This quick and easy chicken salad is a perfect lunch or light dinner, making it easy for you to enjoy a great tasting way to receive the health benefits of chicken and salad greens. Our Quick Broil method of cooking helps seal in the chicken's juices making it more tender and flavorful. Feel free to add your favorite vegetables to for extra nutrition.

Prep and Cook Time: 15 minutes Ingredients: 4 boneless chicken breasts 1/2 lb mixed salad greens 1/4 cup sliced fresh basil leaves* 2 TBS fresh oregano leaves* 2 oz gorgonzola cheese 2 TBS fresh lemon juice salt and cracked black pepper to taste Dressing 2 TBS fresh lemon juice 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil salt and cracked black pepper to taste *Since the herbs are being used in a salad, there is no conversion for dry herbs. If you don't have these fresh herbs on hand, you can just enjoy the salad without them.

Directions:

1. Preheat the broiler on high and place an all stainless steel skillet (be sure the handle is also stainless steel) or cast iron pan about 7 inches from the heat for about 10 minutes to get it very hot.
2. While pan is getting hot, rinse and spin dry salad greens along with basil and oregano leaves. For oregano, simply run your fingers down the stem to remove leaves and place whole in salad.
3. When pan is hot, season chicken breasts with a little salt and pepper and place on hot pan skin side up. Return to broiler and cook for about 15 minutes, or until done, depending on the thickness of the breasts. The breasts cook fast because they are cooking on both sides at the same time. This is our Quick Broil cooking method. When chicken is just about done, remove skin and top breasts with a little gorgonzola cheese and return to broiler to melt. (If you're not sure if chicken is done, make a little slice with a small sharp knife to check. It should be only slightly pink.)
4. Toss greens with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Distribute greens onto 4 plates. Place chicken breasts on top of greens. Serve.

Serves 4

Chicken breasts can easily dry out. Leaving the skin on until done and making sure you do not overcook it helps a great deal. The breasts should read 160 degrees on an instant reading thermometer and the juices run clear. By leaving the skin on while broiling it keeps the breast moist and flavorful. It is important to broil the chicken breasts no closer than the 7 inches from the heat as recommended. This will give the breasts a chance to cook throughout without burning on top and drying out. Placing it in a very hot pan seals the bottom and retains more moisture.

Nutritional Profile

Introduction to Recipe Rating System Chart

In order to better help you identify recipes that feature a high concentration of nutrients for the calories they contain, we created a Recipe Rating System. This system allows us to highlight the recipes that are especially rich in particular nutrients. The following chart shows the nutrients for which 15-Minute Broiled Chicken Salad is either an excellent, very good, or good source (below the chart you will find a table that explains these qualifications). If a nutrient is not listed in the chart, it does not necessarily mean that the recipe doesn't contain it. It simply means that the nutrient is not provided in a sufficient amount or concentration to meet our rating criteria. (To view this recipe's in-depth nutritional profile that includes values for dozens of nutrients - not just the ones rated as excellent, very good, or good - please use the link below the chart.) To read this chart accurately, you'll need to glance back up to see the ingredients used in the recipe and the number of serving sizes provided by the recipe. Our nutrient ratings are based on a single serving. For example, if a recipe makes 4 servings, you would be receiving the nutrient amounts listed in the chart by eating 1/4th of the combined ingredients found in the recipe. Now, returning to the chart itself, you can look next to the nutrient name in order to find the nutrient amount it offers, the percent Daily Value (DV%) that this amount represents, the nutrient density that we calculated for this recipe and nutrient, and the rating we established in our rating system. For most of our nutrient ratings, we adopted the government standards for food labeling that are found in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's "Reference Values for Nutrition Labeling." Read more background information and details of our rating system.

In-Depth Nutritional Profile for 15-Minute Broiled Chicken Salad