Balsamic vinaigretten - or your preferred dressing
Instructions
Begin with the most time intensive salad topping – the chicken. Now, if you want to make this step easier you can totally use pieces from a rotisserie chicken. But, if you’re prepping from raw chicken breasts, I opt to pan fry the chicken in a bit of olive oil with salt and pepper. Heat the oil and then cook the seasoned chicken 3-4 minutes on each side. Transfer to an oven safe dish and finish at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until the center is no longer pink and each breast registers 165 degrees. Cool, chop, and set aside.
While your chicken is in the oven, move on to the candied walnuts. In a stovetop pan add walnuts, white sugar, and butter. Continuously stir over medium heat for 5 minutes until the butter and sugar melt and bind to the walnuts. Remove from the pan and allow them to cool in an even layer on parchment paper.
Chop the roasted red peppers and measure out the gorgonzola cheese.
Finally, time to assemble! Start with a bed of spinach and top with chicken, red peppers, gorgonzola, and candied walnuts. Toss in a balsamic vinaigrette – I like Marie’s or Panera’s bottled options. And, if you fancy lemon, add a squeeze as the finishing touch to your sweet ‘n savory spinach salad.