Chicken salad is a healthy meal-in-a-bowl we can feel good about eating. Well, maybe not your typical mayo-drenched chicken salad, but this one uses a tahini-based dressing which is genuinely healthy and absolutely delicious.


I like to make the chicken and the dressing in the beginning of the week, which means that whenever I want to eat it, I need only to cut up the veggies. It’s also a good bring-to-work lunch—just keep the dressing in a separate little container until you’re ready to eat it.

Keep in mind that if you have leftover chicken or schnitzel in the fridge, you can certainly use that. You don’t have to make it fresh for the salad.


I went with the most basic vegetable combination—lettuce, cucumber and tomato. You can of course add, remove or change it up in pretty much any way you like. I sometimes add slivered almonds or crumbled pecans for additional texture and flavor.


The dressing is tahini-based, and further flavored with fresh lemon juice (don’t use the bottled stuff, please!), pure maple syrup (not the pancake stuff), garlic, ginger and salt. There are lots of other dressings that would work well here, too, so if you don’t like this one, feel free to experiment.


Salad Ingredients:

  • 2 hearts of romaine lettuce
  • 4 small cucumbers
  • 20 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 lb. raw thin chicken cutlets

Chicken Marinade:

  • ¼ cup fresh orange juice
  • 2 tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 tbsp. honey
  • 2–3 tbsp. soy sauce
  • ½ tsp. oregano
  • ½ tsp. paprika
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Dressing Ingredients:

  • ½ cup tahini
  • 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice (approximately the juice of half a lemon)
  • 2 tbsp. pure maple syrup
  • ¼ tsp. garlic powder
  • ¼ tsp. ginger powder
  • ¼ tsp. kosher salt

Directions:

  1. Combine all the marinade ingredients in a container or Ziploc bag. Place the chicken in the marinade and refrigerate for about an hour. Then pour out the chicken and the marinade onto a baking pan, and bake at 400° F for 15–20 minutes, until chicken is cooked through. Set aside to cool.
  2. Wash, check and cut the lettuce. Slice the cucumbers and cherry tomatoes. Cube the chicken. Toss all ingredients together. Optional: add some slivered nuts for an additional texture.
  3. Mix all the dressing ingredients together. Pour over the salad immediately before serving.

What are your favorite chicken salad add-ins?