Chicken Cranberry and Sunflower Salad
This salad is hearty, fresh and completely delicious with chicken, cranberries, sunflowers, red onions, mushrooms on a bed of delicious and tender greens and a sweet and tangy poppy seed dressing on top.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- For Salad:
- 5 cups baby spinach
- 1 cup arugula or additional cup baby spinach
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/4 cup toasted sunflower seeds
- 1 cup mozzarella - shredded
- 2 cups sliced baby Bella mushrooms
- 1/2 small red onion - sliced into rings
- 2 chicken breasts - simply seasoned and cooked. Grilled, baked. rotisserie or boiled, shredded or cut into chunks
- For poppy seed dressing:
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, plus 1 additional tablespoon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon poppy seeds
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard - optional
Instructions
- Make the dressing first so it can cool while preparing the salad.
- Add sugar and 1/4 cup red wine vinegar to a sauce pan.
- Bring mixture to a boil for 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and cool in freezer or refrigerator.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, salt, black pepper, poppy seeds, mayonnaise and optional Dijon mustard and whisk until smooth. If you have chunks use an immersion blender or blend in a blender.
- Chill until ready to use.
- Next, assemble the salad.
- Add spinach and arugula to a bowl.
- Add cranberries, sunflower seeds, mozzarella, baby Bella mushrooms, red onions, shredded and chunked chicken breasts.
- Add dressing per serving or pour over the whole salad and give it a toss.