Summer Grilled Chicken Salad with Bacon Dressing
A main dish salad that offers amazing flavors of grilled chicken, vegetables with a delicious bacon dressing.
Equipment
- 1 stove or grill
- 1 grill pan
- 1 set Measuring cups/spoons
- 1 knife and cutting board
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
Salad Ingredients
- 1 C croutons
- 6 C salad greens, your choice
- 1 lb. chicken tenders
- 3 ears corn
- 6-8 small whole peppers
- 3 whole green onions
- 2 C cherry tomatoes
- 1 avocado
- 1/2 C feta cheese
- fresh basil springs
- olive oil for grilling pan
Dressing Ingredients
- 1/4 C olive oil
- 3 T apple cider vinegar
- 1 green onion
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 T fig preserves
- 1 t fresh thyme leaves
- 1 dash red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 6 slices thick cooked bacon
Chicken Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken tenders, listed above
- 3 T olive oil
- 3 T grainy Dijon mustard
- 2 T lemon juice
- 2 T Balsamic vinegar
- 1/3 C fresh herbs, your choice
- salt and pepper
Instructions
Dressing Instructions
- Cook bacon, drain and chop. Set aside.
- Combine all dressing ingredients, except bacon in a jar and whisk together.
- Add chopped bacon to the dressing.
Grilled Chicken Instructions
- Add chicken tenders to a large bowl.
- Add in olive oil, mustard, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, chopped fresh herbs and salt and pepper.
- Feel free to marinate the chicken a few minutes to give it more flavor before grilling.
- While chicken is marinating, grill vegetables.
- Use your grill pan or skillet to medium high heat to grill chicken to completely charred and cooked, turning halfway through cooking,
- Cut into bite sized pieces and set aside to cool. You can cover and refrigerate while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
Grilled Vegetables Instructions
- While the grilled chicken is marinating, grill the vegetables first.
- Remove silks and husks from fresh corn.
- Trim green onion ends.
- Leave peppers whole or cut in half and remove seeds and tops.
- Add a little olive oil to the grill pan or skillet and roast corn, peppers and green onions.
- Remove from pan and set aside to cool.
- Once cooled, cut kernels from cob.
Assembling the Salad
- Measure croutons.
- Measure washed salad greens and tear into bite sized pieces.
- Slice tomatoes into halves.
- Slice avocado into slices or pieces.
- In a large salad bowl, add salad greens and top with chicken, peppers, corn, tomatoes, cheese, avocado and croutons.
- Mix dressing again before pouring over salad and garnish with a few basil sprigs.
- If you make this salad ahead, don't add dressing...cover and refrigerate; then add dressing right before serving.
- Although it's best when first made, cover leftovers and refrigerate to enjoy later.
- NOTE: This is a perfect recipe to make for jar salads. Simply add desired amount of dressing to the bottom of a jar, top with salad ingredients, cover and refrigerate. Tuck into lunches, picnic baskets or serving bars. Just stir the dressing into the salad ingredients when ready to eat. Perfectly crisp ingredients with a wonderful dressing ready for serving!
- TIP: Feel free to prepare the roasted vegetables and chicken in advance and have ready in the fridge to create this salad.
Notes
A great one dish meal to make for dinner, lunch, picnic or gathering. Great for pool parties and outdoor gatherings!
Enjoy!