This crispy chicken salad features some juicy pan-fried breaded chicken with fresh romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots and red onion!
This delicious salad has been one of my go-to meals for lunch recently. It is incredibly simple to make and it only takes about 30 minutes. Below I have some crucial tips to prevent you from ending up with soggy chicken:
- Make sure to use a neutral oil with a high smoke point to fry the chicken. I highly recommend avocado oil since it is a healthy alternative to regular seed oils. But any neutral oil should work just fine.
- Coat each piece of chicken very well in flour, egg and breadcrumbs. Press the breadcrumbs firmly into the chicken breast.
- Don’t forget to lay the chicken on paper towels after you take them out of the skillet.
Ingredients
Salad
- 1-2 bunches of romaine lettuce (depending on size)
- 1-2 cups of cherry tomatoes
- 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 large carrot, shredded
Crispy Chicken
- 1 boneless skinless chicken breast, sliced in half horizontally
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 2 cups panko breadcrumbs, japanese style — see picture below
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- Avocado oil (or any neutral oil of your choice)
Dressing
- 2 tablespoons of ketchup (I use unsweetened)
- 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon of greek yogurt
- 1/2 tablespoon of yellow mustard
- 1-1/2 tablespoon of honey
- 1/2 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar (some lemon juice would also work here)
Instructions
Salad and dressing
- Wash the romaine lettuce and then dry it using a salad spinner. I highly suggest using a salad spinner to avoid soggy lettuce.
- Roughly chop the lettuce, slice the red onion and cherry tomatoes to your liking and finally shred the carrots using a box grater. Add all the ingredients to a large salad bowl and put it in the fridge.
- For the dressing, simply whisk all the ingredients together. Store in the fridge.
Crispy Chicken
- Clean and prepare your chicken: slice the chicken breast in half horizontally and make sure to remove any excess fat. Pat it dry with a paper towel.
- Season the chicken on both sides and set aside.
- Prepare three large plates: one with flour (season with some salt and pepper), one with two beaten eggs and one with the Panko breadcrumbs. Also, line a plate or cooling rack with paper towel and set aside.
- Dredge each piece of chicken in the flour, followed by the eggs and lastly the breadcrumbs. Work with one piece at a time. Make sure the chicken is completely coated during each step.
- Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat. The oil should come up about 1/2 – 1 inch to the side of the pan.
- When the oil is hot, add the chicken. Tip: To test if the oil is hot enough you can just drop some breadcrumbs in the skillet. Do not overcrowd your skillet.
- Fry the chicken for about 3 minutes on each side or until golden brown.
- Remove from oil and immediately place your chicken on the paper towel.
- Assemble the salad to your liking and dig in!
