What the heck, right? How did I come up with this idea? Well let me tell you. It all started when I went to Applebees a year ago during my lunch hour with some of my co-workers. I decided to order the soup and salad for lunch where you can mix and match your salads and soups per serving.. I tried the Chicken Tortilla Soup and the Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad. The soup was amazing and the salad was irresistible and sexy. I devoured that salad so fast that by the time my waiter came back to check in on me and my co-workers, I asked for another serving of the salad. It was that good!
If you have followed my blog for a while then you probably know that I just had to figure out how to duplicate this magic at home in my lab. No this salad does not taste like it came from Applebee’s but that isn’t a bad thing. In the salad from Applebee’s the cheese that come with it is blue cheese. Well, blue cheese gives me really bad digestion issues, so I decided to substitute it with goat cheese. It’s lighter, it has the same consistency as blue cheese, and it doesn’t give me gas. The chicken breast is my idea. Having the pecan crust the chicken was good, but I wanted to kick it up a notch. Therefore, I thought added a hint of brown sugar would add some contrast to the chicken. It gives a hint of sweetness and I promise you won’t feel as though you are eating a sweet salad . I urge you to try it and let me know what you think. It may be one of those weird food ideas that only works for me, but I really think it could really work for you too. Especially if you like that Pecan Crusted Salad from Applebee’s.
*Recipe inspired by Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad from Applebee’s.
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Brown Sugar & Pecan Crusted Chicken Goat Cheese Salad
Ingredients
- • FOR THE CHICKEN:
- • 2 pieces (2 Oz. Size) Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
- • Sea Salt, to taste
- • 1 cup Pecans, Ground
- • ¼ cups Brown Sugar
- • ¼ cups Bread Crumbs
- • 2 whole Eggs, Beaten
- • FOR THE SALAD:
- • 5 cups Romaine Lettuce Salad Mix
- • ⅓ cups Dried Cranberries
- • 2 whole Hard Boiled Eggs, Peeled And Diced
- • 2 whole Celery Ribs, Chopped
- • ½ Green Bell Pepper, Diced
- • ¼ cups Red Onion, Diced
- • 1 cup Grape Tomatoes
- • 1 whole Cucumber, Sliced
- • 8 ounces, weight Crumbled Goat Cheese
- • 1 cup Croutons
- • 3 Tablespoons Sweet Vadalia Onion Salad Dressing
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325ºF. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray and set it aside.
- Season the chicken breasts on both sides with sea salt. Combine the ground pecans, brown sugar, and bread crumbs in a shallow bowl or plate. Beat the eggs in another shallow bowl. Dip the chicken in the beaten eggs and then coat the chicken breasts on both sides with the bread crumb mixture. Place the chicken breasts on the baking sheet.
- Place baking sheet on the highest oven rack and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cooked. Because there is sugar in the bread crumb mixture, your chicken will begin to caramelize towards the end of the cooking time. When finished baking, remove the baking sheet from the oven, sprinkle chicken with a little sea salt and set aside.
- In a large bowl combine the salad mix, dried cranberries, eggs, celery, green bell pepper, red onion, grape tomatoes, cucumber slices, goat cheese and croutons. Add the dressing and toss to coat the salad. Turn the salad onto two plates. Take one piece of your chicken breast and cut into slices and place on top of each salad. Enjoy!
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