Citrus And Goat Cheese Smoked-Chicken Summer Salad

Get a healthy delight this warm season with this delicious summer salad to complete your summer day!

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Citrus and Goat Cheese Smoked-Chicken Summer Salad

Healthy Summer Salad Recipes

Everybody loves salad recipes with chicken. Zesty, fresh, smoky, and accented with a burst of citrus, this salad will wow your summer guests.

The chicken, goat cheese, and nuts make this a salad appropriate as an appetizer or an entree.

Ingredients:

• Spinach
• Tangelos or Oranges (4-6)
• Grapefruits (2-3)
• Balsamic Vinaigrette
• Chicken Fillets (if you want to lighten up the salad a bit, use breasts instead of thighs)
• Chicken Spice (I adore the Weber Zesty Lemon spice)
• Candied Walnuts
• Pistachios
• Blueberries
• Goat Cheese Feta
• Red Onion (1)
• Fresh Mint Leaves

Step 1: Shell the Pistachios

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Shell all of those pistachios!  If you can, you can go to Costco and get a nice big bag of already-shelled pistachios.

Step 2: Crumble the Goat Cheese

Crumble up the goat cheese feta and toss it together with the candied nuts, blueberries, and sprigs of fresh mint.

Step 3: Grill with Lemon Spice

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Grill up your chicken with the zesty lemon spice.  I used my Traeger to get a lovely, smoky taste, but you can certainly oven-roast the chicken, as well!

Step 4: Mix Onion, Vinegar, and Pistachios

Slice up your red onion, and combine it in a bowl with the balsamic vinaigrette (entire bottle), and the pistachios.  Mix all of that together and let the wonderful flavors mingle in the refrigerator as you prepare the rest of the dish.

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Step 5: Dice up Grape Fruits

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Dice up your grapefruits and slice up your tangelos/oranges. Lay them across the bed of spinach in your salad bowl.

Originally I used more grapefruit slices than are pictured, but they were so tart that I took some of them off and let it be a zingy accent flavor rather than an overpowering bitterness.

Step 6: Spread Feta Mixture on Salad

Spread your feta mixture from Step 2 over the salad.

Step 7: Slice up the Chicken

Once your chicken is cooked and cooled, slice it up and lay it across the top of the salad.  I’d recommend chilling it in the refrigerator for a while so that it doesn’t wither the spinach while it’s warm.

Step 8: Pour Balsamic Dressing

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Time for that lovely balsamic dressing that has been chilling in the refrigerator.  Pour it over the top.

Now mix up the salad, and you are ready to serve!

Check out more summer salad recipes in this video by Clean & Delicious:

This flavorful chicken meal is one of the best summer side salads on my list. The citrus and goat cheese has a uniquely tasteful combination that’ll leave your tastebuds wanting for more.

Would you like to share your own summer salad recipes? Tell us about them in the comments section below!

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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on August 9, 2015, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.