Parmesan Crusted Chicken Salads with Greek Yogurt Parmesan Dressing.
Want to be cliche together and eat a Monday salad?
Of course you do!
It’s not a boring one, I swear.
I mean, just look at this color down there.
There is no denying that I can be a salad fiend in the summer. It’s way too hot to cook all day (even though I have to make cookies today – haaalp, I’m going to roast.), sometimes it’s even too hot to be outside and use the grill. Since I don’t want to sweat my face off and subsequently complain to the five people around me that OH MY GOSH IT’S SO HOT, we eat a lot of salads.
But packed with toppings. Full blow meals, on TOP of salads!
That’s how it’s done.
As weird as it sounds, a salad like this is total comfort food for me.
And I am totally not that person.
You know I’m not that person!
Probably because it’s practically vegetable-less? Of course. Slash unfortunately.
This chicken is ridiculously simple. It’s lightly breaded and baked (using my old school chicken finger method) and tastes incredible. I find that baking it this way leaves almost no room for that terrible dry chicken texture and it’s always super flavorful.
Only downside is that you DO have to turn on your oven for a leeeeettle bit in this heat, but I swear (again), it’s quick. You can even make it a day ahead of time if you don’t mind the crunch disappearing a bit. No need to reheat – it tastes excellent cold too.
Other necessities that I must have for a tantrum-free salad:
Cherry tomatoes! Big slices just make me cringe.
Crispy, crunchy bacon pieces. These just elevate a salad, always.
Cucumber half moons. Because I wanted to say “half moons.”
And homemade, quick pickled onions. These onions are my new favorite thing. I make them at least once a week and we put them on everything. Tacos, quick nachos, salads and even pizza. Eddie loves onions so much that he will eat them raw with a fork and even though I’m all NO NO NO to that, I definitely think these ones are delicious.
Much better than plain, raw red onion slices. Write it down!
Oooooh let’s talk about the dressing. You guys know I’m soooo not a dressing person and tend to love oil + vinegar since my tangy, briney love runs deep. But my greek yogurt Caesar dressing ranks up there pretty high and is one that I remake over and over and over again.
I wanted to take that same concept and make it more parmesan-like… aka, lose the anchovies and garlic overload. There’s a time and a place for both of those and things and this was not the time or the place.
Sooooo. What I’m saying is… it’s salads like this or just a massive cheese plate all summer long. Pick your poison.
Parmesan Crusted Chicken Salads
Ingredients
- quick pickled onions
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced
- 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- salads
- 1 pound boneless, skinless thin-sliced chicken breasts
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1 cup panko bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup seasoned fine bread crumbs
- 1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons flour, any kind is fine
- 4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 seedless cucumber, sliced
- 8 cups chopped romaine lettuce
- extra freshly grated parmesan for sprinkling
- greek yogurt parmesan dressing
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 5 tablespoons greek yogurt
- 2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/2 cup olive oil
Instructions
quick pickled onions
- Place the onions in a jar or cup. In a bowl, whisk together the vinegar, sugar and salt until the sugar and salt dissolve. Pour over the sliced onions. Let sit at room temperature for an hour. You can obviously make this ahead of time and once made, store it in the fridge in a sealed container or jar.
chicken & salad
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack on top. Spray the rack with nonstick spray.
- Season the chicken with the salt and pepper. Place the eggs in one bowl and the breadcrumbs, parmesan and flour in a second bowl. Stir well.Take each chicken bread and dip it in the beaten egg. Place it in breadcrumb mixture and press gently so the breadcrumbs adhere and cover the entire piece. Gently place the chicken on the wire rack. Repeat with the remaining chicken. I like to spray each piece of chicken with olive oil or canola spray once it’s breaded so the crust becomes golden and crunchy.
- Bake the chicken for 15 minutes, then gently flip it and bake for 15 minutes more. At this point, you can prep the bacon for the salads if you haven’s done so yet and chop the remaining veggies. Remove the chicken and slice it for the salads.
- To assemble the salads, toss the lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber together. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and toss again. Add the chicken slices, bacon pieces and pickled onions on top. Drizzle on the dressing and cover with extra parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.
greek yogurt parmesan dressing
- To make the dressing, add the garlic, yogurt, parmesan, mustard, honey, vinegar, salt and pepper to a food processor and blend until pureed. With the processor still on, stream in the olive oil until a creamy dressing forms. Store in a sealed container in the fridge.
Notes
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I appreciate you so much!
(I pick both.)
52 Comments on “Parmesan Crusted Chicken Salads with Greek Yogurt Parmesan Dressing.”
But see, here’s the thing… your salads are ALWAYS packed with exceptional flavor/ingredient combinations. No way anyone could ever turn down your salad creations like this one!
thanks love!!
I’m saving this just for the dressing…and the chicken. Less so the salad but I reckon it could totally get me into eating a summer salad if it’s covered in that dressing, it sounds amazing!
thank you amy!
Yay for non-boring salads, this one looks like it’s right up my alley! So doing it!
thanks tori!
This is my DREAM SALAD. I’m trying to get better at eating more salads but I’m pretty sure that if they all looked/tasted this amazing it would be less difficult. LOVE all those toppings!!
right? i’m the same!! thanks jessica!
your caesar salad dressing is on a weekly rotation in our house.
yay! so glad you like it!
Ahh I love these images! It’s like chaos but so perfect at the same time. Those orange sodas especially are so summer deliciousness. Love it!
http://www.sprinklesandsaturdays.com
thanks julia!
How long do the onions keep in the fridge? A week or longer? Awesome salad!
i’d say definitely a week-ish! they are so easy that i only make about 1 onion at a time and we finish it up in a week!
While I am generally on team eat your salad and be sad I’ve been texting everyone I know telling them to make “my salad” cause I can’t stop eating it: mini cucs, cherry tomato, basil, blue cheese, toasted almond, chicken, strawberry, sourdough croutons, sweet onion. So good.
Probably tastes better because I don’t have to turn the oven on. I had to cook a turkey this weekend/week and kept putting it off because it’s so darn hot and thought “first thing Monday morning when it’s a wee bit cooler” and then it was 100 degrees by 7. I’m in the basement, the turkey is in the oven, and I am seriously considering just baking that sucker on the back deck. *puts buy more watermelon on grocery list*
that salad sounds incredible!! i am going to try that combo. i think eddie would love it too.
obvs also grilled corn – can’t believe I forgot, obsessed lately.
I hear you on not wanting to turn on the oven this time of year. The salad sounds amazing, especially the dressing.
thanks rose!
I am so on board with having these pickled onions on hand all summer. I saw the recipe in the last issue of Cook’s Country to put on top of pork tacos and have been obsessed ever since!
they are so wonderful! and versatile.
This looks so amazing- must try this recipe out!
thanks sylvia!
Yum! This looks absolutely delicious! Totally swapping this out for my go-to salad, this week (Super tasty and super healthy: http://bit.ly/2a5bkG9)! Thanks for sharing :)
thanks ashley!
This looks so amazing! I’m totally in favor of loaded salads allll the time. I love your greek yogurt caesar dressing so I’m definitely going to try this one!!
thanks girl!
This is my kind of salad! I love parmesan everything! <3
me too laura!
UGH. fecking salad goals right hereee! looks so good
bahahah. i heart you.
This looks so delicious and healthy. Thanks for the inspiration!
Best, MODENOVA I http://www.modenova.com
thank you!
This salad sounds WONDERFUL! I have been following you for a while now and have pinned or tried some of your recipes. Can’t wait to have some friends over to try this one. Thanks.
thank you so much pat!
Thank you for the recipe! My husband said its the best salad he tasted ever!
Hey girl this salad looks amazing! Yummy!
thanks shawnna!
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That creamy dressing looks extra good!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
thanks kari!
Now this is the kind of salad I want to live off all summer long!
:)
Saw this post and had to have that dressing for dinner last night. I had everything except subbed in “shakey cheese” aka pregrated Parmesan. It still came together well BUUUUUUUUT then my husband decided as I was setting the table to grill a steak too so it got warm and separated just a little. Don’t be us/Thanks dear! We ate it anyways and it was still to die for. This will be my new go-to dressing! Thank you for sharing.
oh no! hahahah. so glad it still worked out! :)
Chicken and Parmesan is definitely a winner for me. This recipe is so simple and delicious http://www.indigoandmouse.blogspot.com
thanks sarah!
thanks sarah! xoxo
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