Chicken salad in core bamboo

Easy Chicken Salad with Tahini Dressing (Vegetarian Option)

For years, I didn’t eat lettuce.  Nor would I touch cinnamon or cilantro.  I still don’t eat bananas, yet all of these flavors are on our three year old’s top ten list.  We can hardly get a lettuce from the store to the fridge without him asking for a leaf or two.  I’m not sure how or when I started to eat lettuce, but I am pretty sure my wife’s salad dressings played a big part in that shift. No longer do I think of salad as a limp, sorry looking leaves with an acidic or creamy dressing.  Salad can be a light and energizing meal.  When I made this easy chicken salad for dinner the other week there wasn’t a single leaf of lettuce left in the bottom of the bowl.

I knew that dinner was going to be sandwiched between our son’s (first) soccer practice and my wife running out the door to deliver a workshop, so I roasted three chicken thighs earlier in the day and planned to make a chicken ceaser salad.  I planned to make the croutons from a KOL Foods Kishke I have in the freezer rather than making them from bread but that will have to happen another time, as time was short.

Dinner was delicious, filling and so simple.

Easy Chicken Salad Recipe

You will need the following ingredients.  Serves 4 as a main dish.

  • One sweet potato
  • Two to three red potatoes
  • Three chicken thighs (you could just as easily use chicken breasts or for a vegetarian option, two cups of Melinda’s Chickpea Tofu)
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 head of lettuce

Tahini Salad Dressing Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup tahini paste
  • Juice of one large lemon
  • 1/8 cup olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons of water
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 1/2 teaspoon each of Garlic, Paprika, Cumin
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped parsley

Peel your sweet potato and potato, dice so all pieces are the same size.  Drizzle with olive oil or coconut oil and bake in oven at 375 for 40 minutes, or until crisp.  While the potatoes are cooking, sprinkle the ginger, paprika and cinnamon on the chicken or chickpea tofu and roast them, covered for 30 minutes and uncovered for another 15.  Once the chicken has cooked, let it cool so you can touch it, and pull the meat from the bone.

Remove the leaves from your head of lettuce, make sure they are clean and then dry with a towel.  Shred the lettuce and place it in a salad bowl.

potatoes and chicken for salad

At the end of this post you will have the chance to win a Classic Crushed Bamboo Salad Bowl and set of Salad Hands (valued at $120) by Core Bamboo, just like the one in the photo below.

lettuce for chicken salad

If you made the potatoes and chicken ahead of time, put them in the oven at 300 degrees for 20 minutes so they can heat up before serving.  While they are heating, make the dressing by putting the tahini paste into a bowl and adding the lemon juice, water and olive oil.  Mix gently then add the spices.  Finally add the chopped parsley and mix well.

chicken salad tahini dressing

When you are ready to serve, pour the tahini dressing over the lettuce and toss the leaves so they are covered.  Then add the potatoes and chicken to the salad and serve.

Chicken salad in core bamboo

Core Bamboo Salad Set Giveaway

Enter using this widget to win a salad bowl and set of salad hands, worth $120, just like the one used in this post.

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