Healthy Chicken Salad in 15 Minutes
Need a break from all the Thai spicy and tangy goodness? How about a simple chicken salad that takes less than 15 minutes to assemble with simple ingredients and yet tastes amazing?
This black pepper chicken salad recipe quickly became my daughter’s everyday go-to meal – it has all the natural sweetness from the veggies, enhanced with black pepper pan-grilled chicken. This recipe is so versatile, its flavour is enhanced further with roasted seeds (pumpkin, watermelon), almond slices, and even golden raisins. No salad dressing is needed – though I prefer it with a dash of Kewpie’s Roasted Sesame Dressing. Yum!
Chicken Salad Recipe
Cooking the Chicken Breast
Prepare the chicken breast meat. The chicken can be prepared in advance and stored in the fridge for 1-2 days. I get my chicken seller to remove the skin and trim the fat for a more healthy meal.
Cut the chicken breast into halves. Marinate with some salt and coarse black pepper on both sides.
In a non-stick pan, add 1 tablespoon of cooking oil over medium heat. Carefully add the chicken halves. Cover with lid and allow to cook for 8 minutes, untouched.
Remove the lid, and with a pair of food tongs, or a wooden spatula, carefully turn the chicken to cook on the other side.
Cover with the lid and allow to cook for another 8 minutes.
Once done, allow the chicken to rest in the pot for another 15 minutes to allow more chicken gravy to be released.
Assembling the Salad
Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables. This time, I have Romaine lettuce, a quarter of Japanese cucumber, half a carrot and a whole tomato.
Shred the carrot length-wise into thin strips using a food grater. Chop the cucumber into bite-size cubes, followed by the tomato. Set all the vegetables aside.
Dressing the Chicken Salad
Remove the chicken from the pan.
Give the gravy a good gentle stir to mix the oil and stock together. Set the gravy aside – it will be our dressing.
Cut the lettuce into bite-size pieces. In the mixing/salad bowl, add the lettuce, cucumber, tomato and carrots, in any order that you like. Give it a little toss with the food tongs to even it all out.
With a sharp knife, cut one half of the chicken breast into bite-size cubes. Set aside 1/3 of it for the topping.
Add the chicken cubes to the salad. Toss the salad and top with the 1/3 chicken cubes. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of chicken gravy before serving.
To make it more exciting, add roasted almond slices, pumpkin seeds, and golden raisins. How do you like your salad? 😀
Storage Instructions
This chicken salad recipe is great to keep refrigerated overnight as well. Keep the chicken pieces and dressing separate from the chopped vegetables, and consume within 24 hours of preparation.
When it’s time to serve, heat up the chicken pieces and sauce separately and toss all the ingredients together. Enjoy!
Simple Chicken Salad
Equipment
- Frying Pan
- Sharp Kitchen Knife
- Chopping Board
- Silicone Spatula
- Food Grater
Ingredients
Marinade
- 200 g chicken breast meat, medium size
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tbsp cooking oil
Salad Mix
- 7-8 leaves Romaine lettuce
- 5 inches Japanese cucumber
- 2 inches carrot, shredded
- 1 medium tomato, ripe
Instructions
Pan Fried Chicken
- Wash the chicken. Marinade the chicken with salt and black pepper. Keep aside for x minutes.
- Over medium heat, simmer the chicken breast for 8 minutes on one side. Cover the pan with the lid.
- Open the lid, and very carefully, flip the chicken to simmer on the other side for 8 minutes. Cover the pan withe the lid.
- Turn off the heat and remove the pan from the stove. Leave the chicken to rest for 12 minutes for the chicken juice to seep out.
- Remove from pan and dice into bite-sized cubes.
Salad
- Prepare a large mixing bowl.
- Line the Romaine lettuce together in a bunch. Chop the lettuce into bite-sized pieces. Add the lettuce to the mixing bowl.
- Using a food grater, shred the carrots. Add the carrots to the mixing bowl.
- Chop the Japanese cucumber and tomato into bite-sized pieces. Add the cucumber and tomato into the mixing bowl.
- Add the ½ of chicken cubes into the bowl.
- Drizzle the chicken gravy over the salad.
- With a clean spatula, mix the salad.
- Dish the salad to the serving plate. Top the salad with all the remaining chicken.
- Serve.