Roasted shredded chicken, sliced strawberries, sweet cherry tomatoes, and dried cranberries tossed with lettuce then drizzled with nectarine balsamic vinaigrette. Delicious, healthy, and simple to make, this salad is perfect for the summer.
During the hot days of summer (when I’m not living in SF), I have absolutely no desire to eat anything warm, or heavy for that matter. I just want something cold and light, like a salad. But eating just one type of salad the entire summer would get boring, wouldn’t it? So let’s make salad an amazing dish to serve.
Today, I want to share with you a recipe that’s absolutely perfect for summer and completely healthy too. Filled with shredded chicken, sliced strawberries, sweet cherry tomatoes, and dried cranberries, this salad has so many flavors plus tons of nutrients. I love when my salads have a ton of ingredients. It makes me feel fuller. With a healthy dressing such as my Strawberry Balsamic Vinaigrette or my brand new Nectarine Balsamic Vinaigrette, I’ll be able to enjoy both my salad and my dressing. I admit it. I love my dressings. And with my recipe, it’ll be guilt free too.
The best thing about having fruits in your salad is that they’re naturally sweet so they add flavor to the salad without the need to add too much dressing or other seasonings. Hope you’ll like this salad as much as I do!
First step is the chicken. If you have leftover chicken, great. Use that. You can chop it up or shred them, up to you.
If you don’t have leftover chicken, here’s a quick and easy way to make chicken breast for this salad.
Preheat the oven to 350oF. Line a baking pan with foil and lightly grease with nonstick cooking spray. Season the chicken breasts with crushed red peppers, black pepper, and a pinch of salt. Lay the chicken breasts on the baking pan, and cover it with foil. Don’t forget this step because the chicken might end up try otherwise. And bake the chicken for about 40-45 minutes. The chicken breast should be done. But make sure to check the temperature of the chicken to be safe. Remove the chicken from the open and allow it to cool for several minutes until it’s comfortable to touch.
While you’re waiting for the chicken, tear up the lettuce into bite size pieces.
Chop the strawberries into fourths.
Cut the cherry tomatoes in half. I used the variety type so that there would be more flavor and color.
Once the chicken breast has cooled, chop or shred the chicken. I prefer shredding the chicken because it has a more rustic look. =)
In a medium to large bowl, add the lettuce, strawberries, tomatoes, dried cranberries, and shredded chicken. Toss the ingredients until they become evenly incorporated.
Serve the salad with nectarine balsamic vinaigrette.
Enjoy!
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Thank you for liking “Happy Fourth of July.” This salad looks good! 🙂 I also like the fact that it is not too complicated to make.
I hope you have a great Fourth of July holiday. 🙂
Yummy photos and I am sure, a yummy recipe!
Thank you so much =)
Love the recipe, we have so many strawberries this year 4kg in freezer, loads of jam and no more ideas.
I can’t wait to try this.
I hope you’ll like this recipe =)
Pink grapefruit also works well in this kind of chicken salad!
A salad with pink grapefruit sounds so good right now =)
I’m going to have to try this! Looks so refreshing! Thorough directions I need it!!!
Thank you so much, Jasmine! I hope you’ll like it =)
Looks delish, will def make this soon!
I hope you’ll like the recipe! =)
Served this tonight, a hot, muggy night I might add. Perfect.
I’m so glad that you liked it! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know =)
This looks so yummy and perfect for these hot days.
That’s exactly how I feel! Have a great weekend =)
Love the idea of strawberries in a summer salad.
Me too! Strawberries add so much flavor to a salad. I hope you’ll like my version of a summer salad =)
Looks fantastic. Andrea I just wanted to let you know that your Gravatar does not link back to your blog. So if you like someone’s post and they click on your Gravatar photo they can’t find your website
Thank you so much for letting me know, Sue! I went back and linked my website to the Gravatar. I thought it was already there, but apparently not. Let me know if it works now. Thanks again! =)
You are most welcome. Works perfectly now. 🙂
Thank you! Have a great weekend! =)