Healthy Autumn Chicken Salad Recipe + Easy Salad Dressing

Hi everyone, it's Natasha of natashaskitchen.com and on today's episode, we are making our favorite autumn salad. This one's loaded with crisp pears, tangy cranberries, pecans and juicy chicken and the simple balsamic dressing will win you over. Start by cutting two chicken breasts in half lengthwise so you end up with four thin cutlets. Season all over with half a teaspoon of garlic salt and an eighth of a teaspoon of black pepper or season to taste. Place a large skillet over medium heat and add one tablespoon of olive oil. Place the chicken cutlets into the hot pan and saute for three to four minutes per side or just until it's fully cooked through. Cutting the chicken in half this way makes it cook way faster than a whole chicken breast. Remove the chicken from the pan and set it aside to rest while you toast your pecans. Place a clean and dry skillet over medium heat. Add the pecans and toast them for about five minutes, tossing frequently or until the pecans are fragrant and lightly golden. Transfer the nuts to a plate and set them aside to cool. Once the chicken is no longer hot, slice it into bite-sized strips and set it aside. This salad has a lot of chicken, which I love because it is protein packed. Chop one large or two small heads of romaine lettuce. You'll need about eight cups chopped and I am a big fan of salad spinners. It makes it so easy to wash and spin dry your lettuce and let me know in a comment below if you use a salad spinner. Transfer the lettuce to a large salad bowl. Now core and slice two medium pears into bite-sized pieces. Add those to the salad and if you're serving this for a party, it looks gorgeous to arrange your ingredients in strips over the lettuce and the rest is just assembly. Add your cooked chicken strips, add one whole cup of dried cranberries, followed by your toasted and cooled pecans and last but not least, add one half cup of crumbled feta cheese. Now the dressing is so easy. In a small mason jar, combine half a cup of extra virgin olive oil, three tablespoons of good balsamic vinegar, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, one pressed garlic clove, a quarter teaspoon of sea salt and an eighth of a teaspoon of black pepper. Cover with the lid and shake vigorously to combine. Okay, all that's left to do is to add the dressing to this beautiful salad and we love taking this to parties because you can make the whole salad ahead of time and keep the dressing in the jar and just before you serve it, cover the lid, give it a good shake, shake, shake to mix it all up and then pour it over. Okay, here we go. Now toss it all together until every bite is coated in that tasty dressing. Oh, this salad is loaded with all the best autumn ingredients. Yum, yum, yum. Especially love those sweet, crunchy pears. Delicious. Okay and then before I serve, I like to top it with just a little bit more fresh feta because it has that beautiful white pop of color. Otherwise the feta gets a little bit lost in the dressing. Oh, and a little more never hurts. Okay, we're gonna serve this up and do the taste test, aka gorge on this delicious salad. Okay. Whoops. All right, going in for the taste test. Like to get a little bit of everything. That's what I'm talking about. Wow, I love the sweet and tangy craisins and the sweet pears, the crunchy pecans and make sure you toast them because that adds crazy good flavor to this salad. And then the lettuce makes this just such a feel-good salad. Oh, and the juicy chicken packs a bunch of protein into this salad. You can eat this as a meal. And then that little salty bite of feta. It really is so delicious. It always disappears fast at parties and I get a lot of recipe requests for this one. Make it once and you'll make it over and over and over. If you guys enjoyed this video, please give us a great big thumbs up below. Make sure to subscribe to our channel and we'll see you next time. Hey, before you go, if you want more salad ideas that are perfect for get-togethers, check these out right over here and there and click below to subscribe. And when you do, click that little bell icon so you'll get notifications every time we post a new recipe. We'll see you next time.