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Balsamic Chicken Salad with Lemon Quinoa is a crisp and juicy pan fried chicken in balsamic, garlic and olive oil, mixed into an incredible loaded salad with Kalamata olives, Feta, Lemon flavoured Quinoa and sweet grape tomatoes.
Is it just me, or is this thing for real..
After a week of internet f-ups, telephone cut-outs and car issues…I needed something fast.
This was it. Oh boy, was this it.
This was one of those: quick-raid-the-fridge-and-get-as-many-things-as-you-can-fit-into-your-arms-before-something-falls-and-smashes-and-breaks-your-toe-then-you-end-up-in-the-emergency-room type situations.
Grabbed what I could as fast as I could to make whatever I could come up with in under 10 minutes – so much pressure when the whole family is looking at you with giant expectations.
I love olives. Have I ever told you that? Especially Kalamata. There’s something so special in the saltiness that takes to to a Greek island somewhere that I’ve only ever been to in my sleep. Somewhere hot. Somewhere secluded with blue clear waters, and crystal blue skies.
And steaming, crispy, fresh outta the pan-fried chicken, drunk in Balsamic and garlic flavours. Dumping quinoa full of Lemon-y perfection on top of this with creamy Feta and those sweet, bursting-with-tomato-juices grape tomatoes….
And you know what? The husband said, ‘you don’t even get this type of food in a restaurant. This is full of flavour. It’s really good.’
Hold the phone. Say whaaaat? And the dressing took this to a whole other playing field of Balsamic tang and garlic olive oil craziness exploding on every taste bud because every flavour just.fits.
Try this people. It’s a warm salad. Its a flavourful salad. It’s a happy salad that will bring you a happy time.
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Balsamic Chicken Salad with Lemon Quinoa
Ingredients
Lemon Quinoa:
- 1/2 cup dry quinoa
- 1 cup vegetable or chicken stock (or water mixed with 1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder)
- 1 pinch salt to season
- 1/2 medium lemon juiced
Chicken:
- 6 boneless chicken thigh or breast fillets trimmed of fat
- 1 tablespoon garlic olive oil or plain
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 medium lemon juiced
- 1 teaspoon vegetable stock powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder/granules or 1 clove garlic crushed
Salad:
- 6 cups cos lettuce, washed and shredded
- 7 oz grape tomatoes halved
- 1/2 medium red onion thinly sliced
- 3.5 oz pitted kalamata olives
- 1.7 oz reduced fat Feta cheese
- 1/2 cup continental parsley
Dressing:
- 2 tablespoons garlic olive oil
- 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
Instructions
For Lemon Quinoa:
- In a small saucepan, combine quinoa, stock and salt together. Bring to the boil; reduce heat to gentle simmer, cover with a lid and cook for 15 minutes or until broth has absorbed and quinoa is soft. Remove from heat and set aside while still covered and allow to steam. After about 2 minutes, fluff with a fork. Allow to cool slightly and add the lemon juice.
For Chicken:
- Add the chicken fillets in a large skillet or nonstick pan with the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, stock powder and garlic powder/granules. Saute the chicken until nice, crispy and golden on both sides, and cooked through. Remove from heat; allow to cool slightly, and slice into 1-inch strips.
For Dressing:
- Combine all dressing ingredients in a small bowl/jug, and whisk until mixed through.
For Salad:
- Combine the lettuce, tomatoes, onion, olives, Feta and parsley together in a large salad bowl. Top with chicken slices and quinoa, and drizzle with the dressing. Toss to combine. Serve with lemon wedges.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Any suggestions in place of feta cheese?
Only 2 grams of protein?r
Hi Rhonda. 28 grams of protein 🙂
Hi, I could not find vegetable stock powder at my local grocery store. Do you have any good substitutes you could recommend? Thank you! It looks amazing!
Hi Christine! Do you have bouillon powder?
ALL OF THESE DISHES LOOK DELICIOUSLY AMAZING!! I can’t wait to try them! The problem is, which do I make FIRST?❤
I made your salad for dinner tonight. It’s delicious and healthy. My Mr. even enjoyed the quinoa, I expected him to balk at eating it! ? We’ll enjoy it again in the future. Thank you for sharing.
What is ‘cos’ lettuce? Thank you.
Cos is Romaine 🙂
I just finished my “first” bowl. I think I have to get another bowl just to be sure that I made this correctly. Lol. I’ve been on a quinoa fix so this is right up my alley.
I had some baby spinach I needed to use up and threw some in with the Romaine lettuce. I like the idea of making dressing vs using bottled, tastes fresher.
This salad will definitely be going into my rotation.
Is your nutritional info per serving? Thank you, this looks amazing!
Hi Jolene! It certainly is!
Wow, that was so tasty !
This looks so amazing!! Such a perfect, filling salad. And I am so so in awe of your photography – I love how clear and well-lit your photos are. Do you use all natural lighting? Pinned!
Hey Rachell. Thank you so much! Yes 99% natural lighting so far, with a few exceptions of artificial here and there. I love natural light. Between me and you: I use tissue paper on windows to act as diffusers when it gets too bright. Your Instagram feed is gorgeous btw. Thank you for your message Xxxx