theveganbeauty

Summer Grilled Chicken Power Salad with sweet blueberries, crumbled bacon and a lemon vinaigrette is the salad of summer!

I’ve been on a seasonal power salad kick for the past couple of years! and after binge eating this salad below, it’s official that it’s this seasons honorary power salad. Summer Grilled Chicken Power Salad here we come.

Where do we even start? Bacon. Duh. This salad is many things but most importantly it’s LOADED with flavor. That all starts with some crisped bacon. If you’re not feeling the bacon, just omit that step and use some olive oil to cook the chicken. However if you’re digging the bacon, you not only use the crispy bacon IN the salad, you use a little bit of the rendered fat to cook the herb crusted chicken. Talk about something being loaded with flavor.

Once those 2 proteins are taking care of, you can get into all the farmers market veggies. The bed of this salad is some gorgeous baby romaine lettuce I snagged from my farmers market, topped with raw corn (you guys know how I roll), plenty of blueberries, goat cheese and avocado. Done and done.

Everything gets tossed with a lemon champagne vinaigrette and you’ve pretty much sealed the deal.

Summer Grilled Chicken Power Salad

Gaby

This Summer Grilled Chicken Power Salad loaded with bacon, blueberries, market lettuce and a lemon vinaigrette is your main course salad of summer!

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 30 mins

Course Main Course, Side Dish, Salad

Cuisine Mediterranean

For the Salad

• 4 slices thick cut bacon
• 1 pint blueberries
• ¼ cup crumbled goat or feta cheese
• 1 handful small basil leaves
• 4 cups farmers market lettuce
• 2 corn on the cob kernels removed
• 1-2 avocados

For the Chicken

• 1/2 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tablespoons dried oregano

For the Lemon Champagne vinaigrette

• 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 cup champagne vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

• Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook until crispy and the fat is rendered. Remove the bacon and transfer it on a paper towel lined plate. Drain off most of the bacon grease, leaving just about 2 teaspoons.

• Season the chicken with salt and pepper and coat with the fresh and dried herbs. In the same skillet, over medium-high heat, add the chicken to bacon grease and cook until golden and crisp on both sides, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Remove the chicken and let rest. Slice into pieces when ready to serve.

• In a large bowl, assemble the salad. Start with the bed of lettuce, add the chicken, blueberries, cheese, basil leaves, torn up bacon, avocado and corn. Drizzle with the vinaigrette. Serve immediately.

Photo by Matt Armendariz / Food Styling by Adam Pearson / Recipe by What’s Gaby Cooking