Super-Green Spicy Chicken Salad
Day 5 - Salads for Spring
This spicy chicken salad is inspired by one I had in a Hello Fresh box when I was on a health kick. I had been feeling a bit run down and loved the dish for the bright green colours and vitamin-packed ingredients. For most of my quick salads, I usually use pre-roasted chicken (we almost always have one in the Tupperware int the fridge to pick at) but for this, you want to have the chicken hot straight from the pan.
If you want to make this recipe for one, you can easily halve the ingredients, but I would suggest for the dressing you either use a hand blender or very finely chop the spinach and herbs together to make more of a salsa-verde style dressing. If you use a normal blender there won’t be enough liquid for the processor for it to blend and you don’t want to burn out your motor trying!
Time: 20 Minutes
Serves: 2
Skill: A little effort and equipment
INGREDIENTS
For the Chicken:
2 chicken thighs
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp allspice
For the super green dressing:
Two large handfuls of spinach (enough to fill your blender)
30g coriander
1 spring onion, roughly chopped
Half a small red chilli - seeds removed
1 small garlic clove, peeled and chopped
1 tbs olive oil
2 tsp lime juice or apple cider vinegar
2 tbs water
For the salad:
1 ripe avocado, chopped into chunks
Two handfuls of salad leaves
100g bulgar wheat or quinoa, cooked according to the packet instructions and cooled
30g seeds (pumpkin and sunflower seeds are perfect - this one mix Aldi is great
Optional slices of chilli to garnish
METHOD
Sprinkle the herbs and spices on the chicken along with salt and pepper and then and fry in a pan with a little oil for about 6-7 minutes on each side. The spices will make the outside of the chicken quite dark so it’s important you check it’s fully cooked in the middle and there’s no pink meat remaining.
In a blender or in a bowl with a hand blender put all of the ingredients for the dressing and biltz until smooth. You want to be left with a bright green dressing that tastes super fresh. If you don’t like spice, you can always cut down on the chilli and add more as a garnish for the spice lovers.
To assemble, put about two tablespoons of the dressing into the grains and give it a really good mix together. Put a handful of salad leaves on each plate and top with the green grains and avocado. Slice the chicken and set it on top and then dollop the remaining dressing on each of the plates and sprinkle over the seeds.
Enjoy!
If you liked this, then why not check out another one of the salads in the series here.