Salad is a go to lunch option for many people. But many people don’t think that salads can really be a meal prep recipe. I am here to tell you that is not the case. Add this kale chicken and hearts of palm salad to your meal plan this week and I will show you how you can incorporate this into your meal prep. Additionally, if you are counting macros this salad is super easy to adjust to fit anyones macro goals. See my notes below.
Kale Chicken and Hearts of Palm
Ingredients
- 4 oz Boneless, Skinless, Chicken Breast
- ¼ tsp Black Pepper
- ¼ tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 50 g Baby Kale (about 1½ cups)
- 5 g Hearts of Palm sliced, (about ½ cup)
- 10 g Shallots diced, (about 1 medium shallot)
- 45 g Avocado sliced, (about ½ an avocado)
- 5 g Feta Cheese crumbled, (about 1 tbsp)
- 4 Cherry Tomatoes cut in half
- 1 tbsp Lite Sweet Vidalia Onion Dressing
Instructions
- Heat a large stove top pan to medium heat, while the pan is heating season the chicken breast on both sides, using black pepper and garlic powder. Once the pan is hot, add the extra virgin olive oil to the pan.
- Place the chicken immediately in the pan, leave it there on medium heat for 2 minutes, then flip to the other side and cook for an additional 2 minutes.
- Both sides should start to become golden brown, but the center will still look uncooked…if not golden, give each side another minute…your pan wasn’t hot enough. Then turn the heat to low and cover the chicken with a lid. Let it cook for about 4 minutes, then flip and cover again for additional 4 minutes.
- After 4 minutes on each side covered, the chicken should be done. But this does depend on the size of the chicken breast…these times are based on a 4 oz breast. My rule of thumb is, once covered, cook the chicken for 1 minute per ounce per side. I find that this deliveres a perfect juicy chicken breast every time.It is always best to check the internal temperature of chicken before serving.
- While the chicken is cooking prep and plate the remainder of the ingredients. Add kale to a bowl, and toss with the dressing. I always toss the dressing in my greens first, this allows the dressing to be evenly disbursed throughout the salad.
- Then top with diced shallots, sliced hearts of palm, halved cherry tomatoes, and sliced avocado.
- Once the chicken is done cooking, remove from the pan, slice into bite size pieces and add to the salad.
Nutrition
Question:
- Are you trying to get better at meal planning?
- Do you find your self eating the same recipes every few weeks?
- Are you having trouble finding recipes for meal prep?
- Or are you counting macros?
If you are bored of eating the same recipes every week and answered yes to any of these question, then you are going to want to check out my notes below. Tips on how you can incorporate this kale chicken and hearts of palm salad into your meal plan and meal prep. If you are counting macros I have also included notes on how you can easily adjust the protein, carbs, and fats to meet your macro requirements.
NOTES FOR MEAL PLANNING:
Meal planning doesn’t have to be hard or take a lot of time. In fact, meal planning can be fun when you are provided with easy new recipes each week. Meal Planning can also help save money, prevent food waste, and save you time.
The best things about this salad is, it’s easy to clean up, simple to make, no reheating needed, and can be adjusted to fit just about any macro goals.
NOTES FOR MEAL PREP:
Most people don’t think you can meal prep a salad, well I am here to say that is not true! While you might not be able to mix all the ingredients together, you can prep everything. Keeping the wet ingredients separate form the dry ingredients until it is time to enjoy your salad.
- For this recipe you can combine your kale, shallots, hearts of palm, feta cheese, and cherry tomatoes together and store them in the fridge.
- Cook your chicken following the instruction above. You can prep as many chicken breasts as you would like for the number of salad you plan to eat. The chicken will keep in the fridge for 5 – 7 days.
- Then have your dressing and chicken in separate containers, either together or separate. I like to just dice up my cooked chicken and have it portioned out into zip lock bags.
When you are ready to enjoy the salad, simply add the chicken and dressing to the kale and other ingredients and toss together.
This salad is delicious with the chicken either warm or cold. If you would like to heat up your chicken, pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds.
NOTES FOR COUNTING MACROS:
PROTEIN:
The main source of protein in this recipe is the chicken, making this recipe super easy to increase or decrease the amount of protein per serving.
- Every 1 ounce of chicken has 8.8 grams of protein.
CARBOHYDRATE:
This salad is very low in carbs, as are many salads. The carbs come from multiple ingredients in this salad. Therefore there is not just one ingredient that you can adjust to make a change to the amount of carbs.
My suggestion for this recipe is too, enjoy the lower carbs in this salad, and then have your carbs included in another meal throughout your day.
FAT:
The fat in this salad comes mainly from avocado, the dressing, and the oil that the chicken is cooked in.
However, if you are looking to increase or decrease the fat in this recipe I would recommend making the change to the avocado, as this is the easiest to adjust.
- For example: For every 15 grams (about 1/8 avocado) you increase or decrease the fats by 4 grams.
Tip to help slow the browning process of a sliced avocado:
- You can pre-cut your avocado: Toss your avocado chunks with a little lime juice, then portion into zip lock bags. Suck all the air out of the zip lock bag and store in the fridge. Typically my pre-cut avocados will last 2-3 days before starting to brown if I sucked all the air out.
When making adjustments to the macros in this kale chicken and hearts of palm salad, you will want to keep in mind the number of servings you are making.
If you love salad and are looking for another delicious salad recipe, I would love for you to check out my: