Chicken Apple & Walnut Salad with Red Wine Vinaigrette

Today, I am sharing a new flavorful and delicious entree salad just in time for Mother’s Day!

I don’t know about yours, but my mom LOVES a big entree salad. She will usually get hooked on one flavor combo and stick with that same salad until she discovers a new one she likes. Well, move over Strawberry Spring Salad, there’s a new sweet and savory salad in town!

This particular salad was inspired by a few of different things. First off, it is very similar to a salad that I order every time I go to my favorite Arizona restaurant called Sauce. I just love the combination of apples and walnuts as well as the light vinegarette served with the salad. It’s perfection! Now, I no longer have to wait until our next trip to Tucson to enjoy this delicious meal!

I knew I wanted to try my hand at re-making my favorite Sauce Salad at home, and my next point of inspiration came from my brother, who gifted me this attachment for my KitchenAid Mixer that makes spiralizing super quick and easy. Well, I’ve only ever used it for zucchini to make “zoodles” and I decided I really needed to get creative and branch out! Of course, you could totally just thinly slice apple wedges, but I LOVE the look of the curly apples on top of the salad…it gives such a fun and festive feel with very little extra work…in fact, I think letting the KitchenAid do the work is easier than slicing with a knife!

As I was thinking of what I might want to make just for my momma on her special day, a salad was the first thing to come to mind because she is such a big salad lover (I get that from her for sure!) but the added bonus was that the lettuce in our garden is flourishing and ready to be harvested! 
What’s better than being able to go right outside and pick fresh vegetables from our garden to use/eat within hours? (By the way, I am still totally shocked that everything in the garden is still alive and well. I am taking it one day at a time, but staying cautiously optimistic 😉 ) This lettuce was the first thing we’ve been able to eat from the garden so far, so we are crossing our fingers and hoping for continued success throughout the summer! 

Whether you are looking for a seriously delicious, healthy, and easy recipe to make for Mom on Sunday, or you just love a good entree salad, you need to give this one a try!

You can’t go wrong with the sweetness and crunch of the apples and honey coated walnuts, the salty/creaminess from the cheese and avocado, and the perfectly sweet and savory combination from the red wine vinegarette. Plus, simply seasoned chicken as the protein to make this a filling meal.

Ingredients 

To serve 4 people:

• 4 small or 2 large chicken breasts.
• 4-6 heaping cups of greens. I used a mixture of spinach and baby greens/romaine.
• 2 apples (1/2 apple per person). I used Honeycrisp apples because those are my favorite, but you could really use any variety you prefer!
• 1 cup walnuts
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 2 ounces of cheese of your choice. I used feta here, but goat cheese, gorgonzola, or blue cheese would all be very tasty options!
• 1 avocado (not a necessity, but a great addition!)

For the Red Wine Vinaigrette: 

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup oil (avocado or olive)
• 2 tbsp chopped shallot or red onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
• salt & pepper

Instructions

1. First, prepare and cook the chicken. (Alternatively, you could definitely use a store-bought rotisserie chicken to help this salad come together in a flash.) I simply drizzled each side with avocado oil and seasoned each side with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano. Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a skillet on the stove and cook chicken breasts for about 8-10 minutes each side on medium heat, until cooked through. Set aside and allow to cool while you prepare the rest of the salad. Once cooled, chop the chicken up into bite-sized pieces.
2. Make the dressing by adding all of the ingredients into a blender or bullet cup and blend until smooth. Set that aside until ready to serve. 
3. Prepare the walnuts by putting them into a glass bowl and mixing the honey in to evenly coat the nuts. Pour the honey coated walnuts onto a pan and toast (in the toaster oven or regular oven) until golden brown. Watch very closely as they can burn in an instant! 
4. Next, spiralize or thinly slice the apples. The curly apples are a fun addition, but sliced apples will work just fine! 
5. Break up the cheese into small chunks and slice the avocado.
6. Put it all together now! You can assemble each salad separately for individual servings or make one big bowl with lettuce, walnuts, avocado, cheese, apples, and chicken. Add dressing when ready to serve! 

I love the presentation of this salad with the variety of colors, textures, and of course those curly apples! 

Whether you are a mom, have a mom, or know a mom…I hope you have an amazing weekend full of love, appreciation, and healthy delicious salads like this one! 🙂

Print

Chicken Apple & Walnut Salad with Red Wine Vinegarette

Prep Time

10 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Total Time

30 mins

 

A deliciously sweet and savory summer salad! 

Course: Salad

Servings: 4

Author: Maggie @ Our Fine Day

Ingredients

• 4 small or 2 large chicken breasts.
• 4-6 heaping cups of greens. I used a mixture of spinach and baby greens/romaine.
• 2 apples 1/2 apple per person
• 1 cup walnuts
• 2 Tbsp honey
• 2 ounces cheese of your choice (Feta, Goat, Gorgonzola, etc)
• 1 avocado optional

For the Red Wine Vinaigrette:

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup oil avocado or olive
• 2 tbsp chopped shallot or red onion
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 Tbsp honey
• 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
• salt & pepper

Instructions

1. First, prepare and cook the chicken. (Alternatively, you could definitely use a store-bought rotisserie chicken to help this salad come together in a flash.) I simply drizzled each side with avocado oil and seasoned each side with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano. Heat a couple tablespoons of oil in a skillet on the stove and cook chicken breasts for about 8-10 minutes each side on medium heat, until cooked through. Set aside and allow to cool while you prepare the rest of the salad. Once cooled, chop the chicken up into bite-sized pieces.
2. Make the dressing by adding all of the ingredients into a blender or bullet cup and blend until smooth. Set that aside until ready to serve.
3. Prepare the walnuts by putting them into a glass bowl and mixing the honey in to evenly coat the nuts. Pour the honey coated walnuts onto a pan and toast (in the toaster oven or regular oven) until golden brown. Watch very closely as they can burn in an instant!

4. Next, spiralize or thinly slice the apples. The curly apples are a fun addition, but sliced apples will work just fine. 

5. Break up the cheese into small chunks and slice the avocado.

6. Put it all together now! You can assemble each salad separately for individual servings or make one big bowl of lettuce topped with walnuts, avocado, cheese, apples, and chicken. Add dressing when ready to serve!