Grilled Chicken Salad with Creamy Basil Dressing
(Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Hood Cream. The photographs and opinions are wholly my own. Thank you for supporting the sponsors that make The Naptime Chef possible.)
Summer is finally here. The kids are out of school and we are preparing for our upcoming trip to Cooperstown for the Fourth of July. I’ve been hard at work on The Little Snack Newsletter and other fun projects, all of which have been amazing. I’ve also been fitting in some late afternoons at the pool since it’s summer after all!
The true sign of summer is, of course, that I’ve basically turned off my oven and cook almost exclusively on the grill. One of our favorite everyday dinners is this grilled chicken salad. The chicken is simply marinated in a favorite balsamic marinade and grilled to perfection. Then I toss together a salad full of spinach, vegetables, and some cheese. It’s perfectly simple, but what really makes it special is the creamy dressing.
Don’t panic when I say “creamy”, this isn’t a rich heavy dressing. It’s smooth, cool, and packed with fresh herbaceous flavor. To make it I start off with Hood Cream. It’s my favorite cream to use because it blends perfectly and has the smoothest texture and rich flavors. Plus, it’s always readily available at my neighborhood grocery store. I blitz it in the blender with loads of fresh basil, and avocado, and the rest of the ingredients. If it want it thinner I simply had a little more cream, for a thicker dressing I add extra avocado. It comes together in a snap and tastes amazing on salads of all kinds, I’ve even used it as a dipping sauce for vegetables.
To dress the salad I like to slice up the chicken and place it on top. Then I drizzle the dressing over it, toss everything together and enjoy. It’s truly the most incredible, and easiest, dressing that goes well with just about anything. I promise, you’ll love it as much as we do.
Ingredients
- For the dressing:
- 1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
- 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
- 1 cup Hood Light Cream
- 4 scallions
- 2 garlic cloves, peeled and halved
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- For the salad:
- Grilled chicken, sliced
- Salad greens of your choosing (I used baby spinach, red onion, red pepper, feta cheese, and olives in this one; but you can make your own!)
Instructions
- 1. To make the dressing: Add the first 8 ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth. Then, add the olive oil while the blender is running to full emulsify the dressing.
- 2. Make the salad and add the sliced grilled chicken on top. Drizzle the dressing on top and serve!
