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Oh man. So good! Nice and light. I’ve never had wheat berry before but I must say I’m now a fan. I used a lemon vinaigrette and added that to the oil and honey. Turned out great!
AshLey
WHY have I waited this long to make a chicken salad in the Philippines? Sometimes I’m really late to the game. And sometimes is like, all the time.
This salad is my life right now. The textures, the flavors, and the perfect amount of light, sweet honey lemon vinaigrette…
Sigh.
One thing that we struggle with here in the Philippines is cooking. Hot, heated, high temperature cooking. Our oven has a flame in it. A real live fire. IT’S HOT. Plus it’s already one bajillion degrees and one hundred and fifty percent humid all day everyday, so that’s fun.
To add to the drama, we are a microwaveless family (do two people count as a family?), which I really want to enjoy, except that not having a quick way to heat up food usually sets off a chain of events, starting with turning the oven on –> extreme hotnesss –> grouchy-ness –> hair issues –> resorting to cold cereal and milk. The good news in all this is that they have some really yummy cereals at our little Rustan’s grocery store down the road (hi, tropical fruit granola with huge clusters of coconut) and the other good news is that I love cereal. Period.
But cereal cuts a deep wound when I find out that Bjork has been ignoring the delicious man-food that I left in the fridge in little individual containers for his lunches and choosing cereal for lunch instead. What? Individual containers of squash soup with walnuts and apple aren’t man-foody? Whatever.
This is our real life. With a fridge full of food, he eats tropical fruit grocery store granola just to avoid the heat of the kitchen. Hmmph.
Then we get into this horrible, old-married-people cycle where I come home from work and interrogate him about what he ate for lunch and be annoyed that he had a bowl of cereal instead of my individually packaged squash soup with a separate container of walnut and apple toppings. We are those people. Ok, I am that person.
Oh my gosh, you guys. WHY did I wait this long?
I made this chicken salad with grapes and the old-married-people cycle of “what did you eat for lunch” was immediately broken. We both loved it. He made his into a wrap, and then a sandwich, and then two more wraps with extra cheese. I ate mine in a big bowl as a salad. With extra cheese. And by the way, finding feta cheese in the Philippines is like finding pure gold. It’s been a happy week in this house.
If you have access to fresh, clean, crispy greens like baby spinach, toss a handful of it in there, too, will ya? Trust me – it will be delicious. It reminds me of this salad. I miss spinach. <– File that under things you’ll only say once in your life.
The salad? It was cold. It was refreshing. It was chewy and crunchy and sweet. It was filling and it was man-food. Er, at least, as much as feta and honey lemon and grapes in a salad can be man-food. Yeah? Yeah. The best part: it can be kept in the fridge in individual containers for easy eating – NO REHEATING REQUIRED. Saves time, saves sweat, saves … us.
This salad is pretty and delicious and I love it.
Honey Chicken Salad with Grapes and Feta
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 8–10 1x
Description
This honey chicken salad with grapes and feta is fresh and simple. Includes chicken, feta, red grapes, wheat berries, and honey lemon dressing.
Ingredients
- 1 lb chicken breast
- 1 bunch grapes (about 2–3 cups), cut in half
- 1 cup uncooked wheat berries
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon honey (I use Ames Farm Honey)
- ¼ cup homemade or storebought lemon dressing (I used Brianna’s brand)
- ½ tablespoon vinegar
- 2 tablespoons water
- feta cheese and green onions for topping
Instructions
- Bring 2 large pots of water to boil. To one pot, add the raw chicken breasts. Cover and cook for about 20-30 minutes. To the other pot, add wheat berries and cook, uncovered, for about 20-30 minutes.
- While chicken is cooking, chop the grapes in half. Slice a few green onions for topping. Whisk together the olive oil, honey, dressing, vinegar, and water. Keep grapes, green onions, and dressing in the refrigerator until ready to assemble.
- Remove chicken from heat and check for doneness (white color throughout). Drain water and allow to cool for several minutes. When cool enough to handle, shred chicken with two forks or your hands. Season shredded chicken with salt and pepper.
- Remove wheat berries from heat and check for doneness (chewy texture). If they’re still too crunchy for you, continue to cook for another 10 minutes, adding water as needed. Drain off all excess water when done cooking. Season with salt and pepper.
- Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Top with feta cheese, green onions, and almonds. Refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Category: Lunch
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: honey chicken salad, grape recipe, chicken salad
We are celebrating by buying a microwave. Just kidding. But actually, maybe we should get one. I dunno. Thoughts?
For now, honey lemon chicken salad with feta is on the menu alllll week and life is good. Life. Is. Good.
This chicken salad looks so good! We would have no idea that you are sweating away in the heat when this looks so refreshing!
Looks so good!
What about a small toaster oven? Uses less electricity and doesn’t heat up the kitchen like a regular oven. Hopefully cheaper over there too.
Does it ever cool off in the Philippines?
Well, I think NOW is supposed to be the cool season. Yoiks. 🙂
I’m so happy… We are on a 3 week cleanse and this recipe is perfect for a meal! I only use a microwave for quick shortcuts. I went without one for two years, but caved and bought one.
Oh we love chicken salad around here! Whenever we order sandwiches from ANYWHERE chicken salad is always ordered, without a second thought! This one sounds amazing with all the flavors!
p.s. how do you live without a microwave?! buy one. 🙂
Ha! Thanks Alaina. Bjork agrees with you. 🙂
What a great looking salad – I love using grapes or fruits in salad. Always a nice sweet juicy little pop of texture!
We have a toaster oven instead of a microwave and it’s a little slower, but won’t leave food soggy like a microwave can…Highly recommended and won’t heat up the whole house either!
I can’t believe I’ve never thought of putting feta in chicken salad especially when I make it all the time and am in love with feta. Thanks for the idea!
That’s a great idea about the toaster oven!
I’m totally in love with this quick, easy, non-cooking recipe! It’s going to be a bit hot here in LA so I know what I’ll be making this weekend!
I was hoping someone would be able to appreciate the no-cooking thing, even though it’s almost November! 🙂
Go for the microwave! It makes life so much easier. I’d put feta in everything if my family let me! Beautiful salad.
Love the salad mix and hate to tell you spinach no problem here in Oz throughout the year!! Funny: my microwave went up to heaven quite awhile ago: a friend’s mother died and I inherited hers about six weeks back. Would you believe it has yet to be used: so used to the stovetop or the fantastic small Eurolab tabletop oven I bought awhile back . . .
No spinach? Ugh. This salad looks totes amaze yo! 🙂
Yeahhhhh chicken salad! And wheat berries! It’s still 80 degrees here all week so I’m excited about this. And if it makes you feel better, if I left my other half on his own for lunch everyday he would purchase everything on the Burger King menu. Which is why I’m really glad he works close by and eats at home. Cereal would be a step up.
I have never made anything like this but I know that my husband would love it. He is from TN, and I have heard that chicken and grapes is very popular in salads down south. I really like the addition of the lentils…a very good looking salad 🙂
That looks amazing. I’ve been itching to make a good chicken salad sandwich lately, so I think this will happen, soon.
And, that bread looks FANTASTIC. Did you make it?
Sadly, no. And sadly, it wasn’t nearly as fantastic as it looks. :/
Well, at least it made a yummy photo! 🙂
this salad is so pretty….and haha on your comment about missing spinach. 🙂
The second I read your post title, I had the same reaction as you – big deep breath in and a big sigh…Everything about this dish looks satisfying delicious. I love all the flavors and textures and like that everything in the salad is healthy as can be. Great thinking!
Love the honey/green onion/feta combo in this chicken salad! This looks so tasty! 🙂
Excellent move, this salad definitely looks man- and lady-worthy! And I think personally I would get that microwave, if only to make quick nachos for dinner sometimes 🙂
Sounds delicious! I can’t wait to try this one. I think you and I must have the same taste in food, because ALL OF YOUR STUFF sounds delicious to me. Just promise to not make anything with eggplant. Or Veal. Or coconut, unless it’s a pina colada. 🙂 Looking forward to your next posting!!
I made this with turkey today, it’s awesome! My 6 year old even liked it. I love the wheat berries in it
Yum! Love the turkey idea!
This is going on the Thanksgiving left-over menu. I have had this before minus the cheese and spinach. I can hardly wait.
Two people count as a family in our house. And I am making this for myself & Jeff pronto. It looks perfectly delicious.
Get a microwave, yes! Get a crockpot, too! In the summer, I put mine outside to cook stuff. you can cook a lot in it.
I’m all over the crockpot! Love that thing.
This question will definitely show how much I don’t know about cooking but… what are wheat berries? Are they expensive? Poor girl just looking for delicious meals on a mega-budget here! 🙂
They’re little dried grains that you cook in boiling water, kind of like a rice or a quinoa, but round and chewy. Lots of people crush them into wheat flour. You can find them at any health foods store – Bob’s Red Mill is a well-known brand that carries them. 🙂
I love wheat berry salads like this. It’s so beautiful, and I plan on trying it out sometime. Thank you!
What kind of Vinegar did you use in this recipe?
Just white distilled vinegar.