June is here and it’s HOT! The oven is officially off for the next 3 to 4 months, so meals are either grilled, cooked on the cooktop or not cooked at all. Neither Bobby nor I like eating hot or heavy meals in the summertime. We eat lots and lots of salads and this Orange Ginger Chicken Salad is one of our summer staples. The chicken breasts are pan fried on the cooktop and the rest of the salad is washed, chopped and plated. A simple dressing with crystallized ginger and orange juice is poured over the top and voilà! We have a healthy, hearty, and very tasty meal.
Ginger Chicken Salad Recipe
This salad was inspired from either a Cooking Light or a Bon Appetit recipe of more 10 years ago. It’s the perfect spring salad when you can find fresh snow peas, but any vegetables would work.
*See Kitchen Notes for substitutions and more information.
- 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced across the grain into 1/2″ slices
- Salt and pepper to taste
- ~1 tsp. Garlic powder
- 1 ½ tsp. dried Thyme
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil
- mixed greens or your favorite lettuce
- ½ carrot, grated
- ½ red bell pepper, coarsely chopped or sliced
- sugar snap or snow peas, halved crosswise
- jicama, peeled, julienned
- other assortment of vegetables*
- 1 Tbsp. crystallized ginger, minced
- 1 Tbsp. orange juice concentrate, thawed (or juice from half an orange)
- 1 tsp. Dijon mustard
- 1 Tbsp. rice vinegar
- 1 ½ tsp. unrefined peanut oil
- 2 – 3 Tbsp. canola oil, adjust to your level of desired acidity
- Place the sliced chicken in a large bowl. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and dried thyme. Toss to coat chicken pieces with seasoning.
- Heat 1 Tbsp. olive oil in non-stick skillet over medium heat.
- Add the chicken and saute’ 1 to 2 minutes per side, until chicken pieces are cooked through. (These pieces cook really quick.) Transfer to a plate until ready to assemble the salad.
- Divide the lettuce and vegetables between two plates.
- Place the desired amount of chicken slices on each plate.
- Whisk salad dressing and drizzle over vegetables and the chicken. Serve.
Vegetables – The vegetables for this salad can be just about anything that is in season. Some vegetables like asparagus should be steamed or blanched. Here are some other vegetables and fruits that work quite well.
- asparagus (blanched and chilled)
- green beans (blanched and chilled)
- broccoli
- cucumber
- sliced apple
- orange wedges
- chopped sweet onion
- Fennel infused onion, chopped
- raw spinach
- snow peas
Chicken – Two whole chickens breast could actually serve four people, one-half breast per serving. That’s probably closer to serving guidelines. For the two of us, I can actually stretch 2 breasts to make a nice dinner and light lunch.
Vegetarian version – Marinate cubes of tofu in the vinaigrette for about an hour. Toss with a dusting of cornstart, then pan fry in peanut oil.
Composed salads such as this chicken salad make a great balance meal and are especially nice during hot weather and on those nights when you just don’t want to cook or clean. As mentioned in the recipe, you can used just about any vegetables allowing you to use what you have on hand. So have fun creating your own composition and enjoy!
For more recipes that use Crystallized Ginger, check out The Rockstar of the Baker’s Pantry @ theKitchn.
If you like this Orange Ginger Chicken Salad, then you’ll like these these other salads as well.
thanks for reminding me of this one – so clean and delicious looking. Cheers
Thanks Carole! It is a keeper!
Great that you linked in, thanks. have a good one
I’ll take the duplicate link out for you
Thanks so much for inviting me Carole! I’ve bookmarked your hop!
The subject of this week’s Food on Friday is Salad. It would be great if you linked this in. This is the link . I found this through Full Plate Thursday
Yum! This meal looks delicious! Our oven is officially off for a while too. I miss fresh baked bread, but I do love all of the grilled food we’ve been having lately. 🙂 I look forward to trying out your recipe. Thanks so much for sharing with Hearth and Soul!
This looks wonderful! Love the crunchy veges with the chicken, and the dressing sounds so tasty. Thanks for sharing this with Summer Salad Sundays, look forward to seeing you again soon!
Hi MJ,
Your Orange Ginger Chicken Salad looks delicious. The dressing looks like it will have so much flavor, we are going to love this salad. Hope you are having a great week and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
Wow! That looks so tasty! The dressing sounds fabulous! Thanks for sharing.
I’m drooling over my keyboard! This looks fabulous! I know what you mean about eating light through the summer. It does seem to make ‘taking the heat’ a little easier. Thanks for sharing this week in our recipe hop ☺
Such a beautiful salad especially combined with all those colorful veggies. The perfect meal for a hot summers day. Love the dressing. Thanks for sharing.
Please come visit and while you are there, pick up a well deserve award.
Thank you SO much Chaya!
I love the additon of jicama as it adds more crunch to the salad. I’ve never seen nor heard of crystalized ginger until now. Is that something I can buy from regular supermarket? Your salad looks fresh and light. Have a great weekend, MJ!
~ ray ~
Thanks Ray! I can get crystallized ginger at my local supermarkets. It’s usually found in the dried fruit section. Be warned – it’s great right out of the bag and can be addicting! Hope you find some. You’ll love it!
Hi there, Its always fun to see ur lovely recipes. And this one is looking amazing. I am so tempted to make it on my isle some day pretty soon. Enjoy your weekend.
Thank you so much for stopping by my space and the warm words.
Best Regards, Sonia
Marvelous as usual, MJ! Ginger dressing is always a delight and your recipe is perfect. A wonderful and complete summer lunch!
This is mouthwatering good. I can tell by the ingredients, we would love it. I make chicken on Fridays. I want to save this for really hot weather.
This is just beautiful and looks so easy 🙂
I just love this salad and its absolutely perfect for these hot summer days!!Your orange ginger dressing sound so delicious!!Perfect salad crunchy, tangy, sweet!!Bookmarked 🙂
I love citrus flavor with meat, especially white one. Light and delicious dish! 🙂
Your salad sounds perfect for summer. Now all we need is some of your summer weather.
Delicious, that dressing is calling my name sure going to try when I make salad.
Your sauce looks so similar to my mango and chili one! The same, sunny colour. The whole meal looks light and as you say it’s perfect for hot days. I have to buy some snap peas! I love them too.
This sounds like the perfect summer meal MJ
colorful, full of flavor and easy to prepare
I can’t wait to give this a try
I just saw this salad on RecipeNewZ. So pretty and happy! That orange ginger dressing simply shines :-). I am going to try that, maybe for lunch today .. Thank you for sharing! I love your site so much 🙂
Thank you SO much for your kind words! Looking forward to seeing you again!
Great post and gorgeous photos too!
Wow! This looks so cheerful. Crunch, fresh veggies, tang–you’ve thought of everything. 🙂
Crystallized ginger…I eat it as a candy..never thought of using it in my dressing..love this dressing.
I’ve never used crystallized ginger before, but heard about it. Ginger gives you a nice appetite and I love this dressing. Very summer-like refreshing dressing. With your hot weather, this one is such an ideal meal! I love the colorful plate as well.
Thanks Nami! Be careful if you pick up some crystallized ginger. Like Sanjeeta, I eat it like candy!
This recipe is perfect for the summer…
Mj, this is a perfect summer saladand I think I will be making that orange ginger vinaigrette, it sounds wonderful. I love the crystalized ginger.
Boy, I’m with you – when the weather turns hot, our eating habits change radically. I’m not adverse to using the oven, because ours is well insulated, and our kitchen stays relatively cool (unless I have it cranked up to 11!). But I just don’t want to, most of the time. This is a really great recipe – tons of flavor, and healthy. Really nice – thanks.
One of my problems is that we don’t have air conditioning. We only have a swamp cooler that has a hard time keeping up with heat both inside and outside. Thanks for stopping by!
you have some fabulous recipes on here! very clean and refreshing food. 🙂 thanks for the blog visit!
The salad is beautiful and the dressing sounds fantastic. Definitely going to give it a try. Thanks.
I love the combination of orange and ginger, sweet, tangy and fresh
Hi MJ – Crystallized ginger in the sauce? What a fantastic idea… I bet it must taste absolutely delicious. I love your plate too – so beautiful with all those fresh ingredients!
This totally makes for a fabulous meal given the weather! Its light and so flavorful.
A plate of light and wonderful meal! I should try this kind of meal once in a while.
Oh MJ….I love this easy summertime meal. I love snap peas…such a good crunch for a salad. And that orange ginger dressing….I don’t know if I want to pour that over my salad or take it as a shooter! It all looks cool, easy and fabulous! : )
I’m with you Anne. It’s very hard no to drink the dressing! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
I love all the things that makes up this salad!!!! and the dressing too!!
I adore ginger and orange together, the perfect match!! I feel ya, June is a blazing here in Texas!!
Your orange ginger dressing sounds gorgeous MJ. I just love the combination of citrus and chicken and this is the kind of meal my husband and I eat frequently for lunch – summer and winter! I’m with you on trying to keep heating to a minimum in the summertime – so nice to have these delicious options. I like how you’ve seasoned the chicken before adding the dressing – I have to try that next time!
Gorgeous salad! I just love the colors and the flavor combination. Delicious!
Perfect meal for summer! I just love that dressing…delicious!
I wish I had seen this before earlier so I could make this for dinner today! I love that you used peanut oil to make the dressing. Must be very tasty!
MJ, You’re killing me.I’m so jealous. I wish it was hot. We still have the heat on during the day 🙁 Maybe if I make this I will feel like its sunny and warm out.
Totally need to keep it simple in the summer. I love chicken dishes with a citrus touch and the crystalized ginger is a really nice touch.
What a perfectly savory salad!! I love the dressing… light and still full of bold flavor. We are have a few of cooler days right now… but it will warm up soon. I still will have to use my stove because I need my curry fix, but I would definitely love salad several times a week too. 🙂 Have a great weekend!! ~ Ramona 🙂
These kind of meals with some meat, salad and veggies can be seen in my home on Fridays when my daughter and husband wants something different from our usual routine. So, I always need ideas for that. I like your dressing with crystallized ginger. I can use my pickled ginger in place of that.
Thanks Neetu! Pickled ginger in the dressing sounds wonderful!