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,  baby spinach, mixed greens, shaved fennel, apple slices, cucumber, and pumpkin spice pecans, 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
• ¼ 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 ½ 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.

Dinner Salads: Quick and Nutritious

Some of our other favourite chicken salads are:

• 30-Minute Chimichurri Chicken Dinner Salad
• Caribbean Shredded Jerk Chicken Salad
• Marinated Lemon Chicken Greek Salad
• Blackberry Balsamic Grilled Chicken Salad
• Skinny Chopped Chicken Taco Salad

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.

Print Pin Rate

Course: Salads and Dressings

Cuisine: American, Canadian

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Servings: 2

Calories: 471kcal

Author: Elaine

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Ingredients

• ▢ 4 cups baby spinach or mixed baby greens (chard, kale, spinach)
• ▢ 1 large cooked chicken breast boneless, skinless
• ▢ ½ medium apple unpeeled *substitute raspberries for keto diet
• ▢ 1 small fennel bulb shaved
• ▢ ½ medium cucumber sliced
• ▢ ¼ cup Pumpkin Spice Pecans
• ▢ fennel fronds for garnish

Lemon Vinaigrette

• ▢ 2 tablespoon lemon juice freshly squeezed
• ▢ 1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
• ▢ 2 teaspoon 0-calorie sweetener for Keto, (like Erythritol or Swerve) or 2 teaspoon honey, maple syrup or sugar
• ▢ ⅓ cup olive oil extra virgin

Instructions

• Arrange washed and dried baby spinach leaves on a platter or in a shallow bowl. 
• 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. 
• Whisk lemon juice, sweetener and Dijon mustard until smooth. Gradually add olive oil, whisking until emulsified. Drizzle over salad, toss and serve.

Notes

To make a creamy dressing, add ½ cup thick Greek yogurt to the dressing ingredients.

Nutrition

Calories: 471kcal | Carbohydrates: 11g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 36g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Sodium: 136mg | Potassium: 451mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 6g | Vitamin A: 5665IU | Vitamin C: 26.4mg | Calcium: 66mg | Iron: 2.1mg

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