Easy mixed berry spinach salad with avocado, pan fried chicken and flaked almonds dressed in a simple honey poppy seed dressing! 

Reasons I love this spinach salad:

• Fresh
• Colorful
• Simple
• Satisfying
• Flavorful

Reasons I don’t love this spinach salad:

• …
• …
• …
• …
• …

Ok, maybe I’m biased, but just trust me on this because I think you’ll like it too. Cool?

If you look in my fridge at any given time the one food item that you are guaranteed to find is surprisingly not cheese. Nope. It’s spinach. Popeye would be proud.

Spinach is one of those foods that I forget how much I actually enjoy. Not because it’s all that spectacular on its own. I’m not about to pretend that they aren’t just leaves or anything. It’s what you can do with spinach that I love so much. Throw it in smoothies or in a stir fry with no extra effort. There’s no massaging or blanching needed to make it edible – just throw and go and enjoy.

So when it comes to building salads, spinach is my go to base – like with this one.

This salad is pretty straight forward. It’s loaded up with a mix of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries – a nice little blend of sweet and tang. We’ve also got our diced avocado because salads are better with avocado. I decided to lightly batter and pan fry my chicken breasts, but feel free to use any leftover/rotisserie chicken if you have any.

And the dressing. This dressing is one that I adapted slightly from Baked Bree. There’s no mayo in it like there is in most poppy seed dressings and it calls for honey instead of white sugar. I used dijon mustard in my version for a little creaminess, but you can also use a little bit of mustard powder if that’s easier for you. You’ll love how easy it is to toss together – just add all the dressing ingredients to a jar and shake until combined.

Like I said – simple, satisfying, and flavorful!

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Recipe

Mixed Berry, Avocado, and Spinach Salad

Yield: 4 servings Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 25 minutes

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Mixed berry salad with avocado, pan fried chicken, almond and topped with a honey poppy seed dressing!

Ingredients

Chicken

• 2 large boneless skinless chicken breast
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup tapioca flour *, 63 grams
• salt/pepper

Salad

• 4 cups baby spinach, 6 oz/120 grams
• 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, 62 grams, sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh blueberries, 80 grams
• 1/2 cup raspberries, 62 grams
• 2 large avocado, diced
• 2-3 tablespoons slivered almonds

Poppy Seed Dressing

• 1/3 cup olive oil, 158 ml
• 1/4 cup honey, 85 grams
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 -1 teaspoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 tablespoon poppy seeds
• salt and pepper to taste

Need help converting to weights? Check out my cups to grams Conversion Guide.

Instructions

1. Begin by tenderizing the meat. Sandwich the chicken breasts between two sheets of baking parchment and pound with a rolling pin (or meat tenderizer) until the breasts are even in thickness. This helps ensure a even/faster cooking time.
2. In a small bowl whisk your egg. In another bowl add your flour along with a pinch of salt and pepper and whisk. One at a time dunk the chicken breasts in the egg mixture first. Allow the excess egg to drip off the chicken. Then coat the egg in the flour mixture. Repeat this process on the second chicken breasts.
3. In a medium sized skillet heat a tablespoon of oil. Once the oil is hot, carefully at each chicken breasts the the skillet. Cook on a medium heat for about 5 minutes or until the one side is golden in color. Flip the breasts and repeat and the other side.
4. Remove the chicken from the pan and allow to rest as you prep your salad.
5. If you haven't already wash and completely dry your spinach and berries. Add the spinach, berries, avocado, and almonds to a salad bowl tossing to combine.
6. To make the dressing add all of the ingredients to a small airtight contain and shake until combined. Make sure to taste and season with a little salt and pepper.
7. Slice the chicken into strips and it to the salad. Right before serving toss the salad with the dressing.
8. Enjoy!

Notes

Dressing slightly adapted from Baked Bree. Feel free to use regular gluten free flour in place of tapioca flour if you don't care about it being Paleo

Nutrition Info for salad without dressing: Calories: 314 Fat: 15 g Saturated fat: 3 g Carbohydrates: 28 g Sugar: 4 g Fiber: 9 g Protein: 21 g

Nutrition Info Dressing: Serving Size: 2 tablespoons Calories: 167 Fat: 14 g Saturated fat: 2 g Carbohydrates: 11 g Sugar: 9 g Fiber: 0 g Protein: 0g

Nutrition Information

Yield: 4

Serving Size:

serving Calories: 535Saturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 42mgCarbohydrates: 48gFiber: 10gSugar: 22gProtein: 6g

This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.

© A Saucy Kitchen, Sarah Nevins

Cuisine: American

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