Easy Chicken and Blue Cheese Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

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Adrian and I have been craving salad as a main course recently, but we wanted something different from our go-tos, including Greek salad and Nicoise salad. I know, I know, both salads are amazing, but I wanted something so simple that I barely had to think about it. 

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So when I did my usual weekly routine of online grocery shopping at Good Eggs, I quickly selected a couple of my favorite greens, a refreshing cucumber, sous vide chicken, and the tastiest blue cheese ever by Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese. My garden and my pantry supplied the rest: fresh mint leaves, toasted pumpkin seeds, and Primal Kitchen’s Honey Mustard Vinaigrette. Mixing these all together, I found myself an incredible salad! Oh, and a Mission Accomplished!

Online grocery shopping: 2 Minutes.

Gardening: 1 Minute.

Food Prep: 10 Minutes.

Plating: 2 minutes.

Everything done in: you got it! 15 minutes. 

This brings me to a key point in salad making that I would love to share with you! The best way to make an incredible salad on the spot is by pairing different textures with a little bit of meat and cheese! Pairing soft ingredients like lettuce and mint with crunchy ingredients like radicchio, cucumbers, and pumpkin seeds will take your palate to salad heaven. Add a bit of salad dressing - sweet, vinegary - your choice, and you’re golden. 

Try this salad out or try making your own with these simple tips! It’s certainly healthier and even quicker than taking a trip out for fast food.

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Easy Chicken and Blue Cheese Salad with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

Time: 10 Minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
2 heads of butter lettuce leaves, gently torn
1 small head of radicchio leaves, gently torn
1/2 cup packed mint leaves
1 medium seedless cucumber, thinly sliced
1 lb cooked chicken breast, thinly sliced
8 oz blue cheese, crumbled
1/3 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup honey mustard vinaigrette
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions
Toss the salad greens, herbs, cucumber, chicken, blue cheese, and pumpkin seeds in a large bowl. Dress with honey  mustard vinaigrette and season with kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Chicken Salad Sandwich with Cherries and Walnuts

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I’m so enjoying this sandwich right now and you should be too! It’s healthy, portion-controlled, and guess what, doesn’t require cooking! Well, unless you want to roast the chicken yourself, but that’s not something I feel like doing often in the middle of the week. Now I can look forward to just a few dishes and being well-nourished with protein, whole-grain carbs, a little fruit, and a little veg. Yum!

Chicken Salad Sandwich with Cherries and Walnuts

Time: 10 Minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
1/4 cup low-fat mayonnaise
1/4 cup dijon mustard
2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped or 1 tbsp dried
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Black pepper, one pinch
2 cupsroasted chicken, breast and/or legs, chopped
1/4 cup shallots, finely chopped
2 celery stalks, finely chopped
1/3 cup dried cherries, finely chopped
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
Whole-grain bread, 8 slices, toasted
Butter lettuce, 4 leaves

Directions
In a medium bowl, add mayonnaise, dijon, thyme, lemon juice, and pepper and mix to combine. In a separate bowl, add chicken, shallots, celery, cherries, walnuts, and mix to combine. Stir in mayonnaise mixture.

Add chicken salad to toasted bread and top with a leaf of butter lettuce.