This simple Strawberry Chicken Smoked Cheese Salad with a refreshing cherry mint dressing is a delicious way to enjoy your meal on a hot summer day.
Strawberry Chicken Smoked Cheese Salad
This recipe originally appeared on the blog in July 2018. I have uploaded new images and slightly altered the recipe while the blogpost itself remains the same.
Hello, my friends! I hope you are doing fine. I need to apologize as I have neglected to visit your scrumptious blogs this week. I open my Bloglovin’ every morning, get scary how productive you are, and close it. Yup, this week has been insanely crazy. I also owe you an apology as I have failed to post a new recipe earlier this week. My last recipe – luscious Hazelnut Honey Cinnamon Ice Cream – happened almost a week ago. I have so many things to finish yet, but I hope it gets better by next Tuesday. And I am certainly going to start visiting your blogs, too. Please, hold on posting new recipes :)
Don’t worry, though. I have plenty of recipes that are ready to go (Once I sort out and edit the photos haha). There are a couple of fabulous ideas (ice cream and cookies) I am excited to share with you, but I am keeping them for later since they need more of my attention. But I promise you will like them.
Today I am going to keep it simple and short. Nothing complicated. Still, this Strawberry Chicken Smoked Cheese Salad is a very elegant meal. It only has a few simple ingredients including strawberries, peppery arugula, succulent iceberg, juicy chicken, and smoked gouda. And the dressing? It’s super delicious and refreshing – made with frozen cherries and mint. Of course, you can use fresh cherries too, but fresh cherries deserve more than being used in the dressing. Also, pitting? No, thanks. But I will post a salad with fresh cherries too – please stay tuned.
That’s it for now.
Cheers!
Ingredients
Salad
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, halved or quartered
- 2 cups salad of your choice
- 150 gr smoked cheese such as Cheddar Gouda, cubed or grated
- 1 large chicken breast
- 1 tsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. butter
- smoked paprika, pepper, salt, garlic powder and dried herbs of your choice
Dressing
- 1 cup frozen pitted cherries, thawed
- 7-8 fresh mint leaves
- a little of water (about 1 tsp)
Instructions
- In a pan combine the butter and oil over high heat. Place the chicken breast and cook it 2 minutes from each side, until start to brown.
- Decrease the heat to low medium. Season well from both sides, cover, and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally. If the pan is getting too dry, you can add 1 tsp of hot water. The breast is ready when it’s beautifully golden and soft (it will be easily cut with a spatula). Off heat.
- To make the dressing, simply place the thawed cherries and mint in a blender and pulse until pureed. Add a little water for the desired consistency and blend again.
- In a bowl combine the salads, strawberries, and smoked cheese. Divide between plates. Top with the warm chicken. Serve with the dressing.
- Enjoy!
Hi – I’m Ben, a blogger, recipe developer, and food photographer. I’m glad you’re here! I hope you will enjoy hundreds of delicious recipes and a pinch of havoc in the kitchen.
This is a stunning salad Ben! I love all the colours. And I truly appreciate when a salad is meal worthy, like this one. Great addition with the chicken, and truth be told, you had me at gouda! Love gouda in salads!
Oh, yeah, things are crazy here, too. I can understand!!! This salad was worth waiting for—I could eat it all summer long!
I’m with you Ben. It’s never easy trying to balance creating new recipes, taking the pictures, editing the pictures and also trying to keep up with your favourite blogging friends too! Your smoked gouda salad sounds lovely. The pictures look amazing! As a cheese, gouda is one of my favourites. My mum used to buy that all the time when my brother and I were younger. I need to go and get some!
Ben, this is a beautiful salad! I too, love the smoked Gouda in here. So much flavor! I noticed you used “chocolate mint” leaves. Never heard of this variety. Sounds amazing! Thanks for the recipe!
I totally know the feeling, Ben! And for us it often happens in the summer, too. There are always just so many things we want to get out and do while the weather is nice. I hope life slows down for you soon! Also, I love this salad. So many flavors going on in there…and the smoked gouda takes it to a whole new level for me! :-)
Lovely photos, Ben! And I must say that I wish I had that beautiful salad for dinner tonight!
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OK Ben. It’s like you knew exactly what I was craving for lunch today. How do you do that? I just loooove putting strawberries in my salad and I almost always eat salads all day long in the summer. This is perfect! I hope things slow down a bit for you soon. Have a great weekend!
What a lovely, colourful salad, Ben! Also – I love your new blog header – very, very nice! I hope you’re keeping cool in this wicked heat we’re having!!