Chicken and Strawberry Chopped Salad
Chicken and Strawberry Chopped Salad is a delicious mixture of fried chicken, strawberries, kale, blue cheese, pistachios, strawberries, and red onion. Everything is chopped up and tossed with a balsamic vinaigrette. This is a great family meal because picky kids can just eat the chicken, while the adults can enjoy a tasty main course salad.
The Equipment You’ll Need
- A Cast Iron Skillet- This does the best job of frying chicken. If you don’t have one, use any heavy skillet.
- A Deep Fry Thermometer- This is a must for any frying in an inch of oil or more.
- A Mason Jar- You’ll need this to shake up your salad dressing. Or, you could use a food processor, or a bowl and a whisk.
The Ingredients Needed to Make this Chicken and Strawberry Chopped Salad
- The Vegetable Oil- You can fry this in vegetable, peanut or canola oil. I like to use Crisco Vegetable Oil.
- The Flour- You need to use all purpose flour to flour your chicken.
- The Kale- Make sure you remove all the tough stems, and chop the kale up well.
- The Olive Oil- Use extra virgin, and make sure it’s not too bitter. I like California Olive Ranch olive oil.
How I Made This Salad
- First, I fried my chicken. I was careful to only put chicken in the pan when the oil was exactly 350 degrees. I let the oil come up between batches and made turned down the heat if the oil got too hot.
- Next, I made the vinaigrette.
- Finally, I tossed all everything together in the bowl and served it.
I really like serving these big chopped salads as the main course in the summer. First of all, big salads allow me to use all the beautiful summer produce. It just doesn’t seem like summer to me if I can’t cook with lots of fruits and vegetables. Secondly, I can cook this early in the day and then serve it after we get back from a long day at the beach. Lastly, the big salad concept allows me to eat a light dinner, especially if I only have a little bit of the chicken. Not that that ever happens in reality, since this chicken is really delicious. But, in theory, I could just taste the chicken and it would be a light dinner. If I had some kind of super human willpower, that allowed me to totally resist all yummy foods, I’m sure I could totally just have a few bites of this Chicken and Strawberry Chopped Salad. But, at least, I was too full from the salad to have the strawberry milkshakes, that I just made for the bottomless pits known as my family.
Chicken and Strawberry Chopped Salad
Equipment
- cast iron skillet or other large skillet
Ingredients
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 1 cup buttermilk
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tsp. garlic powder
- 2 tsp. onion powder
- 2 tsp. paprika
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
- ½ tsp. black pepper
- 2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 bunch kale, tough stems removed, and chopped
- 1 cup shelled pistachios
- 1 cup chopped red onion
- 2 cups chopped strawberries
- 1 cup chopped blue cheese
For the Balsamic Vinaigrette:
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup balsamic vinegar
- 2 tbsp. honey
- ⅛ tsp. kosher salt
- ⅛ tsp. black pepper
Instructions
- Cut each breast vertically into long strips, about a half inch thick. Season the strips with salt and pepper.
- Prepare 3 bowls for dipping the chicken. Divide the flour and spices between 2 bowls and place the buttermilk in a third bowl.
- Heat a cast iron skillet filled with one inch of oil to 350 degrees. Dip each strip in the flour, then the buttermilk, and then into the second bowl of flour. Fry each piece until golden brown on both sides. Drain the chicken on a wire rack. Then, chop each strip into bite sized pieces.
- Place the chopped chicken in a bowl with the rest of the salad ingredients and then pour on as much dressing as you want, and toss everything together and serve.
For the Balsamic Vinaigrette:
- Add all the ingredients to a mason jar, and shake to combine.
