Strawberry and Asparagus Salad with Chicken
This strawberry and asparagus salad with chicken is light, healthy, and full of so much flavor!
Is anyone else out there willing it to just be spring already?
Regardless of whatever the weather is doing outside, I’m inside doing my best to pretend it’s already underway. Like with this salad! This salad of mixed greens, juicy strawberries, roasted chicken and asparagus, crumbly feta cheese, sliced almonds, and lemon-honey dressing was easily one of the brightest parts of last week.
I’ve been serving a version of this salad without chicken as a colorful side dish for Easter the last few years and it’s always such a hit! But I wanted to turn it into a complete meal and share it with all of you, because I figured we could all use a little something sunny on our plates.
How to make this salad
One of my favorite things about this strawberry asparagus salad with chicken is that the dressing also doubles as a marinade for the roast chicken. It’s no wonder this salad has so much flavor! Toss the chicken with some of the dressing and let it sit for an hour or so while you go to the gym or do laundry, or plan ahead and let it marinate overnight.
Once the chicken and asparagus are roasted, it’s simply a matter of tossing everything together and serving.
If you’d like, use Gorgonzola or goat cheese in place of the feta, and pecans or hazelnuts instead of the almonds. And if you’d rather serve this salad meatless, simply leave it out!
Strawberry and Asparagus Salad with Chicken
Ingredients
Marinade/Salad dressing:
- 1/4 cup olive oil (60 ml)
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon chopped basil
Salad:
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 bundle asparagus , chopped
- 6 cups loosely packed mixed greens
- 1 cup sliced strawberries (167 grams)
- 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (28 grams)
- 3 tablespoons sliced almonds
Instructions
- To make the marinade/salad dressing, whisk together the olive oil, lemon, honey, salt, pepper, and basil.
- Place chicken breasts in a shallow dish or plastic bag and cover with half of marinade. Let sit in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400°F.
- Transfer chicken breasts to a sheet pan or other baking dish and bake for 10 minutes.
- Toss chopped asparagus in about 1 tablespoon of marinade and add to baking pan. Bake for 10 minutes more, until asparagus is softened and chicken is cooked through. Let chicken and asparagus cool slightly while you prep the rest of the salad ingredients.
- Toss the mixed greens and strawberries with dressing. Slice the chicken and add it and the asparagus.
- Top salad with feta cheese and sliced almonds.
Notes
- You can also use cooked chicken in this recipe and bypass marinating and roasting. If you do, store leftover dressing in fridge for another use.
- I like to use 50/50 mixed greens (50% mixed greens/50% baby spinach).
