Rainbow Arugula Salad with Chicken
Going into 2021, I have decided to start eating more salads. Salads are actually one of my favorite lunches. I love getting creative with them and want to share a lot of my favorite recipes with you. For starters, I will begin with this Rainbow Arugula Salad with Chicken. I just love the way its name sounds. Since it has Rainbow in the title, you know it has to be beautiful right? Of course, I have to have red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple ingredients. To match these colors, I used: a red Honey crisp apple, shredded carrots, sweet corn, arugula, blueberries, and purple onion. When I have a salad, it needs to be filling and fueling. All of these ingredients combined make for just that. They all work together in perfect unison just as the colors in the rainbow do.
I had to make this salad extra special so I whipped up a homemade vinaigrette by simply using some apple cider vinegar, olive oil, honey and dijon mustard. It was delicious on the salad and you can add as much or as little of the vinaigrette on your salad as you would like.
Apple Cider Vinaigrette
Rainbow Arugula Salad with Chicken
2
servings10
minutes5
minutesIngredients
- For the Chicken:
1 whole boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced in half lengthwise
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
- For the Salad:
2 1/2 cups arugula
1/4 cup of each: diced apple, shredded carrot, corn, blueberries, chopped purple onion and/or beets
- For the Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
Directions
- Season chicken breast with salt and pepper. In a medium sized skillet, over medium high heat, sear the chicken with 1 tablespoon of olive oil for 6 minutes on each side. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Assemble the salad by adding all the ingredients listed (apple, carrot, corn, arugula, blueberries, purple onion/beets). Slice the chicken and add it to the salad.
- Make the vinaigrette by combining the ingredients and pour over the salad and toss.
- Enjoy your Rainbow Arugula Salad with Chicken!
Notes
- The vinaigrette is strong, so a little goes a long way.
I wanted this salad to really be memorable so I chose to use Arugula as my green. Now, Arugula has a pretty strong taste, so if you are not a fan of it, feel free to substitute it with a green that you do in fact like. After all, this salad is for you to enjoy, so why not use your favorite green? Sometimes instead of using purple onion, I will use beets since I love those just as much. Beets can bring such a unique and earthy flavor to this salad. If you don’t like either one, you could also use purple grapes. These will be delicious because they will give the salad added sweetness in addition to the honey in the vinaigrette.
Of course, I needed protein with this salad so I chose to sear a piece of chicken. You can also grill or bake your chicken. I lightly seasoned it with salt and pepper and I cooked it for 6 minutes on each side over a medium high heat. I lightly seasoned it because the salad already had so many ingredients working together to create flavor. I did not want the seasoning of the chicken to overpower anything. I think either chicken or salmon would be the best proteins to pair with this Rainbow Arugula Salad. It is also very good without the added protein. Do whatever makes your heart happy.
Rainbow Arugula Salad with Chicken Ingredients
This was fun to put together because everything was so vibrant. I recommend using fresh ingredients because your salad will taste the best that way. The vinaigrette can last for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator if stored in an air-tight container. I usually put mine in a mason jar. I am excited to hear about the different ingredients that you may use to come up with your own version of this rainbow salad.
I hope you enjoy tasting the rainbow!
-Madison
