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Grilled Pineapple Chicken Salad with Orange-Coconut Dressing

We’re taking a deep-dive this month into wholesome, unprocessed dinners, and for our second day of clean-eating dinner recipes, we’re going super-colorful with this Grilled Pineapple Chicken Salad with Orange Coconut Dressing.

Grilled Pineapple Chicken Salad

Have you ever grilled fruit before? If you haven’t, have a look at these charcoal grills and get one to start experiencing food in a finer way. Pineapple is a good place to start if you are planning on grilling your food before consumption. Grilling a pineapple is super-easy, creates pretty grill marks, and brings out a smoky sweetness that you maybe didn’t even know pineapple had.

Grilled pineapple

We’ve rounded out this salad with a few other bright colors like green kale and purple cabbage… and for a little crunch, we tossed in some cashews and sesame seeds. For the dressing, we had planned to keep it simple with olive oil and orange juice, but we added some coconut cream to give it a rich, irresistible texture.

Grilled pineapple chicken salad

Grilled Pineapple Chicken Salad with Orange-Coconut Dressing Recipe

A sweet and savory main-course salad with grilled chicken, pineapple, and an orange-coconut dressing.
Course Salad
Cuisine American
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 8 minutes
Total Time 33 minutes
Servings 4 servings
Author Jeanne Fratello

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 pounds chicken breast fillets
  • 1 large pineapple cored, peeled, and sliced into spears
  • 1 T. olive oil divided
  • 1 small bunch kale stems removed, leaves finely chopped
  • 1/4 red cabbage grated
  • 1/2 cup coarsely chopped cashews
  • 2 T. sesame seeds
  • For the dressing:
  • Juice of one orange about 1/4 cup
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 T. coconut cream
  • 1/4 tsp. brown sugar optional

Instructions

  1. Heat a grill to medium heat. In separate bowls, coat the chicken breasts and the pineapple spears with olive oil. Grill the chicken breasts for about 4 minutes on each side, or until fully cooked with nice grill marks on both sides. Grill the pineapple spears for about 3 minutes on each side. Remove both from grill. Slice the chicken into thin strips.
  2. Set out four salad plates and evenly divide the chicken, pineapple, kale, cabbage, cashews, and sesame seeds among the four plates.
  3. In a small container, combine the orange juice, olive oil, and coconut cream. Blend with an immersion blender until thoroughly mixed. Add brown sugar if desired. Spoon over salad. Serve immediately.

Now here’s the really strange thing about this salad: When we tested it out, we didn’t ask the kids anything about whether they wanted salad or liked the ingredients – we just put it down in front of them, and they ate it, no questions asked. Could it have been the bright colors? The grilled pineapple that made it seem more like a sweet treat than a salad? The combination of sweetness and crunch? We’re not sure, but we’re going with it. Hope you and your family like it too. (P.S. – It’s Whole30 and Paleo friendly!)

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