Sriracha Almond Chicken Salad
Topped with sriracha almond-encrusted chicken and a sriracha ranch dressing, this Sriracha Almond Chicken Salad makes for a tasty summer lunch! This post is sponsored by Blue Diamond Almonds.
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Ah, I love this time of the year! We spent the weekend working in our garden. We usually plant about half the garden from starter-plants and half from seeds. For some reason our seeds didn’t really come up well this year, so we hopped over to a local greenhouse on Sunday afternoon and grabbed some pole beans and snap peas. I popped those bad boys into the ground just in time for an evening rain shower. Hopefully they have better luck than the seeds!
There’s something so incredibly awesome about homegrown fruits, veggies and herbs. Maybe it’s the fact that you planted them and watched them grow. Maybe it’s the fact that produce from your own backyard does indeed taste better. One of our favorite activities in the summer is to walk outside and ‘tour’ the garden when my wife gets home from work. While it’s still too early here in upstate New York for most of our plants, we do have some fresh arugula and lettuce ready to be picked already. Give it another month or so, and we’ll have loads of tomatoes, zucchini and peppers ready to go, too.
We eat a lot of salads around here for lunch in the summer. In the winter, we’re all about soups for lunch…but summer is completely opposite! We’ll grab what we can from the garden and add in other ingredients from the store. Then we pack up a bunch of containers of salad for quick and easy (and healthy!) summer lunches.
Sriracha Almond Chicken Salad
Sriracha Almond Chicken SaladThe inspiration for this salad actually came from a dish I discovered at an awesome restaurant back when I lived in Louisiana. This dish featured catfish coated in ground almonds, and of course it was topped with an amazing sauce. (Louisiana cuisine is heavily influenced by French cooking…and the French really know how to make a delicious sauce!) And on a side note, how is it that I can remember I meal I ate 10 years ago, but I can’t remember where I put my keys this morning?
Instead of catfish, I used chicken for this salad. I grabbed a can of the new Sriracha Blue Diamond Almonds, and those became the coating for this chicken. Of course, since it’s summer, I decided to go with a fresh salad rather than a heavier meal. So I sliced that chicken into strips and tossed it on top of some fresh greens. But good salads require good dressings, so I whipped up a quick and easy Sriracha Ranch dressing. All together, this salad ranks up there pretty high on my list of favorite summer salads.
The sriracha almond-encrusted chicken was an awesome topper for this salad, but I couldn’t stop there! I added in some crispy chow mein noodles, shelled edamame and of course some additional Sriracha Blue Diamond Almonds. Oh, and baby corn. How could I forget the baby corn!? My wife is straight obsessed with baby corn. I personally find it a little strange (both the baby corn as well as my wife’s addiction to it), but hey it made for a fun topping on this salad!
On a side note, I found these Sriracha Blue Diamond Almonds to be incredibly tasty just by themselves. And incredibly addicting. I was crunching on these almonds pretty much the entire time I was taking these photos. See that photo of the almonds on the serving tray? Well, let’s just say that photo started out with more almonds, but they mysteriously disappeared. These bad boys are definitely loaded with sriracha flavor, but they weren’t overly spicy at all. It took a good but of willpower, but I was able to save at least a few for the salad!
Did you make this Sriracha Almond Chicken Salad at home? Leave a comment. Or snap a photo and tag me on Instagram (@Spicedblog). Cheers!
Looking for more salad ideas? Check out these other favorite salad recipes, too:
Grilled Steak Salad w/ Strawberries and Blue Cheese
Chinese Chicken Salad
Cold Cucumber Salad
Prosciutto & Pea Pasta Salad
Mandarin Chicken Salad Wraps
Sriracha Almond Chicken Salad
Ingredients
For the Chicken
- ½ cup Sriracha Blue Diamond Almonds
- 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs lightly beaten
- ¼ cup bread crumbs
- 3 Tbsp unsalted butter
For the Sriracha Ranch Dressing
- ¼ cup buttermilk see note below
- ¾ cup sour cream
- ¼ cup mayonnaise
- 1 Tbsp sriracha
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- ½ Tbsp dried parsley
- 1 tsp dried dill
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
For the Salad
- Mixed greens
- 1 cup edamame shelled
- ½ cup chow mein noodles
- 1 15-oz can baby corn
- 1 red pepper very thinly sliced
- ¼ red onion very thinly sliced
- additional Sriracha Blue Diamond Almonds toasted
Instructions
For the Chicken
- Place the almonds in a small frying pan; toast for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, over medium heat.
- Transfer the almonds into a small food processor or mini-chopper; pulse until finely ground.
- Place chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap; use a meat tenderizer (or a rolling pin) to pound the chicken until ~¼” thick.
- Place the flour on a plate; dredge both sides of the chicken breasts in the flour.
- Place the beaten eggs in a shallow bowl; dredge both sides of the chicken breasts in the eggs.
- Finally, combine the bread crumbs and ground almonds in another shallow bowl. Dredge both sides of the chicken breasts in this mixture.
- In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add chicken breasts to the skillet and cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, or until fully cooked.
- Transfer cooked chicken to a cutting board; slice into thin strips.
For the Sriracha Ranch Dressing
- In a medium bowl, whisk all ingredients together until well blended.
For the Salad
- Wash and tear mixed greens into a large bowl.
- Add edamame, chow mein noodles, baby corn, red pepper and red onion.
- Top with sliced chicken breast and additional toasted almonds.
- Drizzle with Sriracha Ranch dressing before serving.
Notes
My kind of salad – got to make this today!
Thank you so much, Phronsie! We’ve been enjoying this salad for awesome lunches all week! 🙂
I love my garden, too! I have mostly herbs and some vegetables, but my favorite part is the convenience of it all. Need parsley? No run to the store, just walk out back! (Do you use any good weed killer for your beds?) I’m all about salads too in the summer, great recipe!
I totally just did that last night, Heather! I needed some parsley for a recipe, so I just ran out back and picked it. So fun! And weed killer? Hah! That’s my hands. My wife yells at me because everytime we go out to walk in the garden I end up pulling weeds. If you have any tips there, I’d love to hear ’em. 🙂
David!! I agree!!! I LOVE homegrown fruits, veggies and herbs and am extremely sad I didn’t plant anything this summer. . thank goodness my awesome neighbors did and they are sharing!!! and I hit up the Farmer’s market a lot! OK these Sriracha Blue Diamond Almonds are EVERYWHERE!!! going to try soon! LOVE this salad!!!!
Thanks so much, Alice! You’ve been a bit busy lately, so I think you can totally get a pass for not planting this year. But hey, it’s never too late to just plant some herbs. Those are nice and easy and ready to use from Day 1 if you get starter plants. (True story: sometimes I buy starter herb plants in the summer if I need a specific herb. They’re often cheaper than buying the herb in the grocery store, and I end up with a whole plant that way!) And yes, try those Sriracha Blue Diamond Almonds…they’re crazy good!
Ha-ha, the same happens to me. While I remember some details such as the food I ate/made, gifts I presented, and sometimes even the particular clothes I was wearing on some important days many years back, I’m always struggling with telephone numbers, postal codes, and so on. Weird, isn’t it? Talking about the salad, count me on please! I do love the idea of coating chicken in nuts – genius idea! P.S. Love your note about ‘tour’ the garden – I just imagine a thousand of acres and you having this trip for hours ha!:)
I guess we remember those things because they had an effect on us. Postal codes? Important, but no real effect. What I ate 10 years ago? Not important, but had an effect. Anyways, yes…the almond-crusted chicken was a super fun addition to this salad! (Not to mention super tasty…) Oh, if I had a thousand acres…I would plant it all! And I might even through some lavender in there, too. Haha!
I love chicken salad especially in the summer. This is a great recipe!
Thank yo so much! This salad has been making for some pretty epic lunches this week! 🙂
I totally agree with you on the home grown produce! I was watering my garden last night and popped a cherry tomato into my mouth and almost died. It was so good I ate all the ripe ones! I don’t know if I’m obsessed with baby corn, but I sure do like it. I kind of forgot that, so thanks for the reminder. This salad looks great too and Chris would love those Sriracha Almonds!
Sounds like you are a couple of weeks ahead of us, Rachelle…the cherry tomatoes are close, but just not quite there yet for us. Soon, though, soon! Maybe we should look into growing baby corn next. Haha! And grab a Chris a can of sriracha almonds…he’ll thank you for it! 🙂
Almond crusted chicken with Sriracha? Is this for real or am I dreaming?
#WolfpackAwesomeness
You are indeed dreaming, Alpha. Dreaming of a delicious Wolfpack salad for lunch today. And almonds. Lot of sriracha almonds raining from the clouds. Now how’s that for a fun dream? 🙂
Sriracha, chicken, salad!!! Yes, please!! You have all of my fav things on one plate, David! It feels like this salad is talking to me 🙂 thanks for sharing!
“Savita….eat me…for lunch….today.” Well look at that! This salad is apparently talking right back to you. Haha! It is indeed one tasty summer salad. Thanks, Savita!!
oh baby corn. BAD childhood memories- The half Asian side knows it too well! Mate, this is SUCH an epic use of the almonds and I can only imagine how good it would have tasted with catfish! And big props to actually making it last the recipe- I polished off one can already and well….nursing this final one.
Well, I never said what happened to that first can, Arman. Haha! This almonds were crazy good. I almost didn’t leave myself enough for the chicken! And this salad? Well, it’s made for some epic lunches this week. (Feel free to omit the baby corn. We don’t want any bad memories associated with this salad!)
Awesome use of the sriracha almonds! Loving the almond crust and the use of sriracha doubled up in the sauce! 🙂 So yum!
Thanks, Medha! That sriracha ranch dressing is totally delicious, btw. I’m pretty sure I could just take these almond-crusted chicken fingers and dip them straight into that dressing. Hmmm…now there’s an idea. Haha! 🙂
Love growing my own fruit and veg – definitely tastes 100x better! This salad looks insanely good – loving the sound those sriracha almonds! YUM. Perfect summer meal! Thanks for sharing, David!
I have no idea if you guys can get these sriracha almonds over there, Jess…but you should totally look for them! I’m imagining all of the crazy awesome baked goods that you could make with these slightly spicy almonds. 🙂
I truly envy you David. We made the decision last year to buy our (lovely) apartment in the center of the city. We love the location and everything is so nearby, but I do miss exactly what you have. A lovely garden to grow A LOT of stuff.
So, how about a house swap for a few months? You’ll be creating your recipes from our flat in Amsterdam, and us having cocktails in your garden …err creating recipes in your garden.
Sounds fair ?
I will GLADLY swap with you for a couple of months, Emanuele! You guys can come over here and grow all of the veggies and herbs you’d like, and my wife and I will enjoy living in the heart of Amsterdam. (We might eat a lot of cheese while we’re there…just sayin’.) And cocktails in the garden are always fair game! 🙂
The crust on this chicken looks amazing! I saw you comment on Ben’s site (Havoc in the kitchen) and couldn’t resist checking this recipe out..
Wow, thank you so much for stopping by, Gaila! I must admit that this almond-encrusted chicken is one of my new favorites for summer salads. Heading over to check out your site now!
This is possibly the coolest salad I’ve ever seen. I bet it tastes incredible!
Thanks so much, Sam! It’s definitely a fun summer salad!
LOVE this almond crust, but the Sriracha Ranch, brother that’s awesome! As for growing your own herbs and veggies, I used to love doing that. There’s something cool about growing your own and working the soil, see the sprouts come up and eats the fruits of your labor. Unfortunately my two dogs like to eat whatever I plant (even jalapeños!) so no more garden for me.
Oh no! We’ve been through the gauntlet with squirrels, rabbits and chipmunks eating our garden…but never the dogs! Put up a little fence around the garden to keep those guys out. 🙂 But yes, this almond-crusted chicken and that chipotle ranch dressing are a dynamite combo for summer salads!
This may come as a shock to you but I have never had sriracha before! But I really need to change that, even though I am not a huge SPICY person.
Hmmm…if you’re not a huge spicy person, then sriracha might not be your fave, GiGi. I’d just stick to regular almonds and ranch dressing. Or you can go crazy and eat a whole spoonful of sriracha just to see what happens. But you know you’d be required to videotape that one, right? 🙂