can do it for example with an unobvious sauce (be sure to try honey and mustard) or breaded chicken. Crispy fried, coating chicken in both pineapple salad and COBB will taste delicious!
