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Most people often think of salads as being particularly boring, but who says they have to be? With this delicious honey mustard chicken salad recipe, you can add a healthy and delicious salad to your dinner rotation.
Make sure to use this Instant Pot Chicken Breast recipe to prepare the chicken for your salad! Also, why not make your own Croutons to top your honey mustard chicken salad?
Honey Mustard Chicken Salad
The best salads are not only super healthy and satisfying, but also packed with flavorful ingredients as well.
Instead of a boring old Caesar salad, or lame vinaigrette and leaves, why not make something insanely tasty and nourishing?
This classic recipe for honey mustard chicken salad could be eaten as a side dish or a main meal, depending on how hungry you are, but would also make the perfect lunch!
Could You Use Other Green Leaves For The Base Of Your Salad?
Lettuce is probably the most widely used leafy green base for salads. Lettuce, especially iceberg, is normally much cheaper than other greens, it’s easy to grow in most climates, and it offers a neutral flavor base for your salad.
However, if you are looking for a simple way to add texture and flavor to your salad you could try experimenting with different leafy greens.
For example, arugula has a very distinct bitter taste and so is ideal for providing those extra flavor notes. You probably won’t want to use just arugula to form the base of your salad because of its strong flavor. Instead, pair it with much milder greens such as baby leaves or romaine lettuce.
If you’re not a fan of arugula you could instead try a combination of mild salad leaves. For example a blend of iceberg lettuce, spinach, and cress.
You could also see what mixed salad leaf bags are available at your local store and use this to form the base of your honey mustard chicken salad!
How To Stop The Lettuce Going Soggy Quickly
Part of the appeal of salads is the crunch that comes from the lettuce. Therefore, nothing is worse than opening up your lunch only to find that that salad you’d been looking forward to has gone soggy and lost almost all texture.
Even if you’re eating your honey mustard chicken salad, it won’t take long for the leaves to absorb the liquid in the dressing that is drizzled over the base layer of lettuce leaves. If you are planning to serve and eat your salad straight away you will probably be fine.
However, if you are preparing your salad slightly in advance you can try skipping the layer of dressing that forms the base of the salad. This way, the leaves are not sitting covered in the liquid that will cause them to go soggy.
To make up for the missing dressing you could pour extra over the top of the salad right before serving. Or you could serve the salad with a side of extra dressing for people to add as they wish.
If you are packing your salad for lunch you might want to take a few extra steps to ensure the leaves are still crispy hours later.
Layer the bottom of your lunchbox with a paper towel and then build your salad on top. The paper towel will absorb any extra moisture from the topping and the dressing that coats the chicken.
Pouring it over your salad in the morning will guarantee soggy lettuce by lunchtime. So make sure to store the dressing in a separate pot so that it can be drizzled over the salad right before eating.
Extra Topping You Could Add To Your Honey Mustard Chicken Salad
One of the great things about salads is that they can be so easily adapted just by adding or removing toppings. So why not get creative and try adding some of your favorite toppings to your honey mustard chicken salad?
- Sweetcorn
If you are looking to add a burst of color, a little sweetness, and even more textural contrast to your salad, you can’t go wrong with sweetcorn.
- Sunflower Seeds
Seeds are an excellent addition to almost any salad adding a nutty bite to each mouthful. Plus sunflower seeds are good for you, which is always a bonus!
- Olives
If you’re a fan of olives make sure to try adding a handful of halved olives to your honey mustard salad. Black or green is perfectly fine, so long as they are pitted and cleaned!
Looking for more delicious Salad recipes? Try these out:
Happy Cooking!
Love,
Karlynn
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Honey Mustard Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- 2 Instant Pot chicken breast (sliced)
- 3 cups romaine lettuce (chopped)
- ⅓ cup cherry tomatoes (each sliced in 2-3 slices)
- ⅛ cup red onion (thinly sliced)
- ¼ cup bacon (Cooked and crumbled)
- ¼ cup Feta cheese (crumbled)
- ½ avocado (peeled, pitted and sliced)
- ¼ cup Croutons
- Prepared Honey Mustard Dressing
Instructions
- Prepare 2 plates / bowls and divide lettuce between each. Pour a drizzle of dressing over the lettuce on each plate.
- Add the cooked sliced grilled chicken to a bowl and pour 1/2 of the dressing over and gently stir to coat the chicken.
- Then place the chicken breast on top of the lettuce and your toppings placed around of tomatoes, onion, bacon, cheese, avocado and croutons.
- Drizzle the remaining dressing over the chicken breast and salad ingredients.
- Serve and enjoy.
Nutrition Information
All calories and info are based on a third party calculator and are only an estimate. Actual nutritional info will vary with brands used, your measuring methods, portion sizes and more.
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Chris says
Delightful! You’re absolutely right, in that salads don’t have to be bland. A wonderfully simple salad recipe to share with the family.![5 stars](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODdhAQABAPAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAEACAkQBADs=)
Thanks for sharing!
Karlynn J says
So glad you enjoyed it, thanks for letting me know.