Another hot day, another evening of kitchen avoidance. With leftover goodies from our Sesame Chicken Lettuce Wraps, we threw together a light and creamy salad of almond-crusted chicken and honey mustard dressing. Although a little messy to prepare, it is super easy to make and another meal we can easily put together in less than 15 minutes. Who doesn’t love a big salad?
Ingredients:
Adapted from My Recipes
3 boneless/skinless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Braggs Liquid Aminos (or soy sauce)
5 tablespoons cornstarch, divided
1 teaspoon white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon baking soda
2 large eggs
Canola oil for frying
2 ½ cups sliced almonds (I threw a couple tablespoons of brown sugar in mix)
8 ounces young spinach, cleaned and destemmed
for Honey Mustard Dressing:
¼ cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon prepared mustard
1 tablespoon honey
½ tablespoon lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons olive oil or rice wine vinegar (optional if you want to thin it out, which we recommend)
Directions:
1. To make Dressing: In a small bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, honey, and lemon juice. Store covered in the refrigerator until ready to use.
2. Trim fat from chicken breasts and slice into four 4 pieces. With a kitchen mallet or your fists, pound each piece to an even ¼ to ½-inch thick.
3. In a bowl, combine salt, liquid aminos, 2 tablespoons of the corn starch, white wine, baking soda and 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. Add chicken and stir to coat completely. Allow to sit for 3-5 minutes. Transfer chicken to a plate. In the same bowl, beat two eggs and slowly add the remaining 3 tablespoons of cornstarch. This will keep the corn starch from clumping. Add chicken to coat.
4. In a 12-inch frying pan, heat ½-inch (it might take less) oil over medium-high heat. Spread almonds (and brown sugar should you choose) onto a clean, flat surface (counter or cutting board will suffice). Press chicken into nuts/mixture, coating both sides evenly, then carefully lay chicken in oil. Cook until browned, turning once, 2-4 minutes total (cooking time will vary). Drain on paper towels.
5. Slice and toss with spinach and honey mustard dressing to taste, adding about 1 tablespoon at a time. Sprinkle with freshly ground pepper and serve immediately.
Despite being lightly fried, the chicken itself tastes very light, and the almonds and brown sugar give the salty of the meat a warm and nutty compliment. Coupled with the tangy honey mustard dressing and the slight bitterness of the spinach, it was a wonderful combination of flavors, and perfect for a hot summer day. Despite the fact that it’s been warm for several weeks, it still feels like the snow and endless crocks of chili were just the other day. Time just seems to be moving incredibly fast lately…
What are your plans for this weekend?
This looks so good! Definately going to have to try this out and add to my go-to dinner options
it’s so fast and easy Rach, you’ll love it!
Mmmmm, big salad like this is the best!!!
We invested in some large bowls from Crate and Barrel, so definitely no more wimpy salads for us!
that sounds amazing! the dressing is what caught my eye on foodgawker, but that chicken preparation sounds delicious!
It’s super easy and because it’s not heavily fried, is a lighter option to a traditional fried/crispy chicken salad. Hope you like it!
Wow – this was fantastic! However, I think the instructions are confusing. I’m assuming it should read at the end of step 3 to dredge the chicken in the egg. Then step 4 should read to coat the strips in the nut mixture BEFORE adding to the oil in the pan. The dressing was the BEST!! Thanks for a great salad recipe – can’t get enough of those:).
Yes that is correct. Sorry for not being clearer, I tend to write pretty fast and make assumptions as to how much direction is needed. Glad you loved the salad, it’s definitely one of our new favorites!