Roasted Chicken Salad with Three-Mustard Honey Dressing

This healthy meal-in-a-bowl salad comes together quickly and is a great recipe to keep in your culinary repertoire during the stressful holidays when you are short on time. Use a supermarket roasted chicken as the protein main, so there is no cooking, pots or pans involved, and a mandolin (Japanese Benriner is a favorite brand of mine) for easy and quick prepping of the veggies.

This salad gives contrasting flavors and textures in every bite, making it anything but bland. Sweet grape tomatoes, bitter flat-leaf parsley, icy-cold, crunchy romaine, sweet julienned mini red and yellow bell peppers, shredded carrots and red cabbage— all dressed in a sweet and spicy, three-mustard and honey dressing. You can easily switch out the chicken in this recipe for any leftover holiday roasted poultry, such as turkey, capon or duck. But you will get the best results using pre-cooked roasted poultry, which adds a better flavor to the finished dish.

The dressing is on the slightly piquant side—a nice juxtaposition to the mild flavor to the roasted chicken. The honey and maple syrup lend a rich, complex and sweet flavor to the finished dish, in addition to the sugar tempering the mustard's “heat.” But, if you are sensitive to hot mustards, leave out Coleman's English and Chinese mustard powders. Serve extra corn and black beans on the side if anyone wants more heft to the dish.

Roasted Chicken Salad with Three-Mustard Honey Dressing
Serves 2 main, 4 side

For the Three-Mustard Honey Dressing
Makes about 1 cup

Ingredients
2 tablespoons Melissa’s Honeycomb
3 tablespoons maple syrup
¼ cup yellow mustard
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard (optional)
1 teaspoon Coleman’s English mustard (optional)
½ teaspoon kosher flake salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
Juice of 2-3 limes, about 2 tablespoons
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
¼ cup organic canola oil

Directions

Place all ingredients, except canola oil, into a bowl or Pyrex measuring cup and whisk with a fork till combined. Add oil in a steady slow stream and whisk with a fork until you reach an emulsion, then set aside and cover.

For the salad

Ingredients
1 head organic romaine, cut into ¼-inch slices
2 carrots, grated and ¼-inch julienne cut
¼ head organic red cabbage, ¼-inch slice
2 green onions, green parts only, sliced thin
1 bunch organic flat-leaf parsley, stems removed and chopped
½ cup grape tomatoes, cut in half
½ large avocado, cut onto 1/3-inch cubes
1 roasted chicken breast, removed from bone and sliced into 1/3-inch matchstick cut

Garnishes
1 cup yellow corn kernels, frozen & thawed to room temperature or fresh and simmered in water
1 can black beans, rinsed several times with cold water and drained

Directions

Place garnishes in small bowls and serve on the side with plated salad and Honey Mustard Dressing.