Fennel Apple Chicken Salad with Pumpkin Spice Pecans

Savour the flavours of fall with this Fennel Apple Chicken Salad. Made with pre-cooked or rotisserie chicken, it makes a healthy salad for two for lunch or a light dinner.

Are you ready to dive into the flavours of Fall? I am! I made this Fennel Apple Chicken Salad with a base of baby spinach and mixed greens and topped it with shaved fennel, sweet apple slices, crispy cucumber, pumpkin spice pecans, and best of all, a leftover cooked chicken breast!

It’s an easy-peasy beautiful salad that makes a nutritious light dinner or lunch.

My kitchen motto is “Cook once, eat twice.” If I can double a recipe and repurpose it the following day, I consider that a win. In this case, I had a cooked chicken breast in the freezer left over from a family dinner.

Having that pre-cooked chicken on hand made this a fast dinner to put together. Using rotisserie chicken would be just as convenient.

To make this Fennel Apple Chicken Salad, you will need:

• fresh baby greens. Use baby spinach, or a mix of baby kale, chard, and spinach, or your favourite salad mixture.
• one large or two small cooked chicken breasts
• half a sweet apple
• half a fennel bulb
• half a cucumber
• 1/4 cup of my Low-Carb Roasted Pumpkin Spice Pecans

We loved all the fall touches in this salad. I used a sweet Gala apple (and picked one with a bright red peel to make this salad pretty), crisp, crunchy, anise-flavoured fennel, dark nutrient-rich leafy greens and the best part–Pumpkin Spice Pecans! I used a few of the fennel fronds for garnish and extra flavour.

I kept this salad dairy-free, but a few shavings of Parmesan cheese on top wouldn’t be a bad idea . . .

I dressed it with a simple lemon vinaigrette, but if you prefer a creamy dressing (which would also be dreamy with this salad), add 1/2 cup of thick Greek yogurt to the dressing ingredients and whisk until well incorporated. I used this dressing in my Blue Cheese, Apple and Walnut Slaw, another recipe that is perfect for these crisp fall days!

How to cut a fennel bulb

Tackling a head of fennel can be confusing, but this video does a great job of showing how easy it can be! Once you have the fennel bulb prepared, use a vegetable peeler to shave thin slices from the bulb for this Fennel Apple Chicken Salad.

5 from 4 votes

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Fennel Apple Chicken Salad with Pumpkin Spice Pecans

Prep Time

15 mins

Total Time

15 mins

 

Savour the flavours of fall with this Fennel Apple Chicken Salad. Made with pre-cooked or rotisserie chicken, it makes a healthy salad for two for lunch or a light dinner.

Course: Salads and Dressings

Cuisine: American, Canadian

Servings: 2

Calories per serving: 471 kcal

Author: Flavour & Savour

Ingredients

• 4 cups baby spinach or mixed baby greens (chard, kale, spinach)
• 1 large cooked chicken breast boneless, skinless
• 1/2 medium apple unpeeled *substitute raspberries for keto diet
• 1 small fennel bulb shaved
• 1/2 medium cucumber sliced
• 1/4 cup Pumpkin Spice Pecans
• fennel fronds for garnish

Lemon Vinaigrette

• 2 tbsp lemon juice freshly squeezed
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp 0-calorie sweetener for Keto, (like Erythritol or Swerve) or 2 tsp honey, maple syrup or sugar
• 1/3 cup olive oil extra virgin

Instructions

1. Arrange washed and dried baby spinach leaves on a platter or in a shallow bowl. 

2. Thinly slice chicken breast, or shred it finely. Thinly slice cucumber and apple. Shave a fennel bulb using a vegetable peeler. Arrange chicken, cucumber, apple and fennel on the bed of spinach. Garnish with fennel fronds and Pumpkin Spice Pecans. 

3. Whisk lemon juice, sweetener and Dijon mustard until smooth. Gradually add olive oil, whisking until emulsified. Drizzle over salad, toss and serve.

Recipe Notes

To make a creamy dressing, add 1/2 cup thick Greek yogurt to the dressing ingredients.

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