Arugula Salad with Pesto Chicken
Arugula salad with pesto chicken, mozzarella, roasted red pepper, toasted pine nuts, and easy french bread croutons, all tossed with a simple balsamic vinaigrette. This recipe comes togethers in just 30 minutes or less, making it the perfect dinner for a summer salad night, or an easy lunch to entertain.
This recipe has caprese salad vibes, which is what I was imagining for this salad. The missing component to make it caprese, would be tomatoes, which I replaced with roasted red peppers. Roasted red peppers add a nice fire roasted, sweet flavor that pairs beautifully with the pesto chicken.
This salad also gives me panzanella vibes with the homemade croutons. They are slightly crunchy with the perfect french chewiness, adding a delicious texture element to this salad. The croutons are so simple to make and you can add as much or as little as you want. You simply slice the baguette into cubes, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and pop in the oven to toast.
ingredients for the arugula salad with mozzarella cheese
- arugula
- french bread
- mozzarella pearls
- roasted red pepper
- red onion
- cucumber
- pine nuts
- balsamic vinegar
- extra virgin olive oil
- honey
This is a versatile salad, you can omit the pesto chicken and serve this as a side arugula salad with mozzarella cheese, or skip the pesto and simply do grilled chicken! The prepwork needed requires a broiler to toast the pinenuts and make the french bread croutons, or you can easily use a toaster oven.
Toasted pine nuts may seem like a minescule addition, but they add a delectable, toasty, nutty flavor and add a perfect crunch to the salad. You may want to toast an extra handful… I find its hard not to eat them all before before tossing into the salad, like a little bowl of popcorn crunchies.
How to make arugula salad with pesto chicken
Pesto chicken
Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Pre-heat grill to medium-high heat. Place chicken on the grill, close the lid, and let cook for 5 minutes, without flipping. Reduce heat to medium and flip chicken. Close lid and let cook for 13 more minutes. You want the grill temperature to be approximately 400°.
Balsamic vinaigrette
In a small bowl, mix together the vinegar and honey. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking constantly until the dressing is incorporated. This is what emulsifies the oil and vinegar together so that they do not separate.
French bread croutons
Pre-heat oven to high broil, or using toast setting on toaster oven. Place French bread cubes on a tinfoil lined pan. Drizzle the bread with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt. Toast in the oven for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.
Toasted pine nuts
Place pine nuts in a small pan and toast in the broiler for 3-4 minutes, until golden brown. Keep an eye on these, they burn quick!
Assemble & toss
Assemble all salad ingredients in a large salad bowl. Toss with the vinaigrette until the salad is mixed well. Top with pesto chicken and serve from the salad bowl.
Note: You can cook the chicken on the stove, instead of grilling. Preheat the oven to 400°. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in an ovensafe skillet over medium high heat. It should be sizzling hot, before cooking the chicken (flick some water off onto the pan to check that it sizzles). Place the chicken in the hot pan and let cook for 5 minutes without touching. Flip the chicken and place in the oven for 13 more minutes. Remove chicken a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
Arugula Salad with Pesto Chicken
Ingredients
Method
- Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Pre-heat grill to medium-high heat. Place chicken on the grill, close the lid, and let cook for 5 minutes, without flipping.
- Reduce heat to medium and flip chicken. Close lid and let cook for 13 more minutes. You want the grill temperature to be approximately 400°.
- Remove from the grill and let chicken rest for 10 minutes.
- Slice the chicken and toss in the prepared pesto in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, mix together the vinegar and honey. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil, whisking constantly until the dressing is incorporated.
- Pre-heat oven to high broil, or using toast setting on toaster oven. Place French bread cubes on a tinfoil lined pan. Drizzle the bread with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt. Toast in the oven for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.
- Place pine nuts in a small pan and toast for 3-4 minutes until golden brown. Keep an eye on these, they burn quickly!
- Assemble all salad ingredients in a large salad bowl. Toss with the vinaigrette until the salad is mixed well.
- Top with pesto chicken and serve from the salad bowl.
