Chicken Apple Cheddar salad with Candied Pecans

 Chicken Apple Cheddar salad with Candied Pecans and Cranberry Vinaigrette is a light dinner salad dripping with Autumn flavors.

Fresh Chicken Apple Cheddar Salad with Candied Pecans and Cranberry Vinaigrette will easily feed a family of 5 for dinner for about $15, making it a great recipe for a healthy weeknight dinner salad.  Plus you can throw it together in just 15 minutes by using the meat from a fresh supermarket rotisserie chicken!

How to make Chicken Apple Cheddar Salad with Candied Pecans

Slice the rotisserie chicken breast away from the bone and discard the skin. Slicing it into diagonal sections makes it look extra pretty when you top each serving of salad with a few slices of juicy chicken. (The best place for rotisserie chicken, hands down, is Sam’s club. Big chickens are only $5!)

I love apples in salad; this time I used an Ambrosia Apple, but feel free to use any apple you like, even Granny Smith apples. Remove the core and slice the apple thin.

Toss in shredded sharp cheddar, a sliced avocado, candied pecans, and craisins along with a couple one-pound bags of chopped romaine lettuce. One thing I left out of this picture, sliced red onion. If you’re not a fan, just leave it out (like me :0). Of course if you like onion in your salad, thinly slice half of a small red onion and toss it in too!

The key to any great salad is to have a crunchy component. I love Walmart’s praline pecans, but you can (and should!) cook up a large batch of Candy Spice Pecans at home to toss into this salad. They really give this salad an exceptional flavor and texture.

And of course it must be topped off with a sweet vinaigrette- I recommend a fresh Cranberry vinaigrette, but a store bought Raspberry vinaigrette is awesome as well. This is an amazingly delish dinner that is fast, healthy and oh soooo delicious! Give it a try and please rate and comment below :0)

Holiday Chicken Apple Cheddar Salad

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• Author: Emily
• Total Time: 15 minutes
• Yield: 4 dinner servings 1x

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Description

This Holiday Chicken Apple Cheddar Salad perfectly intermingles the bright flavors of apple and cranberry with sharp cheddar and candy spiced pecans for a delicious full-meal dinner salad. Leave the chicken out and you’ll have the perfect holiday side salad.

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Ingredients

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• 1 large head of romaine lettuce, chopped (or a 16 ounce bag chopped romaine, 1 pound)
• 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
• 1 apple, cored and sliced thin
• 1 cup candy spiced pecans
• 1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
• 1/3 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 avocado sliced thin
• 1 pound shredded rotisserie chicken
• 1 cup of homemade cranberry vinaigrette or 1 cup store bought raspberry vinaigrette

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Instructions

1. Toss the lettuce, cheddar cheese, apple slices, pecans, onion, cranberries, avocado and 3/4 cup vinaigrette in a large bowl. Place salad on individual plates.
2. Top each salad serving with warm chicken and drizzle remaining vinaigrette over the chicken. Serve immediately.

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Category: Side
• Cuisine: American

Nutrition

• Calories: 432
• Sugar: 24.3 g
• Sodium: 796 mg
• Fat: 23.9 g
• Saturated Fat: 5.7 g
• Carbohydrates: 39.5 g
• Fiber: 2.9 g
• Protein: 18.5 g
• Cholesterol: 60 mg