This Chicken Cucumber Salad is super delicious. It includes crunchy romaine lettuce, sliced red onion, cucumber and bacon bits covered with a creamy garlic and coriander dressing. A perfect quick and healthy lunch!
Welcome to my first recipe series – This week am posting a series of delicious healthy, protein packed salads perfect for summer! If you are sick of the same boring salads this summer be sure to stay tuned and add these inspired salads from around the world!
If you love salad but need it protein packed and exciting this is the series for you. All of the salads in the series have a spicy kick and protein. You will find chicken, beef, lamb, prawns and salmon, so be sure to stay tuned if you are a meat and fish lover.
If you are new to this series welcome if you were here for the first 2 salads welcome back! This salad is number 3 of my Summer Salad Series, a delicious Chicken Cucumber and Avocado Salad.
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What do i need?
The Chicken –
The chicken in this salad is made with one of my favourite chicken marinades. Baked coriander and lime chicken is seriously good chicken. It is perfect for salads or pop them onto skewers and throw them on your grill or barbecue! You need very few ingredients and a ziplock bag or container. Just combine all ingredients together, add the chicken and leave to marinate overnight for the best results!
Chicken breast or boneless chicken thighs – In this recipe I have used boneless skinless chicken thighs as its what I had in the freezer. This marinade and recipe works well with any part of the chicken. Pro tip – Leg meat always turns out juicier and full of flavour!
For the marinade you will need plain yogurt. I like to use this as greek yogurt does not have the same tenderising effect on the chicken but you can use greek yogurt if you prefer. My favourite yogurt to use is Organic Yeo Valley available at Ocado.
Lots of fresh coriander and spring onion are needed to spice up the yogurt with fresh and fragrant herbs.
You will also need sliced onions and fresh garlic and the juice of 1 lime.
The spices you need are few. Cayenne pepper, black pepper, salt, garlic powder and onion powder.
My secret ingredient is a teaspoon of piri piri sauce. Any brand will do or feel free to use homemade!
The Salad –
Romaine lettuce is a leafy but crunchy lettuce perfect for this salad. Today I used red romaine lettuce, bought in Lidl last week. I love romaine lettuce and it is perfect for a salad like this and the gorgeous purple tips add fantastic colour to the salad!
You will also need a nice ripe avocado, sliced red onions and cucumber.
Finish this yummy salad off with some fried bacon bits! Believe it or not I forgot my bacon but I usually Love adding it to this salad! This is completely optional.
The Dressing –
Grab a lidded jar measure out all the ingredients below, secure the lid and shake. Your creamy garlic and coriander dressing is ready!
1 tbsp olive oil
yogurt 1 tbsp
1 tbsp mayonnaise
lime juice 1 tbsp
pinch garlic and onion powder
1 minced fresh garlic
1 tbsp chopped coriander
Follow all the steps in this recipe and you will be sure to have a delicious Chicken Cucumber and Avocado Salad!
Non-dairy?
Are you dairy free and wondering how to make this recipe work for you? Do not worry! I personally don’t drink cows milk and try to avoid dairy as much as possible! However, I love butter and cream and nothing really replicates the taste and function of dairy products – Not authentically anyway.
Depending on how I am feeling I will substitute the dairy yogurt called for in this recipe with a dairy free coconut yogurt. My favourites are Coyo and the Coconut Collaborative. Obviously, the outcome is not exactly the same but the result is still super delicious, if you follow the rest of the recipe.
Crunchy romaine lettuce, sliced red onion, cucumber and bacon bits covered with a creamy garlic and coriander dressing!
Servings 2people
Prep Time 10 minutesmins
Cook Time 20 minutesmins
Total Time 30 minutesmins
Equipment
Chopping board
Sharp knife
Lidded jar
Salad spinner
Baking tray
Baking paper
Salad bowl
Garlic mincer
Ingredients
Baked Coriander and Lime Chicken
1tbsp olive oil
1tbspmayonaise
1tbspplain yogurt
1tbsplime juice
2garlic clovesminced
1tbspchopped coriander
½tspsalt and pepper
pinch of garlic and onion powder
The Salad
2cupschopped romaine lettuce1 head
½cupbacon bits
1red onion sliced
1avocado sliced
Creamy Lime and Coriander Dressing
1 tbspolive oil
1tbspplain yogurt
1tbsplime juice
1tbspmayonaise
1tbspchopped coriander
1large garlic clove
pinch garlic and onion
pinch black pepper
pinch of sea salt
Instructions
Baked Lime and Coriander Chicken
In a ziplock bag or container measure all the marinade ingredients and combine everything together, then add your chopped washed chicken. Leave to marinate in the fridge for 2-24 hours.
Bake the chicken at 180°C for 20 minutes. I use the oven grill setting on my oven.
The Salad
Wash the lettuce and dry thoroughly using the salad spinner. Slice the red onion and avocado into desired pieces and set aside.
Cut some bacon into small pieces using scissors and fry until crispy.
Creamy Lime and Coriander Dressing
Measure all the ingredients into a lidded jar, close the jar securely and shake well. Your dressing is ready!
In a salad bowl toss the lettuce, red onion and half the bacon bits. Add the sliced avocado remaining bacon bits and baked chicken to the top of the salad and enjoy!
Notes
TIPS – Be sure to use a salad spinner for easy dry salad! A salad spinner is one of my favourite essential kitchen gadgets.Use the grill and fan function on your oven to bake the chicken for juicy chicken with crisp corners.Check out my dairy free alternatives in the body of this blog post!
Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @chilliandlife on Instagram and hashtag it #chilliandlife
This salad is a part of a series of 7! Be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook to stay fully up to date with the series! There are many more exciting salads to come!
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