SENSATIONAL SUMMER CRUNCH SALAD WITH GRILLED CHICKEN
My summer crunch salad is a perfect meal for summer! It’s light, refreshing and bonus… super healthy! You’ve got all the flavors going on with your mixed greens, fruit, walnuts and a low fat honey mustard dressing. YUM!
This salad is a knock off of the infamous Market Salad at Chick-fil-a. Jeff and I love to visit CFLA on a weekly basis, so with that being said, we’ve tried many things off their menu. If we’re feeling naughty, we get their crispy chicken sandwich and fries. But lately, with summer approaching, we order a little healthier. We like to get the Market Salad with grilled chicken tenders and their fat free honey mustard dressing. My summer crunch salad definitely gives me CFLA vibes!
Because this is one of our faves, I thought I’d make my own version of it so when I’m craving it, I can easily whip it up and save myself a trip to CFLA. This salad is delicious and has a nice crunch in each bite.
INGREDIENTS NEEDED FOR MY SUMMER CRUNCH SALAD
For the greens in the summer crunch salad, I like to switch it up. Lately I’ve been liking spring mix lettuce. If I have it on hand, I also like to add some spinach for some extra nutrients! I will go through and roughly chop the lettuce. For some reason, it makes the salad more fun to eat!
Fruit in a salad probably sounds weird but omg is it good! This salad has sliced strawberries, blueberries and a honey crisp apple, because let’s be honest, honey crisp apples are the only apple to eat!
Salads are always best with a good cheese and a good crunch. I use bleu cheese in my summer crunch salad, but I know not everyone loves bleu cheese. If that’s the case, goat cheese or even feta cheese would be good! For the crunch, I use walnuts and granola. I roughly chop the walnuts so you have some larger pieces to bite into. The granola I like to use is one that’s simple. There’s already so much going on in the salad you don’t want to overdue it. Simple is better!
Lately, I have been loving my chicken cooked in the air fryer. It’s juicy and cooks it to perfection! I keep the seasoning simple, because again, simple is the way to go! I top it off with a low calorie honey Dijon mustard salad dressing to create the best summer crunch salad, mmm!
TIPS
I let the chicken marinate in a baggie on the counter at room temperature for 30 minutes. If you marinate it longer, keep in the fridge.
The air fryer is the way to go when cooking your chicken. It keeps in nice and juicy!
If I want to have leftovers for the next day, sometimes I will butterfly the chicken. This allows me to get 2 salads out of 1 chicken breast.
When I serve my summer crunch salad, I like to set my dressing out about 30 minutes before serving the salad. This allows the dressing to lose its chill and bring out the flavor.
SENSATIONAL SUMMER CRUNCH SALAD WITH GRILLED CHICKEN
Ingredients
- 2 thin chicken breasts
- 1/2 cp dill pickle juice
- 1/4 cp milk
- 2 tsp powdered sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp paprika
- 1/4 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
- 16 oz container spring mix lettuce roughly chopped
- 1 honey crisp apple diced
- 1/3 cp blueberries
- 1/3 cp strawberries sliced
- 1/3 cp bleu cheese crumbled
- 1/4 cp granola
- 1/3 cp walnuts roughly chopped
- Walden Farms Honey Dijion salad dressing
Instructions
- Start with marinating the chicken. In a large ziploc baggie, combine the pickle juice and milk. Add in the chicken breasts, seal and set aside. Let marinade for 30 minutes.While the chicken is marinating, make the seasonings mixture. Combine the powdered sugar, salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika and lemon pepper seasoning. Set aside.Begin assembling the salad in a large bowl. Start by roughly chopping the lettuce. Chop up the apple and strawberries. Add in the blueberries, crumbled bleu cheese and granola. Top the salad with the roughly chopped walnuts. Toss the salad until everything is mixed well.After 30 minutes of marinating, remove the chicken from the baggie and place on a plate. Dab the chicken with a paper towel to remove excess liquid. Sprinkle one side with the seasonings mixture. Place seasoned side down in your air fryer, sprinkle the rest of the seasonings mixture on to the other side of the chicken. Cook the chicken at 390F for 10 minutes. Flip and cook another 10 minutes. Once the chicken has cooked, thinly slice.Plate your mixed salad and place the thinly sliced chicken on top.Dress your salad with Walden Farms honey dijion salad dressing and enjoy!
DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE AND LOVE IT?
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Here are a couple other ideas for a lighter meal:
