Blackened Chicken Chopped Salad
Spicy Blackened Chicken and chopped romaine salad with cucumber, and strawberries, and cooling buttermilk dressing.
Posted By Savita
Baked Blackened Chicken tenders with chopped romaine, crunchy cucumber, bell peppers, and juicy strawberries... all chopped-up to make a flavorful Chicken Salad coated in cooling buttermilk dressing!
This salad is as jam-packed with flavors as it is with chopped fresh veggies and it is perfect for a lite lunch or dinner! A drizzle of cooling and tangy buttermilk dressing not just balances the spices in blackened chicken but also makes this salad very delightful!
Last week, after schools restarted...... road became much more busy with traffic. I remember, last year, this time we were shifting apartment and were overwhelmed with amount of traffic on the roads! Then, slowly we came to know that this traffic is due to schools re-starting.
Mainly, this reminds me that time passes SO quickly. This year has just flew so fast! In wink of an eye, we are on door steps of fall and time has come to put ovens to work! :-) With temperature in 3 digits in California, I have given baking a lot of break this summer. Now, I'm excited to start baking again!! Aren't you?
Just the thought of baking forced me today, to share with you this delicious, baked Blackened Chicken Chopped Salad!
The star of this Chicken Salad is Blackened Chicken and I'm SO excited to share recipe for homemade Blackening Seasoning as well. Seriously, this seasoning can make any protein packed with punch of flavor! Since first time I tried blackening seasoning, it has become my pet-recipe for easy and flavorful blackened baked chicken or fish. I always keep a small portion of this seasoning handy to bake flavorful chicken for chicken salads, chicken wraps and even for chicken tacos!!
Besides being topped with a STAR baked chicken, this salad has yet another delicious element: a tangy buttermilk dressing! In my home, we have a glass of buttermilk or a cup of yogurt with everything spicy. Even though this blackened chicken is not hot spicy, but I felt a tangy cooling dressing will go great with Blackened Chicken. I was right and pleasantly surprised, how buttermilk complimented the chicken and crunchy vegetables..... rounding the flavors very well!
Have I shared with you that among all salads I love serving whole season, chopped salads are my special favorites?! I think, with everything bite-size, every forkful gets even portion of all salad ingredients. Hence, you spend more time enjoying the flavors rather than struggling to get an even bite!
PS: For presentation, I kept cucumbers long thin sliced in this salad, but for serving, I recommend chopping everything evenly.
Last but not the least, this delicious salads is very forgiving when it comes to using the vegetables. I would say, any crunchy fresh veggies will go great in this salad. Also, you know, my salad have to have a fruit. So today I chose juicy fresh strawberries!
Friends, these fresh seasonal veggies will soon disappear from farmer's markets! So enjoy as much as you can! Add it to salads, or just much'em for lunch! Enjoy 'the fruits' of season!
Have a great start of the week! -Savita
A few more easy Chicken Salad Recipes:
Ingredients
- Homemade Blackening Seasoning
- 1/2 tsp Thyme
- 1/2 tsp Oregano
- 1/4 tsp Cumin Powder
- 1 tbsp Kosher Salt
- 1 tbsp Black Pepper (freshly ground)
- 1/2 tsp Smoked Red Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper (use 1/4 tsp if you like less spicy food)
- 1 tsp Onion Powder
- 1 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1/2 tbsp Red Pepper Powder (or paprika)
- 1/4 tsp Coriander Powder (optional)
- Chicken Salad
- 1 lbs Chicken (chicken breast tenders)
- 1/2 lbs Strawberries (sliced)
- 1 Cucumber (sliced)
- 1/2 Cup Olives (green or black pitted olives, halved)
- 2 Cup Cherry Tomatoes (cherry or grape tomatoes, halved)
- 1/2 Cup Pumpkin Seeds (toasted)
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 Bell Pepper (I used yellow bell pepper)
- 2 Cup Lettuce (1 head lettuce, or 2 generous handful baby romaine, chopped)
- 1 Cup Baby Romaine (roughly chopped)
- Tangy Buttermilk Dressing
- 1 Cup Butter Milk (low-fat or non-fat)
- 2 tsp Lime (lime juice, juice of about 1/2 lime, per taste)
- 1/2 tsp Sugar (as per taste)
- Salt (as per taste)
Directions
- 1. Blackening Seasoning - In a bowl, mix all the seasoning ingredients listed above and set aside. Also, set oven to preheat at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- 2. Buttermilk Dressing - Add sugar to buttermilk with juice of lime. Mix well. Taste and adjust salt. Also adjust lime juice if you prefer.
- 3. Bake Chicken - Drizzle 1-2 tbsp oil over chicken tenders. Now rub 2-3 tbsp of seasoning. Place on an aluminium sheet lined baking sheet and bake in oven for 22-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Once cooked, remove from oven and set aside.
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4.
Make Salad - Chop all the veggies and transfer to a wide salad bowl. Slice or tear chicken into bite size pieces and top on the salad. Sprinkle over some toasted/plain pumpkin seeds and drizzle buttermilk dressing just before serving.
Additional Notes:
Serve remaining dressing on the side.
Savita's Recipe Notes:
Blacken Seasoning mix yields 1/4 cup (4 tbsp). You can use remaining seasoning to bake blacken tofu/salmon/turkey. Recipe can be easily doubled if you wanna save it for later use.© Chef De Home. Post content including video and photos are copyright protected.