Balsamic Chicken Arugula Salad with Strawberries, Beets and Goat Cheese
Summer is in the air on the New Hampshire seacoast and that means time for a delicious 😋 salad 🥗!
This salad was inspired because I purchased Ready to Eat beets from Trader Joe’s. These beets are roasted, the skins removed and no added ingredients, so easy peasy and of course clean eating!!!
I also had strawberries and thought, there’s great combo 💡 and the Balsamic Chicken Arugula Salad with Strawberries, Beets and Goat Cheese made a debut and even got praises from a meat and potato hubby 😉!
This salad has a delicious punchy vinaigrette that you use to marinade the chicken and dress the salad, so again easy peasy and a perfect midweek meal or for a summer afternoon BBQ with friends (yes, we’re both vaccinated and ready to entertain again 🙏).
I hope you enjoy and cheers 🥂
Some Notes
The Balsamic Vinaigrette – This dressing is great and has multiple usages, i.e. salads, spread for a sandwich, marinade for proteins, bread dipper, etc.! My recipe calls for 2 cloves of garlic and the balsamic balances that well. If you don’t have honey, agave would work well too. Make sure you taste the vinaigrette and add salt and ground pepper to taste. Note: The dressing will store for 2 weeks in the fridge.
Nuts in Savory Salads – Unfortunately, I didn’t have any walnuts, but roasted walnuts would be great with this salad.
Salad Flavor Profile – This salad has sweet notes because of the strawberries and beets, but you do get some nice bitter notes with both. The arugula is nice because it adds peppery notes and of course the vinaigrette adds the punch you want with dressing. AND the tart, earthy, creamy goat cheese, oh how I love ❤️. All and all, this salad is well balanced!!!
Balsamic Chicken Arugula Salad with Strawberries, Beets and Goat Cheese
Ingredients
- 6 boneless chicken thighs
- 8-12 strawberries, sliced thinly
- 6-8 roasted beets, skins removed and sliced thinly
- 5 oz goat cheese, crumbled
- 1 bag arugula greens
- salt, for seasoning
Balsamic Vinaigrette
- ½ cup EVOO, extra virgin olive oil
- ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped into a paste
- salt & ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Pat dry the chicken thighs and place in a storage container or gallon storage bag.
- Combine all the vinaigrette ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk together.
- Add half the vinaigrette to the chicken and marinade for at least 2 hours and no more than 12 hours, since balsamic is fairly acidic.
- Once the chicken has marinaded, grill on medium heat until the chicken is cooked, ~15 minutes.
- Meanwhile prepare the greens on a plate and add a touch of salt, if desired. Note: No ground pepper is needed to season because arugula is rather peppery.
- Slice the strawberries and beets and arrange on the greens. Add a touch of salt to your sliced strawberries and beets, if desired.
- Crumble the goat cheese and set aside.
- Once the chicken is grilled to perfection, allow to cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing the chicken for the salad. Note: I sliced the chicken into stripes against the grain.
- Add to the greens with the goat cheese and drizzle with a bit more of the balsamic vinaigrette. Enjoy & cheers 🥂
