My current favorite salad recipe with roasted chicken, spring greens, avocado, pumpkin seeds, pecans, carrot, heirloom tomato, and green onion, all swaddled in Caesar salad dressing. This easy-to-assemble meal is incredibly satiating and loaded with nutrients!
Not only are you looking at my current favorite salad, but you’re looking at the same meal I’ve been eating for lunch for the past few weeks.
When I get on a kick, there’s just no stopping me, and this salad has been the object of my OBSESSION.
One of my favorite ways of taking in a great deal of protein and healthy fat is making an enormous salad, loaded with all sorts of flavors and textures.
For me, salads like this are a true delight! I actually love them just as much as I love a good treat.
So if you’re like me and you love a big ass salad with all sorts of goodies, this one may just be your jam!
I have the recipe written to be one enormous salad for one person, but it can feed two people for a lighter meal. Double, triple, or quadruple it to feed more people!
Let’s talk ingredients!
Ingredients for My Current Favorite Salad:
Spring Greens: I buy a big container of Spring greens and for me, one of my enormous salads is typically about 5 ounces of spring greens. You can change this up to any combination of spinach, romaine hearts, power greens, and more.
Chicken: I use store-bought organic pre-cooked chicken which I get in the deli meat section of the grocery store. You can also use homemade baked chicken, store-bought rotisserie chicken, or turkey deli meat.
Veggies: heirloom tomato, green onion, carrot. I’m not ashamed to say I don’t love all vegetables, but these are definite go-tos for me in a salad. They result in lots of crunch, flavor and color and provide some essential vitamins and minerals. Definite win!
Pumpkin Seeds & Pecans: I’ve mentioned this before in past salad recipes, but roasted nuts and seeds are everything in a salad. I buy all my nuts and seeds raw and then I roast them in the oven for a few minutes at 350 degrees F before adding them to a salad. Roasting makes nuts and seeds nice and crunchy and brings out delicious flavor. Currently, I’m loving pumpkin seeds and pecans, but walnuts, almonds, and sunflower seeds are amazing too.
Avocado: I don’t remember the last time I made a salad without avocado on purpose 😉 Avocado provides that essential creaminess, which adds both flavor and satiety to a salad. I do half of an avocado in my big salad, but you can adjust the amount to your personal taste.
Salad Dressing: I use Paleo Caesar Salad Dressing but you can choose your favorite dressing. Green Goddess Dressing would be amazing, as would strawberry vinaigrette, lemon poppy seed, ranch, sesame ginger, and more!
Brown Rice: Big fan of brown rice over here! It’s one of my go-to sources for complex carbohydrate, and I eat it at almost every meal. I add about ½ cup of cooked brown rice to my salad, but you can adjust this amount as needed, and/or omit it altogether.
Fresh Lemon Juice & Sea Salt: While I love salad dressing, I find it can be a bit overwhelming if you use a lot of it, but if there is not enough of it, you’re lacking flavor. For this reason, I squeeze about a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice over my salads with a sprinkle of sea salt. I find these two additions really make the flavors of the salad come together!
How to Make An Epic Salad:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spread the pumpkin seeds and pecans on a baking sheet. Roast for 3 to 5 minutes in the oven, or until slightly golden-brown and crispy. Allow nuts and seeds to cool while you’re preparing the rest of the recipe.
All you do to make this thing happen is chop up every ingredient, toss it in a big bowl, drizzle in your desired amount of dressing along with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkle of sea salt.
Taste the salad for flavor and add more dressing, lemon juice, and/or sea salt to taste.
Recipe Adaptations:
- Swap in or out any of your favorite vegetables. Consider adding red cabbage, cucumber, sprouts, etc.
- Use your favorite nuts and/or seeds, or omit them altogether.
- Add in some dried cranberries or raisins.
- Toss in some feta cheese or blue cheese.
- Use any of your favorite leafy greens instead of spring greens.
That’s it, folks! My current go-to when I’m craving something filling yet light and jam packed with the colors and flavors of the world!
Let me know what you think!
xo
More Delicious Filling Entrée Salad Recipes:
- Sesame Turkey Avocado Chopped Salad
- Greek Chicken Spinach Salad
- Balsamic Baked Chicken Caesar Salad
- Crispy Mediterranean Chicken Salad with Lemon Herb Tahini Dressing
- Cod Salad with Basil-Walnut Pesto
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 ounces spring greens
- 6 ounces cooked chicken
- ½ large ripe avocado
- 1 carrot, grated
- 1 small heirloom tomato, chopped
- 2 stalks green onion, finely chopped
- ½ cup cooked brown rice
- 2 Tbsp raw or roasted pumpkin seeds
- 6 raw or roasted pecan halves
- 3 tablespoons Caesar Salad Dressing, or dressing of choice
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice, optional
- Sprinkle of sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and spread the pumpkin seeds and pecans on a baking sheet. Roast for 3 to 5 minutes in the oven, or until slightly golden-brown and crispy. Allow nuts and seeds to cool while you’re preparing the rest of the recipe.
- Chop the tomatoes and green onion and grate the carrot (or chop the carrot if you prefer). Toss it all in a big bowl along with the rest of the salad ingredients. drizzle in your desired amount of dressing along with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and a sprinkle of sea salt.
- Taste the salad for flavor and add more dressing, lemon juice, and/or sea salt to taste.
Nutrition
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Jennifer
Monday 11th of July 2022
I love your recipes. But I’m disappointed that quite often your salad dressings are not home made.
Julia
Wednesday 20th of July 2022
Hi Jennifer! I provided the links to my homemade Caesar dressing and my Green Goddess dressing in the post :) Those are the two I use most frequently for this particular salad.