You may or may not be familiar with the below Trader Joe’s Lemon Chicken & Arugula salad...
While I myself am in fact familiar with it, I have never actually tried it. I don’t often buy pre-made salads and when I do, I usually go for the Southwestern Salad. Regardless, I was inspired by this Lemon Chicken & Arugula salad from Trader Joe's as the ingredients sound fantastic together, which is why I attempted my own gluten free version packed with even more veggies, protein, and fiber.
By far the best parts of this recipe are the Fire Roasted Red Pepper dressing and the lemon chicken. If you prepare these two elements plus the quinoa in advance, it's a super easy and healthy meal to throw together after a long day.
For the Fire Roasted Red Pepper Dressing:
- 2 cubes of frozen Dorot Gardens Garlic or 2 cloves of fresh minced garlic
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1 Tbsp water
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- Pinch of Sugar
- 2 Large Peppers from a Jar of Fire Roasted Red Peppers (about half the jar)
- Salt for seasoning
- Some Lemon Zest for flavor
Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth! I use a Nutri bullet kind of like this which works great for blending dressing, soups, and of course smoothies!
For the Lemon Chicken:
- 1-2 Chicken Breast (1/2 a chicken breast is enough for one serving of salad)
- Juice from 2 lemons
- Lemon Pepper
- Salt
Add chicken to crockpot or express crockpot, cut lemons in half and squeeze out all the juice over the chicken. Don’t worry about taking the seeds out. Season with Lemon Pepper and a touch of salt. If using a crockpot cook for 2.5 - 3 hours on high, if using an express pot cook for 15 minutes on the poultry setting! Add to Tupperware when done, or shred and set it aside if you plan to make the salad immediately.
For 2 Servings of Lemon Chicken Arugula Salad:
- 2 handfuls of Arugula
- 1 Lemon chicken breast shredded/chopped
- 1 Avocado
- 3/4 cup cooked Quinoa (I mixed red and white)
- 3/4 cup Frozen White Cut Corn thawed
- 3/4 of a Bell Pepper
- Roughly 1/3 cup dressing (if you follow the recipe above you'll have way more dressing than you need, so I suggest adding a bit, tossing the salad, and adding more as needed)
Cube avocado and chop up bell pepper, then add all ingredients except dressing to a large bowl. Add a bit of dressing, remember you can always add more so don't overdo it. Toss the salad, and add more dressing as needed. Season with a dash of salt and some lemon pepper or enjoy as is!
If you've tried the Trader Joe's version and decide to try this recipe out let me know what you think! Theirs uses Israeli Couscous which isn't gluten free, hence the quinoa in my version. Aside from that, theirs only includes chicken, dressing, and arugula. You could nix the other veggies in this recipe, but personally I think they add more flavor and texture!
