Barbecue always seems to be top of mind birthday week. It seems this one is no different, so this years saucy eat is this, my favorite, barbecue chicken salad.
Each year I come at you with my favorite favorites to celebrate my year around the sun. Since I’ve give you most of them in the past…almost eight years since I’ve been blogging, each year I have to come up with someone creative that is also birthday worthy. You’re probably hard pressed to believe you that a salad- A SALAD!- makes the cut. After all, who wants salad on their birthday?
I do! What? I like salad, and I’ve come up with just the tried and true formula to make every one worth of a special occasion. It goes like this:
Greens, chopped up nice like
Protein, veg or meaty
Fruit, dried or fresh
Nut, as you like
Cheese, please
Sauce, though not necessarily dressing
I promise if you follow this little method, you’ll be excited to eat a salad every night, too.
This particular one is inspired by barbecue chicken pizza, which I adore and is frankly one of my favorite flavors. Using the formula above, I’ve got:
Spring mix, the steady go-to
Broiled chicken, seasoned with this seasoning, nice and rubbed
Fresh peaches, because ’tis the best fruit season
Salty pecans, the best sort of nut
Cheese, a sharp white cheddar
Carolina Gold Mustard barbecue sauce, my BBQ sauce of choice
AND….
roasted balsamic red onions for a little extra, because I don’t know of a BBQ chicken pizza that doesn’t just need a red onion.
All of this is chopped and dropped into a LARGE bowl for one serving. Double or triple as needed.
Served with a fried potato of choice because I do love any sort of fried potato with my BBQ. A must- have. (For last years’ BBQ + fried potato combo, see HERE).
Now, I’ll leaf you to it.
Barbecue Chicken Salad
This barbecue chicken salad borrows all the flavors from barbecue chicken pizza, in a healthier, greener form with a peachy surprise.
Ingredients
- 6 ounces chicken breast
- 2 TB BBQ rub seasoning
- 1/2 red onion, sliced
- 2 TB balsamic vinegar
- 2 cups chopped greens
- 1 large peach, diced
- 1 ounce shredded sharp white cheddar cheese
- 2 TB salted pecans
- 2 TB BBQ sauce of choice
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat the broiler to high.
- Step 2 Season the chicken liberally with the spice rub. Place on a foil lined baking sheet. Broil for 6 minutes, flip and cook the second side for 5 minutes, Check after 3 minutes to see if it’s done (depending on the thickness of the chicken, it may be done more quickly). Set aside to rest for 10 minutes and then dice.
- Step 3 Lower the oven temp to bake at 350F. To another foil lined sheet, add the onions and bake for 20 minutes. Add the vinegar, put back in the oven and bake for another 15 until slightly crispy.
- Step 4 Assemble the salad, topping the lettuce with the chicken, peaches, crispy onions, cheese and pecans. Drizzle with the barbecue sauce and enjoy!
