Description
This spinach salad is a twist on the classic with deeply flavored with grilled mushrooms, red onions, sweet peppers, and optional herby grilled chicken. Topped with our flavorful take on a healthy French-style dressing. A hearty and complete dinner for warm days.
Ingredients
Units
- 1 – 1 1/2 pounds of marinated chicken breast
- 6 crimini mushrooms- or sub portobellos, shitake, maitake, oyster
- 1 small red onion
- 1 red or yellow bell pepper, sliced in half or 6 mini sweet peppers
- 10 ounces baby spinach ( or two bunches)
- Optional: sliced hard-boiled eggs, coconut bacon, and feta cheese
French Style Dressing
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon tomato paste
- 1/3 cup olive oil
Optional Coconut Bacon (or use this vegan bacon, crispy cooked tempeh bacon, regular bacon or turkey bacon)
- 1 cup wide raw coconut flakes
- 1 tablespoon smoked soy sauce (or soy sauce or braggs + 1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke)
- 1 teaspoon maple syrup
Instructions
French Dressing
- Whisk together red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, maple syrup, sea salt, pepper, minced garlic, smoked paprika, and tomato paste.
- Drizzle in olive oil whisking all the while until combined and emulsified.
Salad
- Start by marinating the chicken. It is best if it marinates at least a half an hour or up to a day ahead of time.
- Pre-heat your grill with the lid closed, on high heat. Brush mushrooms, onion slices, and peppers with olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Place the marinated chicken and veggies on the hot grill. Turn the heat down just a little, and close the lid for about 4 minutes. Flip veggies over with the metal tongs. Check the chicken, turning them only after good grill marks appear. Close the lid for another 4-8 minutes. Remove veggies from the grill when they are cooked to your liking, and continue cooking chicken until cooked through at the thickest part (160 F). The veggies will continue to cook a bit after removing from the heat.
- Assemble: Toss the spinach with some of the dressing (you will have some dressing left over).Cut chicken, peppers and mushrooms into bite-sized slices. Arrange over the dressed spinach. Top with optional sliced hard-boiled eggs, feta cheese and coconut bacon.
Coconut Bacon
- Gently mix coconut, smoked soy sauce and maple syrup until coconut is completely coated.
- Bake in preheated oven at 325 F for about 6-9 minutes or until golden. It will crisp up as it cools.
Notes
This recipe is for a gas grill.
Adjust this salad as you like, it can easily be made bigger by just adding more veggies, spinach and toppings, or cut in half for a smaller serving.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: Includes 4-ounce Chicken Breast (no feta, egg, or coconut bacon)
- Calories: 346
- Sugar: 9.3 g
- Sodium: 792.4 mg
- Fat: 19.2 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 15.1 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 29 g
- Cholesterol: 82.7 mg