Crispy Chicken Kale Salad {homemade dressing}

This Crispy Chicken Kale Salad recipe is a delectable spin on your typical grilled chicken salad. It includes crispy chicken breast tenderloins over a bed of kale!

This is officially my first post for Recipe Redux, a group of fantastic registered dietitians and healthy food lovers (my first post with Recipe Redux was for a contest using rice).  (2021 Update: Recipe Redux is no longer active and is now archived, but you can still view recipes).

At the bottom of the post, you will also find a link-up of other Recipe Redux members’ posts. This month’s theme is to cook once, eat twice.

Cook Once, Eat Twice

This is what you call a 2 for 1 deal for meal planning!  I absolutely love this topic and pretty much do this on a weekly basis. I almost always cook more than my family will eat at one meal. 

This saves me a tremendous amount of time since it allows us to have meals for the following few days. Or I freeze the leftovers to eat in a month or two.  

Thankfully I have a large kitchen with plenty of cupboard space. This allows me to have two entire cupboards are designated for Rubbermaid container storage.

This theme was pretty easy for me to decide what to make since as of lately, I have some sort of kale salad in the fridge ready to eat. And I have been craving crispy chicken.  

Thus, my Italian Baked Chicken Tenders recipe joined one of my favorite salad creations to make this simple Crispy Chicken Kale Salad!  

If you’d like to see another variation of one of my kale salads, check out this Kale and Feta Salad recipe. I posted it a few weeks ago, same salad dressing but various other ingredients.

Can you tell I’m loving kale lately?!  By the way, kale stays fresh for at least a few days in the fridge WITH dressing mixed in it. So it’s a great food to eat as leftovers!

I have included the directions for the chicken tenders, kale salad and honey vinegar dressing below.  

However, feel free to change it up with different dressing or salad ingredients, the sky’s the limit!  

Also, if you eat the chicken tenders as leftovers, reheat them in the oven for about 8-10 minutes at 350 F or in a toaster oven to get back the crispness. 

Crispy Chicken Kale Salad

Crispy, healthy chicken meets kale salad!

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Total Time 25 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

Italian Baked Chicken Tenders

• 1 pound chicken breast I used eight 2-ounce chicken breast tenderloins
• 1 cup whole wheat Panko crumbs
• ½ cup Parmesan cheese
• ½ cup Italian dressing fat-free
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

Kale Salad

• 1 bunch kale, stemmed and chopped (about 4 cups)
• ½ cup sesame seeds
• ½ cup crumbled feta cheese reduced fat
• ½ cup pre-shredded carrots
• ½ red pepper
• ½ yellow pepper

Honey Vinegar Dressing

• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• ¼ cup olive oil
• salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

 

Chicken Tenders

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Cover a shallow cookie sheet or jelly roll pan with aluminum foil. Place a metal cooling rack on top of the foil. Spray the cooling rack with non-stick cooking spray or olive oil sprayer.
• Add Italian dressing to a shallow bowl.
• In another shallow bowl combine Panko crumbs, Parmesan cheese and garlic powder.
• Dip each piece of chicken into the Italian dressing, then into the Panko crumb mixture, coating the chicken thoroughly.
• Place chicken on the baking pan.
• Cook for 15-18 minutes or until chicken is cooked completely (turning chicken halfway through).

Kale Salad and Dressing

• While chicken is cooking add kale to a large bowl.
• Whisk vinegar, honey, and mustard together in a small bowl. Continue whisking while slowly adding olive oil, salt and pepper.
• Pour dressing over kale and toss with tongs until kale appears soft.
• Add sesame seeds, feta, carrots, and peppers to kale.
• Cover with plastic wrap for about 1 hour in refrigerator before serving.
• Top salad with chopped chicken tenders.

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

 This Crispy Chicken Kale Salad first appeared on Chocolate Slopes.

© 2015 Kristy Hegner     Disclaimer