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Chicken and Wild Rice Salad

May 23, 2014 by Danae 7 Comments

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Do you ever cook something and kind of just amaze yourself at how good it turned out? That’s pretty much what happened with this Chicken and Wild Rice Salad.

Chicken and Wild Rice Salad | Recipe Runner

Wednesday I was flipping through a bunch of recipes trying to decide what to make and share with you guys. I wasn’t really inspired by much. I of course love baking things, but I needed a little break after baking Strawberry Breakfast Bars, Raspberry Almond Mini Cheesecakes, and Lemon Poppy Seed Scones (fear not I’m sure the break from baking won’t last long). As I flipped through piles of torn out recipes and searched through my Pinterest recipes nothing was really catching my eye. I wanted something fresh, flavorful, healthy, and perfect for making this Memorial Day weekend. Then I went to one of my favorite resources for great recipes, Cooking Light. I absolutely adore this website and the magazine. I’ve been subscribing to them for at least 5 years and have made tons of wonderful dishes from their recipes. I browsed through their salad recipes and stumbled on a recipe I had made a long time ago, Chicken and Wild Rice Salad with Almonds. I remembered how much I loved this salad the last time I made it and decided I would make it again, but put my own spin on it.

Chicken and Wild Rice Salad | Recipe Runner

I don’t know about you but I prefer wild rice and brown rice over white rice any day. I love the little bit of crunch that it has and that slight nutty flavor, not to mention it fills me up a lot faster. So, some of the changes I made to this salad from the original recipe were adding in some sweet red grapes, tart dried cherries, and tangy, creamy goat cheese. I also changed up the dressing slightly using white balsamic vinegar, less oil, and agave nectar to sweeten it rather than sugar.

Chicken and Wild Rice Salad | Recipe Runner

This salad is seriously blowing my mind! There are so many textures and flavors going on and yet they all meld together into one delicious bite after another and another and another, you get the point.

Chicken and Wild Rice Salad | Recipe Runner

I found myself purposely trying to get a little bit of each ingredient onto my fork with every bite. This Chicken and Wild Rice salad NEEDS to be apart of your Memorial Day weekend BBQ or picnic, trust me on this one!

Chicken and Wild Rice Salad | Recipe Runner

Yields 6 servings

Chicken and Wild Rice Salad

Crunchy, sweet, tangy, nutty, chewy, this chicken and wild rice salad has it all!

15 minPrep Time

45 minCook Time

1 hrTotal Time

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Ingredients

    For the Salad
  • 1 cup wild rice cooked according to package instructions
  • 1 large or 2 small chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
  • 2 T. shallot, minced
  • 2 stalks of celery, chopped
  • 1/2 cup carrots, shredded
  • 1 cup grapes, halved
  • 1/3 cup dried tart cherries
  • 1/4 cup almonds, toasted and chopped
  • 2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
  • Salt to taste
  • For the Dressing
  • 1/4 cup white balsamic vinegar
  • 1 t. dijon mustard
  • 2 t. agave nectar
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 T. grapeseed oil or other flavorless oil
  • 1/4 t. kosher salt

Instructions

  1. Cook the wild rice according to package instructions and then let it cool to room temperature.
  2. While the rice is cooling chop and shred the celery, carrots, grapes, shallot, almonds, and chicken.
  3. In a large bowl combine all of the salad ingredients, gently tossing to combine.
  4. In a small bowl or mason jar combine all of the dressing ingredients and whisk or shake them together until thoroughly combined.
  5. Pour the dressing over the salad and give it another toss.
  6. Serve immediately or chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve.

Notes

If you don't plan on serving the salad right away add the almonds in right before serving so they stay crunchy.

If you can't find dried tart cherries dried cranberries can be used instead.

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Filed Under: Salad Tagged With: Almonds, Carrots, celery, Chicken, Dinner, Gluten Free, Goat Cheese, grapes, Healthy, Salad, side dish, wild rice

Previous Post: « Roasted Strawberry Balsamic Smoothies
Next Post: Pulled Pork Biscuit Sandwiches »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anna (Hidden Ponies)

    May 23, 2014 at 8:32 pm

    I love when recipes are surprise hits! This is gorgeous, and sounds delicious!
    Reply
    • Danae

      May 23, 2014 at 10:32 pm

      Thanks Anna! This one is definitely a keeper!
      Reply
  2. Matt Robinson

    May 24, 2014 at 5:44 am

    This is my idea of the perfect summer salad, every bite looks incredible!
    Reply
    • Danae

      May 26, 2014 at 3:16 pm

      Thanks Matt, I'm sure I'll be making this one a lot this summer!
      Reply
  3. Zainab

    May 25, 2014 at 5:08 pm

    This is definitely fresh and healthy!! I love wild rice in salads, always a great crunch ;)
    Reply
    • Danae

      May 26, 2014 at 3:16 pm

      Thanks Zainab! There must be crunch in my salads!
      Reply
  4. In Good Flavor

    May 27, 2014 at 2:07 am

    I like your addition of grapes and dried cherries to the original recipe. They add such wonderful flavors. What a great summer dish!
    Reply

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Hi, I'm Danae! Welcome to Recipe Runner. This blog is all about my love of food, cooking, baking, and running. I hope that I can tempt you with my recipes and inspire you with my running stories! Enjoy! Read More ↝

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