Chicken Salad with a Cashew Caesar Dressing and Walnut Crumb

Crispy cos, crunchy buttery bread crumbs, with a creamy caesar, inspired dressing. One you don’t have to feel guilty about when pouring copious amounts over your greens and that you’ll end up making time and time again to serve with things like roasted veggies or grain bowls.

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Make your Cashew caesar dressing. Store in a jar in the fridge.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup raw cashews (soaked overnight or for 20 minutes in boiling water and then drained)
  • 4 – 6 Tbsp of water
  • 1-2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp capers
  • 2 tsp dijon mustard
  • 2 small garlic cloves
  • 1 tsp miso paste

Method

  1. Either soak your cashews overnight or  place cashews in a bowl or jar with boiling water for 20 minutes to soften.

  2. Once cashews have softened add all ingredients (drained cashews, water, apple cider vinegar, capers, mustard, garlic and miso paste) to the blender. Start with 4 Tbsp of water first and then add additional water to achieve a runny consistency, but not as thin as water.

Make your Honey mustard marinade. Store in a jar in the fridge.

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 1 Tbsp melted butter or olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp of dried or 2 Tbsp of fresh chopped herbs (we used rosemary, oregano and thyme)
  • 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Add all of the marinade ingredients into a jar and mix well.
  2. Add chicken 12hr – 20 minutes before cooking your chicken.

Tips

  • If you haven’t soaked your cashews overnight, place cashews in a bowl or jar with boiling water for 20 minutes.
  • We like to roughly chop our sourdough, just a little chunkier than bread crumbs – this allows every mouthful to experience a little crunch.
  • Condiments are so easy to make, plus making your own allows you to avoid the nasty additives store-bought items often contain. Once you add a few basics to your repertoire you can add different ingredients to make it feel like a completely new condiment. Take this dressing – we used our basic savoury cashew cream recipe and added extra garlic, miso and capers.

Vegetables

  • Swap cos for kale. Roughly chop your kale, place into a bowl and drizzle with olive oil, squeeze of lemon and season with salt. Use your hands to massage the oil into the fibrous leaves until they look limp and glossy from the oil.
  • Add cucumber for freshness.

Protein

  • Swap chicken for smoked salmon for a quick and easy dinner, or baked salmon flaked over the salad would also be delicious.


Other

  • For a gluten-free and vegetarian option swap out bread crumbs and chicken for chickpea croutons flavoured with garlic and herbs. Follow the recipe for our crispy chickpeas and check out variations for garlic ‘croutons’. Omit walnuts and add avocado for some good healthy fats.
Ingredients

Cashew caesar dressing

  • 1/2 cup raw cashews (soaked overnight or for 20 minutes in boiling water and then drained)
  • 4 – 6 Tbsp of water
  • 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp capers
  • 2 tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 1 tsp miso paste

Honey mustard chicken

  • 500-600g chicken breast, or tenderloins
  • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 1 Tbsp honey
  • 1 Tbsp melted butter or olive oil
  • 1 Tbsp of dried or 2 Tbsp of fresh chopped herbs (we used rosemary, oregano and thyme)
  • 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
  • Pinch of salt and pepper

Walnut crumb

  • 1 thick slice of sourdough (roughly chopped)
  • 2 Tbsp walnuts (roughly chopped)
  • 1 Tbsp butter
  • Pinch of salt

Salad

  • 2 heads of baby cos or 1 bag (torn into bite sized pieces)
  • 1 zucchini (shaved)
  • 1 handful of green beans (cut in half)
  • Shaved parmesan (optional)
Method

Cashew Caesar dressing

  1. If you haven’t soaked your cashews overnight, place cashews in a bowl or jar with boiling water for 20 minutes.
  2. Once cashews have softened add all ingredients (drained cashews, water, apple cider vinegar, capers, mustard, garlic and miso paste) to the blender. Start with 4 Tbsp of water first and then add additional water to achieve a creamy but runny consistency, but not as thin as water.

Honey Mustard Chicken

  1. Add the marinade ingredients (mustard, honey, butter or olive oil, herbs, garlic, salt and pepper) into a medium bowl and mix well. Add chicken tenderloins and allow them to marinate in the fridge for a couple of hours if you have time, or otherwise just while you get everything else ready.
  2. Add olive oil to a large pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the chicken, reduce heat to medium and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side.
  3. Once the chicken has cooked, remove it from the heat and slice them into bite-size pieces ready to top the salad.


Walnut crumb

  1. Add butter to a medium pan over high heat, add sourdough bread crumbs and salt. Cook for 2 minutes, add chopped walnuts and cook until golden and toasted. Set aside ready to top the salad.


Salad

  1. Steam green beans until al dente, then run under cold water to cool down and prevent further cooking. Pat dry.
  2. Add salad ingredients to a large bowl or platter (cos, zucchini and steamed green beans). Top with the walnut crumb, grilled chicken, optional parmesan and dress with the cashew caesar dressing.
Variations

Vegetables

  • Swap cos for kale. Roughly chop your kale, place into a bowl and drizzle with olive oil, squeeze of lemon and season with salt. Use your hands to massage the oil into the fibrous leaves until they look limp and glossy from the oil.
  • Add cucumber for freshness.

Protein

  • Swap chicken for smoked salmon for a quick and easy dinner, or baked salmon flaked over the salad would also be delicious.


Other

  • For a gluten-free and vegetarian option swap out bread crumbs and chicken for chickpea croutons flavoured with garlic and herbs. Follow the recipe for our crispy chickpeas and check out variations for garlic ‘croutons’. Omit walnuts and add avocado for some good healthy fats.

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