Blackberry Chicken Salad for Two

This blackberry chicken salad for two recipe is totally inspired by a recipe I found in a Delish Magazine. I mixed up my greens, removed the sugar and used grilled chicken I had on hand, but this salad has become a new favorite around here. It is packed with lots of veggies, healthy fats, lean protein and some crunchy nuts. The sweet dressing (no sugar) is just delicious thanks to a sugar-free jam I use. I’ve already made this three times in the last two weeks, and I’m loving it!

Sometimes when I’m trying to develop a recipe, it feels like it is chicken, chicken, chicken all the time!  And the one of the ways to make this incredibly versatile ingredient shine, is to surround it with lots of interesting and tasty ingredients and this is one of those recipes.  Sure, there is chicken, and lettuce, but there are a variety of lettuces, and there are juicy berries, and crunchy nuts for texture, and creamy satisfying slices of avocado and tangy bites of feta.  You get the crunch from the cucumbers and that onion flavor the salad needs to.  It is just perfection when topped with the surprising blackberry salad dressing.  And when I got rid of the sugar, I was even happier.  But, that’s not all.

There is lots of flexibility with this salad too, and you could substitute whatever greens you have on hand.  Kale, romaine, bibb and red leaf lettuce would all work in the salad.  You could also do an all blackberry spinach salad, if that is all you had on hand. The same goes for the nuts.  I went with heart healthy walnuts, but almonds, cashews and pecans would all be great.

I just love the blackberries in this salad, and found a sugar-free blackberry preserves with fiber from Polaners that I like a lot.  They make raspberry, strawberry and apricot sugar-free preserves that would be great matched with those fruits in this salad.  As always, if you prefer using sugar sweetened jam, that is your choice.  By adding that flavored jam to the dressing, you are tying the whole salad together.

I went with a low-fat feta in this salad (full fat would be fine) but I could have used blue cheese crumbles too.  Feta and blue cheese show up in a lot of  my salads like my Grapefruit Salad with Feta and Hazelnuts and my Iceberg Steak with Blue Cheese, Orange and Bacon.  Cucumbers, red onion and avocado add even more flavor and color to the salad, but throwing in some radishes and/or tomatoes would be great.

I used grilled chicken tenders (sliced) in this salad because that is what I had on hand.  But, shredded rotisserie chicken or a grilled chicken breast would work in this too.

To get started with this recipe, lets make the blackberry salad dressing.  There are only a handful of ingredients in this salad:  the blackberry preserves, white balsamic vinegar (it is slightly sweeter than regular vinegar), olive oil, salt and pepper.  Whisk the preserves, vinegar and salt and pepper in a bowl until you breakdown the jam and everything comes together.  Start drizzling in your olive oil and keep whisking to emulsify the dressing.  Taste, adjust seasoning and put to the side.

Note, you can make this in advance and keep in the fridge in a small jar with a lid.  Just bring back to room temperature and shake it well before serving.