Chicken

Chicken Salad with Peri-Peri Potato Croutons

3/15/2018 02:59:00 PM

Chicken Salad with Peri-Peri Potato Croutons

If you know me, you'll know that I'm obsessed with Nando's. It's a frequent lunch option, I have a loyalty card, I always get my free birthday meal, and I've even exchanged my points for Nando's swag in the past. (In case you're wondering, it was the Nando's pride badges because they are totally me, too cute, and I could not resist!) For me, it's always a quarter chicken and peri-peri chips. (Occasionally corn as the side if I'm trying to be healthy). But either way, the basting is always Extra Hot.

So I was thrilled when Nando's PR company sent me a little gift pack the other week. This was to promote a deal they were running (quarter chicken and two sides for $12), but I was mostly excited by the peri-peri salt and peri-peri rub they included! (Looks like the rub and the salt are both available for purchase at Nando's restaurants now, awww yeah).

Nando's swag

I'm the type of person who often impulse-buys fancy spice packets, only to have them sit in the pantry, untouched, until long past their use-by date. I didn't want that to happen, and I decided to make something with these quickly! I'm glad to say that this salad, all bright and colourful and fresh and spicy and tasty, was the result.

The starting point for this salad is some potato croutons. You may remember these from Nigella's caesar salad in How to Eat. I obviously love peri-peri chips, and I wanted to echo that crispy deliciousness in my salad. It's extremely difficult to make chips at home (ugh deep frying, what a mission), but roasting little cubes of potato until crisp is totally doable!

Potato Croutons

The other major component in the salad is a roasted chicken breast (skin on please). It's coated in olive oil and peri-peri rub, and you can roast it in the oven while the potatoes are cooking. Multitasking!

Once they're all cooked (eat hot or allow them to cool), you can sprinkle the potatoes with (lots of) peri-peri salt and assemble the salad. I used a simple combo of mixed salad leaves, cucumber, avocado (of course), and cherry tomatoes, dressed with lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Ta-dah!

Chicken Salad with Peri-Peri Potato Croutons

It was a super delicious salad, and easy enough to put together on a weeknight. I loved how bright and colourful it was. It was also surprisingly substantial - even though it is a lettuce-based salad and there's only a small amount of carb, the protein makes it really filling. Win win!

Chicken Salad with Peri-Peri Potato Croutons

Of course I made this salad with the Nando's spices I was gifted, but you could do this with any spice mixture you like and keep the structure of the salad the same - fresh and crunchy vegetables, tender chicken breast and crisp potato croutons. Everything you need in one bowl! Enjoy!

Chicken Salad with Peri-Peri Potato Croutons


Chicken Salad with Peri-Peri Potato Croutons
An original recipe by Sarah Cooks

Ingredients
1 chicken breast, skin on
2 teaspoons peri-peri rub
3 new potatoes
Olive oil, for roasting the chicken and potatoes
A few handfuls mixed salad leaves
1/2 Lebanese cucumber
Handful cherry tomatoes
1/4 ripe avocado
Extra virgin olive oil & lemon juice, for dressing
Peri-peri salt

Method
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Drizzle the chicken breast with a little olive oil and sprinkle with the peri-peri rub. Rub the oil and rub evenly over the chicken. Place on a baking tray.
Wash the new potatoes and chop into rough 2-cm cubes. Drizzle with olive oil and arrange in a single layer on a separate baking tray.
Place the chicken on the top shelf of the oven and the potatoes on the middle rack of the oven and cook for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the oven and set aside.
Place the tray with the potatoes on the top shelf of the oven and turn the oven up to 220C. Cook for a further 10 minutes or so, or until the potatoes are as crisp as you'd like them. (Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't burn).
Remove the potatoes from the oven and season generously with peri-peri salt. Set aside.
While the potatoes and chicken are cooking, prepare the salad. Line a large plate with a few handfuls of salad leaves. Chop up the cucumber, cherry tomatoes and avocado, and arrange over the salad. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.
Sprinkle the peri-peri potato croutons over the salad.
Slice the chicken into generous slices and arrange over the salad.
Serves 1

Have you made this recipe? Leave a comment below! Tag me on Instagram @sarahcooksblog and hashtag #sarahcooksblog

Sarah received free Peri-Peri Salt and Peri-Peri Rub from Nando's, but was not obligated to post or compensated in any way. All opinions are my own.

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1 comments

  1. SO hungry now! I shouldn't have visited the blog until after dinner haha!

    ReplyDelete

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