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Cherry Walnut Chicken Salad – Delicious chicken salad featuring a combination of dried cherries, walnuts and baby spinach tossed with a simple oil-and-vinegar dressing.
Chicken Salad With Walnuts And Cherries
Fresh baby spinach topped with chicken, dried cherries, gorgonzola cheese and walnuts. A tasty salad that’s quick and easy to make.
Hi-Ya, friends!!
This week! Oh my gosh!
Yesterday my 5-year old, Ana, came home from school in TEARS becaaaaaaaause…. she doesn’t have blonde hair and blue eyes. She’s FIVE! Ugh. Didn’t think it would start this soon.
THEN, a reader told me that she almost burned down the house while making one of my recipes. EEEK!
And THEN!! I got an email that said I had 20 million dollars waiting for me at a bank in Nigeria. I almost believed it.
I just need to regroup. Friday should be here any day now.
Oh look, it’s 2 weeks before Christmas and we’re eating a salad! I’m just looking out for you. If we eat a salad today, we can double up on the ham on Christmas Day. Or hit up the cookie tray and double fist.
But, Cherry Walnut Chicken Salad. Welcome to the truest love of all. It all started one Christmas Day, when a relative brought a creamy chicken salad studded with dried cherries and walnuts.
I took a bite…and another…and another. I didn’t like it.
I mean, the salad was in the middle of an identity crisis. Am I a dessert? Am I a starter? Am I savory or am I sweet?! OH, the pain!
I’m not implying that YOUR creamy chicken salad ain’t good… I’m sure it is. But mine is a tad bit healthier. Popeye approved.
This beautiful salad is an easy lunch. I often send it to work with my other half. I throw in a few of Star’s Olive Oil and Red Wine Vinegar Single-Serving Packs and he’s ready to go.
But, it’s an easy lunch that also serves as dinner! He just gets the leftovers to-go.
In looking for a word to describe this, I’m going to settle with delicious texture.
I’d like to suggest to totally make it your own by swapping out whatever ingredients you got, however, make sure that at some point or another, you try it AS IS.
ENJOY!
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Cherry Walnut Chicken Salad
Ingredients
- ¾ pound cooked chicken breasts,, cut into cubes
- 4 cups mixed greens
- 1 bag (10 ounces) fresh baby spinach
- 1 cup crumbled gorgonzola cheese
- 1 bag (5 ounces) dried cherries,, when in season, you can also use fresh chopped cherries
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- ⅓ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar,, or to taste
- 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
- salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Place mixed greens and spinach in a large salad bowl.
- Top with chicken, cheese, cherries and walnuts.
- Combine oil, vinegar, dijon mustard, salt, and pepper in a mixing bowl and whisk until well incorporated. Taste and adjust for vinegar, salt, and pepper.
- Add the dressing to the salad and toss to combine.
- Serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional info is an estimate and provided as courtesy. Values may vary according to the ingredients and tools used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed info.
Needed a more flavorful dressing. I toasted the walnuts and marinated the chicken tenders. I always leave out the cheese but I think it would be great that way.
Made this last night for dinner and it was delicious!! My son is allergy to nuts, any recommendations for a substitute that gives it that crunch?
Hi Nina!! Very happy you all enjoyed it! Thank you! 😀
How about something like pine nuts or sunflower seeds for that crunch? Or is he allergic to seeds, too?
Bacon bits always work! 😉
I made the cherry walnut salad and man was it good for lunch!
SO happy you enjoyed it!! Thank you, Tanya! 😀
I can never never print out a recipe on Pinterest and it is so irritating. Please tell me how to do it. I logged in but that did not help.
Hi Kathy! I don’t think there’s a way to print out a recipe via Pinterest. You have to click on the Pin which will then bring you to the website where the recipe is located. Once you locate the recipe, you should find a button near the recipe that says “Print”. If you scroll down to the recipe on my website, the “PRINT” button is found under the picture that is located within the recipe box. Please see the image. If you need anything else, just let me know. Thank YOU!
Thank you so much, I’m new to this and I’m having a hard time trying to find things out…where to go, how to get the recipes! but I really think I will love this salad !
Either you can copy and paste it to your word processing program (Pages on a Mac, or Word on a PC), or you can download Yumprint. It’s terrific – it’s for saving recipes all in one place. I love it. Give it a try. Very easy to save your recipes and organize them. You can go back to them whenever, and not try to remember where you saved it. You can print easily from there also.
Thanks so much for that info, Ellen!! I had no idea about Yumprint. I will definitely check it out!
Single serving olive oil and vinegar packs? OMG. I need those. And this salad looks delicious. My kids and I take salads for lunch often and I am always seeking ways to do ’em better.