This spinach chicken salad with lemon
garlic vinaigrette packs in flavor. A light sweet tone with this salad will make it one of your new favorites.
Now that Superbowl is over I guess it’s time to get back on that semi diet. Maybe not call it a diet, but a healthier eating plan. All those dips, wings, and fattening snacks from yesterday were good while they lasted. But honestly nothing makes me happier than a good salad.
As I’ve gotten older I have made it a point to replace the lettuce in my salads with at least half or more spinach. There’s so many health benefits in spinach compared to plain ole lettuce. Plus I actually enjoy spinach a lot.
The dressing for this salad I actually stumbled across when it came in a salad kit with a meal kit I bought at my local Central Market. I usually always get this one salad dressing of theirs, but I didn’t have a choice this one time.
I was instantly in love. Who would think lemon, garlic, and oil would taste so good together. Add a little sweetness and it’s the perfect light dressing for a nice spinach salad.
Now of course I could just buy the dressing off the salad bar area, but for $7.99 a pound that adds up quick for an oil based dressing.
So I had to figure out how to duplicate this dressing. That’s where my taste bubs came in handy. With a little playing around with ingredients I think I found the right combination.
I always like to add some protein to a salad since you know protein helps to stay fuller longer. That’s where the chicken comes in. I just threw some Ms. Dash on a chicken breast and cooked away. After cooling down just cut up and add to the salad.
Okay so the one thing that may not be the healthiest choice of salad toppings is bacon. But bacon makes it taste so good, just like with anything. A few slices added to such a big salad won’t make that big of dent in the calorie count.
And of course instead of croutons I love adding these french fried onions. Yes, they can go on other things than green bean casserole and taste just as good.
Spinach Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Salad
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup Julianne carrots
- 1 cup sliced raw mushrooms
- 1 cup shredded red cabbage
- 3 slices of cooked bacon
- 1 cup french fried onions
- 2 seasoned chicken breasts
Lemon garlic vinaigrette
- 5 TBSP canola oil
- 3 juice of lemons
- 1 TSP minced garlic
- 1 TSP sugar
- 1 TSP honey
Instructions
- Add all salad dressing ingredients in a jar and mix/shake together well.
- Let it sit in the refrigerator at least one hour
- Add all salad ingredients in a big bowl and pour over dressing
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