Simple Chicken Salad with Avocado Dressing - This salad is easy to put together, quick to make and full of flavour. A perfectly light option for lunch.
Sometimes your body is just screaming for a simple healthy salad instead of a complicated bowl of several salads, proteins and vegetables. You won’t feel like you are missing out either. Especially because the avocado dressing is so delicious and creamy.
In this recipe I have stuck with chicken breast, simply because this is a salad and chicken thighs are so much more calorific and higher in fat.
Honestly speaking, this recipe came about as a result of an overly ripe dying avocado in my fridge. I have become more and more conscious of food waste over the years. I feel guilty even thinking about throwing out scraps but sadly, very occasionally it does happen. With food blogging, excess ingredients can sometimes be a regular issue even with proper planning...and boy do i plan. I have calendars mapped out 3 months in advance that I review week by week. My shopping is then largely based on said calendar. Geek. OK.. I don't always follow it perfectly. It's a guideline editorial calendar..not a set in stone magazine editorial calendar. Hahaha!
Sometimes I think that because we are so far removed from the work that goes into growing food, we can be a bit blasé about it. The reality is though, that we shouldn't even be wasting a grain of rice. It goes hand in hand with gratitude. OK, It's getting a bit serious..
Back to the salad! It starts with a very simple marinated chicken, a basic chopped salad and that incredible avocado dressing. Who needs Mayonnaise?! This chicken is the kind of chicken that can be made ahead and used for a working lunch all week. Smoked paprika is my go to for a lot of marinades because it adds so much flavour. I think you have to be careful with the quantity and the balancing of the other flavours though because it can be super over powering. Here it is combined with not very much to be honest. Some garlic, onion powder, chilli powder, thyme and a little lemon. That's it. Simplicity at its best.
By the way, If you do decide to use this chicken for meal prep and batch cook a whole lot on a sunday, all you have to do is switch up the dressing and salad throughout the week and bob's your uncle. Is he? OMG, mine too. (Sorry).
Simple Chicken Salad with Avocado Dressing
Ingredients
Chicken
- 1 lb Chicken Breast Skinless
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
- 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
- 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
- 1 teaspoon dried Thyme
- ½ teaspoon Red Chilli Powder
- Juice of ½ Lemon
- Black pepper
Avocado Dressing
- 1 large Avocado
- ¼ teaspoon Garlic Powder
- ¼ lemon Juiced
- 1 tablespoon Lime juice
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 pinch Cayenne Pepper
- ½ cup Olive Oil
Salad
- 1 small Red Onion diced
- ¼ cucumber chopped in half and cut into thin slices
- Handful cherry tomatoes quartered
- Handful Rocket Leaves Washed
- ½ Cup Sweetcorn Optional
Instructions
Chicken
- In a large bowl combine all the marinade ingredients and smother over the chicken.
- Heat oil in a large pan over high heat.
- Add chicken and cook both sides until cooked. (Depends on thickness of chicken - 5 - 8 minutes per side).
- Remove onto a plate and cover with foil.
- Rest for 5 minutes then slice into thick pieces.
Avocado Dressing
- Add the avocado, lemon juice, lime juice, garlic, salt, and cayenne pepper to a blender and blend.
- Add olive oil slowly whilst the blender is still running. Puree until smooth.
Assemble
- Pile the salad ingredients onto a bowl/plate. Add the chicken on top or the side.
- Pour over the avocado dressing.
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