Take a tip from Italians - cooking doesn't have to be complicated to be delicious. You just need fresh ingredients and the determination to use them while they're still indeed fresh.
You'd think someone with a garden the size of mine would eat like the Queen of vegetables are all summer long. Wrong.
I'm usually weeding, watering, pulling, picking, inspecting, digging and reviving until after dark most nights so by the time I get home I don't want to cook anything.
I simply want to land my face in a plate of dinner and hope that food makes its way into my mouth as I pass out, slack jawed from exhaustion.
Enter the chicken & roasted pepper salad. I prepare the ingredients in advance and then just keep assembling it night after night until I run out of ingredients.
It's the trifecta of summertime meals: filling, satisfying and light.
A particularly good choice for dinner when you know you have a gallon of ice cream you want to leave room for. Or a carrot cake. Or the entire top display case of a bakery if you're having a particularly bad day.
Table of Contents
Savory Chicken & Goat Cheese Salad
w/ Roasted Red Peppers & Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette
Gather your ingredients.
- Lettuce
- Roasted Red peppers
- Grilled chicken
- Goat cheese
Dressing
- Balsamic vinegar
- Olive oil
- Dijon mustard
- Salt & pepper
Lettuce - I use whatever I have
Roasted Red Peppers - 1 per person
Goat cheese - Plain
Grilled chicken - 1 boneless, skinless breast per person
Basic Balsamic Vinaigrette w/ honey
(1 part Balsamic Vinegar, 3 parts Olive Oil, Dijon Mustard, honey, salt & pepper)
Mix ¼ cup vinegar, mustard, honey, S&P together then slowly add in ¾ cup of olive oil, whisking to incorporate it.
Dressing Mixing Tip
When you make an oil based dressing always add the oil last in a thin stream while whisking vigorously. This allows the dressing to emulsify properly so it won't separate after you mix it.
Once you've made your balsamic dressing give it a taste. If you'd like it sweeter, add some more teaspoon by teaspoon.
You want to be able to taste the honey because you won't believe how good it is with the chicken, roasted red peppers and especially the goat cheese.
Now all you have to do is assemble your salad; greens, red peppers, chicken, goat cheese, and the dressing.
And then you eat it.
Salad with grilled chicken & roasted red peppers
Prep the ingredients and refrigerate for an easy to assemble dinner.
Ingredients
- lettuce
- grilled chicken breast (one per person)
- roasted red peppers (one per person)
- goat cheese
- Honey Balsamic Vinaigrette
- - ¼ cup balsamic vinegar
- - ¾ cup olive oil
- - dijon mustard to taste (about 1 tsp)
- - honey to taste (about 1 tsp)
- - S&P
Instructions
- Grill 1 chicken breast per serving quickly by slicing it and then placing it on the grill or cook in a cast iron pan.
- Roast 1 red pepper per person by cutting them in half and seeding them. Place the peppers cut side down on a baking sheet and transfer them to a 450 F oven until charred and soft. When the peppers are done stick them in a heat proof bowl and put a plate on top to let the peppers steam. Once they're cool enough to touch you can just rub the skin off with a paper towel. Don't be tempted to wash the peppers clean after removing the skin because you'll get rid of all the nice charred taste.
- Make your balsamic dressing by mixing together the vinegar, mustard, honey and salt and pepper. Slowly add olive oil in a slow drizzle, while whisking vigourously.
- Assemble chicken and roasted peppers on a bed of lettuce, and top with goat cheese crumbles and dressing.
Notes
MAKE IT EVEN EASIER - Use a rotisserie chicken and roasted red peppers from the grocery store.
You can prepare the ingredients in advance and keep them in the fridge for up to 3 days. Assemble your salad whenever you like.
You can eat this salad with the chicken and peppers warmed, or cold. Whatever your preference. I prefer it warmed so the goat cheese softens and warms up when added to the top.
It's truly a fast, easy, dinner salad that anyone would be happy to plant their face into at the end of a long summer day.
Hi Karen,
Could you be more specific on the oil and balsamic “parts” please? Tablespoon? Teaspoon? What are we talking here? I could eyeball it and surely will after the first make but some guidelines would help with that first make please.
Thanks and standing by…
Carla
Shoot! Sorry Carla, I meant to update that before publishing it. It's 1/4 cup balsamic with 3/4 cup olive oil. ~ karen!
Karen
I love a good salad. This one sounds amazing and I will definitely try it. I have never had goat cheese. I know! What cave have I been living in?
Thanks for the recipe
Have you ever smelled a goat? That is what its cheese tastes like! (signed a g cheese DETESTER 🤢🥴😁).
Can’t say that I have ever smelled a goat. Probably shouldn’t use goat cheese then huh. 🤔
Supper this evening was "similar" sort of. A nice cold chicken salad made by dicing up the leftover 1/2 of the large roasted breast I made for supper yesterday. Diced up some celery, about 1/2 a red pepper, a bit of diced Vidalia, a glob of sweet relish, a dab of dill relish all held together with a tbl each of mayo and sour cream. S&P to taste with a sliced Roma tomato on the side. Good eats.
Yummo! Although I really feel I must suggest the addition of some Vidalia onions sliced super thin on a mandoline (mandolin?). Everything is better with sweet onions 😋 imho.