This protein-rich chicken beet salad recipe features cooked beets, roasted chicken and chickpeas with fresh leafy greens finished with a healthy creamy avocado dressing. The chicken and beet salad can be enjoyed as side dish or as a super filling meal for lunch or dinner.
Course Salad
Cuisine Clean Eating, Dairy Free, Gluten Free
Prep Time 10 minutesminutes
Cook Time 25 minutesminutes
Assembling Time 2 minutesminutes
Total Time 37 minutesminutes
Servings 6cups
Calories 211.83kcal
Author HealthyTasteOfLife
Ingredients
2mediumbeetssteamed
1smallchicken breastor 1/2 of a larger one
1/2cupchickpeascooked
1/2largered bell pepperchopped
1cupchopped leafy greensmixed greens or beet greens
1/2cupavocado dressingadd extra 2-3 tbsp if you prefer it more creamy
sliced almondsoptional as garnish
Instructions
Cook the chicken and beetsand let them cool:
First prepare your beets for steaming or roasting. Steaming is quicker. Cut the beetroot into quarters and steam them in a steaming basket for 15-20 minutes.
As for the chicken meat, you can use any part. In this particular recipe I’m using roasted chicken breast, chopped into small cubes.
Prepare the rest of ingredients:
While the beets are cooking gather the rest of ingredients. Chop the bell pepper about the same size as the beetroot. Rinse the chickpeas from a can (or use some leftovers) and chop the leafy greens.
Prepare the avocado dressing:
Combine all the ingredients for the dressing in a blender or food processor. Pulse for 1 minute or until the dressing is creamy. Check out the ingredients and how-to video for the dressing.
Assemble the beetroot chicken salad:
Combine the chopped chicken, beetroot, drained chickpeas, chopped bell pepper and leafy greens in a bowl. Mix the dressing into the beetroot chicken salad and stir until it’s completely coated with the avocado dressing.
The dressing recipe yields a larger portion, and for this salad you will need approximately half of it. Keep the rest in the fridge or double the recipe ingredients so you could store some salad for the next day (add the greens later in this case).
Serve immediately, or chill up. The juice of red beets will will stain the salad and give it a faint red-ish / pink color. Taste and add some more sourness (lemon juice) or salt if you prefer.
Notes
Chicken Beet Salad Extra Tips
Storing leftovers: Refrigerate the chicken and beet salad for up to 4-6 hours in an airtight container. Because the salad has leafy greens they will go all limp and degrade fast when mixed with the rest of ingredients. So if you plan to make it in advance, add the leaves and dressing before serving.When roasting the beets (if you prefer that) I typically peel and quarter, rub with olive oil, salt, pepper and roast covered at 400F for 25 minutes and another 20 minutes uncovered. If you don’t like chickpeas, use green peas or some nuts instead.To make this beet salad vegan, omit the chicken and add more beans and nuts.