Sign Up for the Recipe Publishing Newsletter
Low Fat Poached Chicken Salad
Poaching chicken is a great way to ensure it stays succulent. The best tip for moist chicken breast is to cook it in liquid. Chicken breast does not contain a lot of fat and although that means it is lean and healthy, it also means it can dry out easily. It is worthwhile to poach a number of chicken breasts at once because you can freeze the cooked meat for up to three months. Chop the cooled, cooked chicken and lay it flat in freezer bags, then you can break off however much you want to thaw out later and it thaws faster. Obviously if you are not using all the chicken you will not need as much lettuce, orange juice, or goat's cheese for serving it.
The following recipe timing is approximate and you should check if the chicken is cooked after one and a quarter hours, then check it every fifteen minutes. The size of the chicken breasts and your crockpot affect the cooking time so it is best to check as you go. You can serve the chicken breast either sliced or halved. The salad itself is quite simple, combining salad leaves, goat's cheese, orange juice and the cooked butternut squash and chicken. This is a nutritious dish which offers a multitude of different flavors, even though there are not a lot of different ingredients.
Use a good quality chicken broth for the best results because this is where the chicken gets a lot of its flavor from. If you use something which is not very good, the resulting poached chicken will not have a very nice taste. Knorr chicken bouillon cubes, for example, are too salty and will not give the chicken a good color. Campbell's chicken broth would be a good choice or you could use a homemade chicken broth or chicken stock instead.
Succulent Chicken Salad with Butternut Squash and Goat Cheese
Ingredients -
1 ½ lb peeled, chopped butternut squash
6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 chopped garlic cloves
14 ½ oz chicken broth
3 oz crumbled goat's cheese
2 cups torn mixed salad leaves
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 torn head Boston lettuce
Fresh basil or cilantro, to garnish
Preparation:
Add the squash, garlic, and chicken to the crockpot and pour the broth over the top.
Cover and cook for about an hour and a half on low or until the chicken is cooked through.
Take out the chicken with a slotted spoon and keep cooking the squash until it is tender.
Put the chicken back in the crockpot to warm through for a couple of minutes.
Combine the lettuce, orange juice, and salad leaves in a big bowl, then divide this mixture between 6 serving plates.
Remove the chicken breasts and squash from the slow cooker, using a slotted spoon.
Discard the garlic and broth mixture.
Top each plate of salad leaves with some squash, sliced chicken, and crumble the goat's cheese over the top.
Garnish with fresh basil or cilantro and serve.
(Serves 6)
Photo Description:
This is an unusual dish which works well because of the contrasts. The warm chicken and butternut squash go beautifully with the chilled salad leaves and the crumbled goat's cheese starts to melt over the warm chicken when you add it to the dish. Fresh herbs are a great garnish for this tasty salad and you can add plenty of color by using red lettuce as well as a couple of different types of green lettuce. This healthy crockpot chicken salad recipe is also flavored with garlic (you can omit this if you do not like it) and orange juice in the salad, giving it a fruity flavor which is nice with the naturally sweet butternut squash. If you want a light, healthy dinner, this recipe makes a wonderful meal for the whole family.
