Orange Chicken Salad
This post was sponsored by NAKANO® Rice Vinegars as part of an Influencer Activation for Influence Central and all opinions expressed in my post are my own.
It’s a new year and time to make new resolutions to live a healthier and more active life. After all those holiday calories, I know I could stand to lose a few pounds myself. So I’ve made lots of resolutions for the new year to be more active and make better choices when it comes to eating.
One of my favorite ways to make our family’s meals healthier is to take my old recipes and revamp them into something healthier. I like to make healthy swaps to save on calories fat and sodium while still preserving the flavor.
One of our absolute favorite foods in Chinese take-out. And more specifically orange chicken. It’s probably one of the worst things you can eat too. It’s loaded with sugar, fat and so much sodium. It tastes so good, but I can tell you I never feel good after I eat it.
I’ve been making a slightly healthier version of orange chicken at home for several years, but it still had the deep fried sauce chicken. So today I decided to completely overhaul it into a super healthy, but extremely yearly dinner salad.
For this salad I start with lots of fresh spinach and some crisp red cabbage. Then I add grape tomatoes, cucumber, red onions and sliced carrots. And let’s not forget the oranges! I add lots of mandarin oranges.
For the chicken, I still use super flavorful chicken things instead of chicken breasts. I chop it into small chunks and cook it in a small amount of olive oil instead of coating it and deep frying it.
For the sauce, I just use Hoisin sauce, and coat the chicken well. Next I start on the dressing. I combine NAKANO® Rice Vinegar, fresh orange juice, grated garlic and ginger and olive oil. Then I give it a good shake and it’s ready!
Homemade salad dressings are so delicious and easy to make. They’re so much more delicious than ready made products too and better for you! I love to use NAKANO® Rice Vinegar to make dressings or to drizzle on salads or steamed vegetables. It adds so much flavor!
NAKANO Rice Vinegars make great healthier swaps for many of your favorite condiments. You can use NAKANO Seasoned Rice Vinegars as a savory low calorie alternative to high fat and high sodium dressing, marinades other processed sauces. I also like to use them instead of butter. you can save lots of calories by substituting NAKANO Rice Vinegars!
NAKANO Rice Vinegars come in seven varieties, so there’s lots of different options you can have on hand. I really love the roasted garlic flavor. It’s so good!
You can find NAKANO Rice Vinegars nationwide at Kroger, Publix and Walmart.
You can find more great recipe ideas on the NAKANO Swaps website
Don’t forget to get your own NAKANO Coupon too!
Be sure to connect with NAKANO® on Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter.
Yield: 4 salads
Orange Chicken Salad
5.00 stars (1 reviews)
Loading...method: Sautéed course: Main Course
cuisine: American diet: Enjoyable
Ingredients:
For the chicken:
- 4 boneless skinless chicken things, cut in chunks
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 4 teaspoons hoisin sauce
- salt and pepper
For the salad:
- 8 cups chopped salad
- 2 cups shredded red cabbage
- 1 cup chopped cucumber
- 1 cup sliced red onion
- 1/2 cup thinly sliced carrot
- 2 cups halved grape tomatoes
- 1 (15oz) can drained mandarin oranges
For the dressing:
- 1 tablespoon NAKANO rice vinegar
- 1 tablespoon orange juice
- 1 teaspoon grated garlic
- 1 teaspoon grated ginger
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- a pinch of salt
Directions:
Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add salt and pepper to chicken. Drizzle olive oil in skillet. Add chicken and cook until done. Add hoisin sauce and stir well until chicken is coated evenly.
Add all ingredients for salad to 4 separate plates. Add all ingredients for dressing into a jar or small bowl. Shake ingredients well to blend.
Place chicken in top of salad and drizzle over orange dressing and serve!
Did you make this recipe?
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