Now gone are those days when lunch and dinner look so boring and tasteless. But a healthier lifestyle pushes to keep things light around lunchtime, including salad and other fresh course items.
But did you ever try the Crunchy Honey BBQ chicken salad recipe? Yes, that’s said, the tasty, delicious, and healthier crunchy honey BBQ chicken salad. The salad is tempting and satisfying all those crispy chicken chunks.
It could be the most tempting and incredibly delicious combination of spice, smoky BBQ, and sweet goodness of honey. So, let’s try this delicious recipe.
Crispy Chicken Salad with Honey BBQ Dressing
Key ingredients
Dressings
- ¼ cup honey and BBQ sauce
- 2 tablespoon Dijon mustard and apple cider vinegar
- 1//2 cup mayonnaise
- 1-3 teaspoons sriracha
Ingredients of Chicken
- 1 ½ pound boneless chicken tenders
- 1 cup buttermilk
- ¾ cup of all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder and smoked paprika
- 2 whisked eggs
- ½ cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 ½ cups panko breadcrumbs
- Peanut or canola oil for deep frying
Salad
- ½ cup toasted sliced almonds and red onions
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes
- 2 avocados sliced or diced
- 10-ounce romaine sluiced and chopped into small pieces
Let’s Start with the Dressing for the Crispy Chicken Salad
The honey mustard dressing in the recipe plays two crucial roles. First role it plays is to flavor all the chicken tenders while handing them out in the buttermilk. The second role it plays is its help in dressing the salad.
To make the dressing, first pour some BBQ sauce into the bowl, then best quality of organic raw honey and sriracha, mayonnaise, mustard, and apple cider vinegar. Mix them all and whisk properly. You can also use a blender to make a paste-like consistency.
If you never used the mayonnaise for the marination and dressing, then this could be a surprise for you. This could be a simple trick that helps to enhance all the flavors in the salad. Moreover, the mayonnaise helps in tenderizing the chicken until it smoothly melts in your mouth. This could be a perk of deliciousness and grilled flavors for your taste bud. Once you mixed up all the dressings, keep them aside and move to the second step.
Prepare the Marination
For marinating the chicken, you need to prepare the marination mix.
Add buttermilk into the bowl, and then add ¾ teaspoon of salt, a pinch of black pepper, and 1/3 cup of dressing, which you prepared, and stir the mixture well until it achieves the consistency.
After that, add the chicken pieces into the prepared marination and mix it well. Make sure to keep aside the marinated chicken for 30 minutes before you proceed to cook. Please keep the marination mixture for 24 hours in the refrigerator. It will also set all the marination into the chicken pieces and cook perfectly. Please make sure to make some cuts over the chicken tender pieces to absorb the marination into the innermost layer.
Crispy Chicken Preparation
Now combine the garlic powder, all-purpose flour, and smoked paprika in the shallow baking dish. And take another dish and combine the parmesan cheese and panko, and set them aside. Take another bowl and put in some eggs and whisk gradually. Now you need to remove the marinated chicken tender pieces and drop the excess marination to drip off from the chicken.
- Once the mixture is dripped off, dip the marinated chicken into the mixture of flour and garlic powder and then into the beaten egg mixture.
- Once you dip the chicken tender pieces into the eggs, dip them into the panko mixture. After that, place these tender chicken pieces on a clean baking sheet.
- Repeat the process until all the pieces are done accurately, and keep them on a baking sheet.
Grill
For grilling, you can use olive oil and put the oil into the BBQ grill. I like to use flat top propane gas grill. Allow the oil to heat up or till the temperature reaches the medium heat. Once the oil is perfectly heated, add a few chicken tender pieces and allow them to deep fry for five to nine minutes.
Once the first side is done, flip the chicken and repeat the process for the other side. After the chicken pieces are done, remove the pieces on the plate lined with a paper towel. Now chop the tender pieces and keep them aside.
Assembling
You can add the greens into a large bowl and top them all with the cherry tomatoes, sliced almonds, avocados, sliced onions, and then chicken pieces on the top. After that, add all the dressing sauce that you prepare into the bowl and mix them gently. Pour some more honey if required and serve it immediately.
Key Points to Note While Preparing
- Do not fry marinated chicken cold from the refrigerator as it may create trouble in cooking. It will help if you keep it on rest for 30 minutes at room temperature before frying.
- Always use the cast iron skillet or a flat top grill because it has a thick base and prevents the chicken from overcooking and burning.
- Make sure to use the meat thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of 165 degrees. Do not cook more than five to nine minutes to cook the chicken sides.
- Please don’t use the oil lower than the smoke point as it may get absorbed into the chicken, which may create trouble in cooking.
- Always use peanut oil, corn, vegetable oil, canola, and olive oil for healthier cooking.
- You can use the mayonnaise in excess if you love the taste and add some more dressings and salad of your choice.
- Use boneless chicken always.
