Grilled Chicken Chopped Salad with Duck Bacon and Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing

Grilled chicken, bacon, tomatoes, corn, and hearts of romaine tossed together with a delicious buttermilk blue cheese dressing.

I loved this grilled chicken chopped salad with bacon and blue cheese. It takes just about 30 minutes from start to finish to make. Possibly because the chicken is thinly sliced before grilling, it's not dried out, and the char adds a wonderful dimension of flavor. Before it's grilled, the chicken is rubbed with a garlic paste. It's about the tastiest boneless skinless chicken breast I've ever had.

Well... perhaps the the buttermilk and blue cheese dressing helped... and the duck bacon. Yes, duck bacon, from Maple Leaf Farms, one of our #CookoutWeek sponsors.

Disclosure: I received product from Maple Leaf Farms for this event. Opinions expressed here are mine, and my opinion is that this bacon is ah-maze-ing. 

For another recipe using duck bacon, check out these grilled scallops with duck bacon.

This grilled chicken chopped salad is delicious as a summer lunch or dinner. The corn in this salad is also grilled, and then cooked for a couple of minutes in a bit of the bacon fat. Yes, you read that correctly.... grilled corn finished in bacon fat.

This salad takes very little time to prepare, and it's both fresh and filling. It would also be wonderful stuffed in pita bread or topped with homemade garlic croutons. I could pretty much drink the dressing.

After the recipe, be sure to check out the rest of the #CookoutWeek recipes. They all look amazing.

salad, duck, chicken, blue cheese, chopped salad, bacon

salad, entree salad

American

Yield: Serves 4

Grilled Chicken Chopped Salad with Duck Bacon and Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing

ingredients

• 1/3 cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 1/2 tablespoons champagne vinegar (can substitute white wine vinegar)
• 1 1/4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
• 4 large cloves of garlic, mashed to a paste with a pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried tarragon, crumbled
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 1/4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into thin cutlets
• 2 ears of fresh corn, shucked
• 5 slices bacon, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
• 2 hearts of romaine, sliced crosswise into 1 inch wide slices
• 1 cup + of grape tomatoes, sliced in half
• Oil for the grill

instructions

To Make the Dressing

1. Whisk together the buttermilk, mayonnaise, vinegar, half of the blue cheese, and 1/4 of the garlic paste. 
2. Add the tarragon and salt and pepper to taste. Can be made a day or two in advance. 

To Prepare the Salad

1. Fire up your gas or charcoal grill to medium heat.
2. Rub the chicken pieces all over with the rest of the garlic paste, and season lightly with salt and pepper. 
3. Oil the grill grates and grill the chicken until just cooked through, about 3 to 4 minutes per side. Transfer the chicken to a plate and tent with foil and let rest for about 10 minutes. Cut the chicken into bite-sized pieces. 
4. At the same time, grill the corn, turning on occasion, until slightly charred, about 3 to 4 minutes. When cool enough to handle, cut the kernels off of the cobs. 
5. In a skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove the bacon to a paper towel lined plate, reserving 1 teaspoon of the bacon fat. Add the corn to the bacon fat, and cook over medium for about 2 minutes. Add the corn to a very large bowl. 
6. Add the lettuce, tomatoes and about 3/4 of the dressing to the large bowl with the corn and toss to coat. Add the chicken and toss to combine. Sprinkle the top of the salad with the bacon, the rest of the cheese, and a drizzle of the remaining dressing. 

calories
400

fat (grams)
20

sat. fat (grams)
7

carbs (grams)
15

protein (grams)
39

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2018/06/grilled-chicken-chopped-salad-with-duck.html

Recipe adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine - Aug/Sept 2014

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