Strawberry Mango Chicken Salad

Hello, hello! Today, I'm going to share with you something you'll definitely want to make this week, whether for lunch or dinner, or for every meal. It's healthy, super yummy, and comes together fairly quick!

If you've been to Rumbi Island Grill (a chain in UT, AZ, & ID that serves tasty island-inspired food), you've probably had the Aloha Mango Chicken Salad. It's one of the most popular things on the menu, and for a good reason. It's huge and it's awesome. If you haven't tried it, no fear! I have a recipe you can whip up at home that tastes very similar. We'll just call it Strawberry Mango Chicken Salad in case there's a trademark on the "Aloha" part. Hope you enjoy it!

STRAWBERRY MANGO CHICKEN SALAD

• 1-2 heads romaine lettuce, rinsed and chopped (depends on how many people you want to feed and how hungry you are. One head of lettuce usually feeds our family of 2 adults and 2 kiddos)

• Sauteed Chicken Breasts, cut in strips (1/2-1 breast per person. Rub raw chicken with salt and pepper both sides, saute over medium high heat in olive oil for a few minutes per side, until no longer pink in center. Take off the heat, let rest for a few minutes, then cut into strips and set aside)

• 1/2 lb strawberries, sliced

• 1-2 c. frozen mango chunks (we buy ours at Sam's Club and they're really good, but Trader Joe's has incredible frozen mangoes if you're willing to pay more)

• Feta cheese, crumbled, to taste

• 1/4 red onion, very thinly sliced

• 1 red bell pepper, deseeded and cut into thin strips

• 1 carrot, peeled and shredded

• 1 c. roughly chopped toasted almonds (toss whole almonds in a saute pan and put on medium heat until aromatic, moving around occasionally so they don't burn. Remove from heat. Let cool, then roughly chop them, and set aside) 

• Crushed tortilla chips, to taste

• Pita bread cut into wedges and toasted (serve warm)

• Poppyseed dressing or creamy dijon vinaigrette (dijon mustard, white sugar, mayo, and white vinegar-- start with a little of each and tweak it until it tastes the way you want. For a little kick, add a pinch of cayenne pepper)

Starting with the lettuce on bottom, start arranging the ingredients in layers on top. I would recommend lettuce, then peppers, strawberries, mangoes, onion, carrot, then chicken, tortilla chips, feta, and almonds. Serve pita bread on the side and top the salad with dressing.

You can either arrange them in a bowl like this:

Or put the ingredients in individual bowls and assemble personal salads like this:

They're a little different from each other because I made these on two different days and didn't have the same ingredients. For the individual plate I cheated and used some Mediterranean chicken skewers from Costco that you just heat in the oven for 10 minutes before serving. You could even use rotisserie chicken if you wanted to save some time, but the sauteed breasts in the first picture are easy to do and are super delicious!  


This is one of our favorite ways to eat salad! What are your favorite salads? I'd love to get some new recipes! 

If you have any requests for recipes you'd like to see, let me know!


Thanks for reading, and I'll see ya on the flip-flop!

Melissa