Yes, another salad. Because with everything going on, it is super important to make sure we are eating our fruits and veggies for proper nutrition! So I made this BLT, balsamic chicken, avocado, and feta beauty. And don’t question the bacon. Life is hard, bacon helps. I snatched this salad inspo from cafedelites.com (via Pinterest), one of my new faves. It did not disappoint. The ingredients and instructions from the site are below. For the dressing, I choose to use more oil instead of water. And I used breast fillets, not thighs. I broiled the chicken while the bacon was cooking versus cooking it on top of the stove. Just because I love to broil chicken, and it’s easy. The balsamic dressing is mostly the same as the one in the apple pomegranate salad I recently posted. The bonus is that it doubles as a great chicken marinade! The marinade made the chicken smell so good while cooking. That, mixed with the scent of chopped bacon cooking. The best! As for the onion, I only used a little less than half of a red onion versus a whole one. I wanted just a hint of it.
Thanks for this one, Karina!
INGREDIENTS
BALSAMIC DRESSING / MARINADE:
- 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- Two tablespoons water (or more oil if you wish)
- Two teaspoons Italian seasoning
- Two teaspoons minced garlic
- One teaspoon honey
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt (adjust to your tastes)
- Four skinless and boneless chicken thigh fillets (or breast fillets)
SALAD:
- 5 ounces |150g bacon, diced and trimmed of all fat
- 8 cups mixed salad lettuce leaves (or Romaine | Cos lettuce leaves)
- Two tomatoes, chopped
- One red onion, thinly sliced
- One avocado, sliced
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
- extra Italian seasoning
- salt and pepper, to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
- Whisk balsamic dressing/marinade ingredients together until well combined. Pour 2-3 tablespoons into a shallow bowl. Add the chicken thighs and coat evenly. Season with salt and pepper; set aside for 10 minutes while the frying bacon.
- Fry bacon until crisp in a skillet over medium-high heat. Wipe pan over with a paper towel.
- Cook chicken fillets until crisp and cooked through (about 7 minutes each side).
- Arrange all salad ingredients in a large bowl. Top with the bacon, chicken, avocado, and sprinkle with feta, extra Italian seasoning, and salt and pepper to your tastes. Drizzle with the remaining dressing, and serve.
Healthy nutrition makes for healthy bodies. Xo
P.S. Did you ever try the apple pomegranate salad? Or how about the most boss salad ever?
