Chicken Apple Winter Salad (Printable)

Hearty salad with chicken, apples, pecans, and tangy cider dressing, vibrant and perfect for chilly days.

# What You'll Need:

→ Salad

01 - 2 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded or diced
02 - 2 crisp apples (e.g., Honeycrisp or Gala), cored and sliced
03 - 4 cups mixed salad greens (arugula, spinach, romaine)
04 - 1/2 cup celery, thinly sliced
05 - 1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
06 - 1/4 cup dried cranberries
07 - 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
08 - 1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese (optional)

→ Apple Cider Dressing

09 - 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
10 - 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
11 - 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
12 - 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
13 - 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
14 - 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

# How To Make It:

01 - Whisk together apple cider vinegar, olive oil, Dijon mustard, honey, sea salt, and black pepper in a small bowl or jar until fully emulsified. Set aside.
02 - In a large bowl, mix salad greens, chicken, apple slices, celery, pecans, dried cranberries, red onion, and crumbled feta if desired.
03 - Drizzle the prepared dressing over the salad mixture and toss gently until the ingredients are evenly coated.
04 - Plate immediately, optionally garnished with additional pecans or feta cheese as preferred.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • It's ready in 15 minutes and uses ingredients you probably already have hiding in your fridge.
  • The apple cider dressing tastes like fall in a spoon, and it somehow makes everything else taste better.
  • Leftover chicken finally gets the treatment it deserves instead of just becoming sad sandwiches.
02 -
  • Don't dress the salad more than 5 or 10 minutes before eating it, or the greens will get soft and sad—the dressing is acidic and works fast.
  • If you're making this ahead, keep the dressing separate and assemble just before serving, and your apple slices in a little lemon water so they don't oxidize and turn brown.
03 -
  • Toast your pecans in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2-3 minutes before adding them—it intensifies their flavor and makes them even more crunchy.
  • Don't skip the mustard in the dressing, it's only a tablespoon but it's doing the invisible work of holding the whole thing together and making it taste deeper than it should.
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