Il Cucinologo
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Pineapple Chicken Salad

17/11/2023

I can provide you with a recipe for a delicious pineapple chicken salad, with an Italian touch. Chicken salad is a fresh dish and ideal for a summer meal or a light lunch, and here’s how you can prepare it with a Mediterranean touch.

Ingredients

  • 300 g chicken breast
  • 200 g fresh pineapple (or canned if you prefer)
  • 100 g canned corn
  • 100 g Greek yogurt (or mayonnaise, if you prefer a bolder flavor)
  • 50 g pitted green olives
  • Mixed salad greens (for example, lettuce, arugula or radicchio)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • Lemon juice
  • Fresh mint (optional)

Preparation

  1. First, cook the chicken breast. You can grill, boil or steam it, depending on your preferences. If you choose to boil it, place the chicken in a pot with cold water, bring to a boil and cook for about 20 minutes or until no longer pink in the center.

  2. Once cooked, let the chicken cool and then cut it into cubes.

  3. Cut the pineapple into chunks if using fresh. If using canned pineapple, drain it from its juice.

  4. In a large bowl, mix the Greek yogurt with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and finely chopped mint leaves to create a creamy sauce.

  5. Add the cubed chicken, pineapple and drained corn to the bowl with the sauce and mix well.

  6. Add the pitted green olives (you can also slice them into rings if you prefer).

  7. Wash and dry the mixed salad greens, and use them as a base on the plates where you will serve the salad.

  8. Distribute the chicken salad over the greens on the plates and, if desired, add an extra sprinkle of pepper or a few mint leaves for garnish.

Remember that this salad can be customized to your liking: if you like a crunchier touch, you can add nuts such as walnuts or almonds. In addition, this is a light version using Greek yogurt, but you can replace it with mayonnaise or an oil-and-vinegar vinaigrette to vary.

Trivia

Mixed salad greens do not have a fixed combination of vegetables, so you can vary them according to the season and your personal taste. Pineapple can be used fresh or canned, but remember that the fresh version will have a more balanced flavor and be less cloying than the canned one, which is usually preserved in sweetened syrup.