This sweet and savory roasted butternut apple chicken salad is topped with crunchy pecans and a creamy maple cider dressing. Â It’s dairy free, Paleo, and full of protein and nourishing healthy fats and makes a delicious and nutrient packed lunch or dinner!
As it turns out, I can’t survive on just sweets, treats and desserts for very long (dang!)  I’ve experimented with and posted my fair share of dessert recipes as you might have noticed. Two this past weekend – no bake apple cinnamon cookies and apple pie snickerdoodle skillet cookie!) and I started having MAD cravings for salads.
Funny how these things work. Â I’m telling you – the universe wants us all to be balanced and alternate salad with cookies – these cravings are proof! Â I definitely like to take my cravings seriously and believe they’re the key to getting what we need – (that includes emotionally – no shame) so SALAD just had to happen.
Ingredients in Butternut Apple Chicken Salad
Organic chicken tenderloins
Coconut oil
Salt & pepper
Onion powder
lemon juice
Mixed salad greens
Butternut squash (cut into one-inch cubes)
Sliced apple
Raw pecans
Since I had just gone a little fall-wild at the grocery store – if you know what I mean – (and what is I mean is that I bought an obscene amount of winter squash, because I could) I was dreaming of a roasted butternut salad. Â Combined with the bucket loads of apples we are slowly working though thanks to apple picking.
Yet, roasted butternut and apples. Â YUM. Â But still way too sweet for what I was craving. Â I needed lots of greens, and, chicken. Â I needed a butternut apple chicken salad! Â I actually LOVE chicken salads when they’re spruced up with tons of goodies, but often feel too lazy to make them with said goodies. Â My craving had me feeling motivated though, so I was up for the challenge.
What’s in Maple Cider Dressing
Canned coconut milk (use full-fat for extra creamy texture)
Apple cider vinegar
Lemon juice
Maple syrup
Spicy brown mustard
Sea salt
I had all the basics down, but the dressing for this salad was haunting me. Â No joke, the dressing was literally haunting me – keeping me up at night way too late trying to figure out how to make it. Â Straight up savory? Â Creamy? Â Not creamy? Â Light and tangy? Â You might think I’m crazy – I sure did that night last week I was up at midnight ruminating over salad dressing.
Thank goodness for running – it’s the only thing that really clears my head, and, I actually think up many of my best recipes while running!
By the time the 4 miles was done the next morning, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with this dressing.  Creamy maple cider!  And I have to say it turned out better than I imagined – I’ve been drizzling the leftovers on various salads all week – and it’s clearly a winner!
How to Assemble Butternut Apple Chicken Salad
Now – there are several steps/parts to this recipe, but it’s actually quite simple once you see it come together. Â I definitely recommend making the dressing ahead of time to un-complicate things. Â You can toast the pecans and even roast the butternut ahead of time, too.
If you choose not to roast the butternut squash in advance, you can cook the chicken on the stovetop while the squash is roasting in the oven. Build the foundation of the salad while these are cooking. Then, assemble everything and dig in!
Lat note – instead of cooking the chicken as I did, you can also easily use leftover chicken or turkey for this recipe and it will be fabulous! Â Hope you enjoy!
Paleo Butternut Apple Chicken Salad with Creamy Maple Dressing 
Paleo Butternut Apple Chicken Salad w/Creamy Maple Dressing
Ingredients
For the Chicken*
- 1 lb organic chicken tenderloins
- 1 tbsp organic coconut oil melted
- sea salt and black pepper
- 1/2 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp lemon juice
For the salad:
- 3 cups mixed salad greens
- 3 cups butternut squash cubed, 1"
- 1 tbsp coconut oil melted
- fine grain sea salt
- 1 med-large apple sliced thin
- 1 cup raw pecans roughly chopped
For the Maple Dressing:
- 1 cup full fat canned coconut milk
- 3 tsp raw apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 2 tsp pure maple syrup
- 2 tsp spicy brown mustard
- dash sea salt
Instructions
Make the Dressing**
-
Put all dressing ingredients in a tall cup and blend with an immersion blender (regular blender is okay too, just add ingredients to blender as usual)
-
When all is combined and creamy, transfer to a glass jar, cover and refrigerate while you prepare the rest.
Roast the Butternut:
-
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Put the cubed butternut in a bowl with the 1 tbsp melted coconut oil and toss to coat. Sprinkle with sea salt, then spread out in a single layer on a large baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast for about 30 minutes - until golden brown and soft.
Make the chicken*:
-
Heat a large heavy skillet over med-high heat. Mix together the melted coconut oil and lemon juice and coat the chicken pieces in the mixture, then sprinkle with salt, pepper and onion powder. Cook in the hot skillet 3 minutes on each side, until no longer pink in the center. Remove from heat and set aside.
Toast the pecans:
-
When the butternut is done, lower the heat to 300 degrees and toast the pecans on a baking sheet, in a single layer for about 5 minutes.
Assemble the salad:
-
Chop the chicken into bite side piece and arrange the salad: Greens, sliced apples, roasted butternut, chicken, toasted pecans. Serve with dressing drizzled over the top. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*You can also use any leftover cooked chicken or turkey you have around!
**I recommend making the dressing first and refrigerating for at least an hour prior to serving so the flavors can blend and it can thicken. You will have leftover dressing - store it tightly covered in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Nutrition
What I Used To Make My Creamy Maple Dressing:
Want more Paleo salad recipes? Â Try on of these!
Chicken Cobb Salad with Buffalo Ranch
Chicken Salad with Bacon and Scallions
Tuna Salad with Avocado, Bacon and Chipotle AioliÂ
Awesome Paleo Chicken Salads Around the Web:
Grilled Lemon Herb Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Tell Me!
Do you take your cravings seriously?
When was the last time you craved salad? Â How about cookies?
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I have been craving good salads ever since I came back from Hawaii. But unfortunately none of my salads have been all that great. I love a good fall salad and this looks perfect! Just pinned this and can’t wait to give it a try.
I definitely take my cravings seriously and I had the best black and white cookie over the weekend. I think the best during my runs too! I really need to sometimes stop and write things down. I wrote most of the candle lighting poems in my head while running lol
I now want a salad for breakfast. For serious.
not a bad idea 🙂
Love that you affected ACV to the salad that sounds yummy! And I always feel like a good workout solves all problems!
You’d love this dressing! And yes I don’t know how I’d work out problems without running, lol 🙂
Pairing sweet things like apples or sweet squash is probably one of my favorite ways to eat chicken besides having it grilled! Apples and chicken are just heaven!
Agree! I like lots of “goodies” with my chicken and apples pair so well 🙂
Oh well, now I totally have to stop to the grocery store after work and get the few missing ingredients that I need to make this salad. And yes, I said need not want haha CFers lose a ton a salt (especially when we exercise) so I always crave salty things. I could eat potato chips at every meal but don’t think it’s a good idea ha So I try to get my salt from other sources… most of the time!
I crave salt pretty often regardless, but especially if I’m baking/recipe testing sweets! My answer for potato chips at every meal is roasted potatoes or sweet potatoes with plenty of sea salt 🙂
I’m exactly the same way!!
The balance of sweet and savory is just perfect here, and I think it would make an amazing lunch, dinner or even breakfast especially if I was craving something big, sweet, savory, and filling. I’m so excited you posted this; now I just need to go get some butternut.
This looks soooooo good! I cant wait to try!
Awesome!
This looks so amazing. It’s going on next week’s meal plan! I crave salad all the time. I often have it for breakfast. But recently I’ve been less than enthusiastic about my own creations. This recipe has come to my rescue. I’ve been craving olives – of all things – all week long. All the olives, all the time.
This salad could definitely be breakfast – lol – I’m not opposed to salad like this any time of day! And I love olives and crave them all the time 🙂
I’m always up for a good sweet-and-savory salad. And the textures here are awesome! I love adding warm ingredients (roasted chicken, squash, sweet potatoes, etc.) to salads as the temps drop.
I love sweet potatoes in my salad year round! Thanks Ellen 🙂
I love a good chicken salad and this one surpasses my own chicken salad. Yours is much more appealing, more tasty and your salad dressing is “over the top”. And most importantly, it’s paleo! Thank you for sharing your recipes with us.I don’t have a Website of my own, but I love yours.
Do you have any nutrition infirnation for this salad?
Sorry, I don’t. I think an online calculator could give you a ball park though!
I added up all of the calories and even added some avocado. I figured 550 calories. It was a delicious salad and when I look at it, I just think November. Thanks for the recipe! Loved it! Its a new fall favorite for me.
The dressing for this is great! Having the entire meal tonight and I can’t wait! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Ooh so glad you liked it!
Haha. I woke up down today. You’ve cheered me up!
This looks wonderful! I am doing the whole 30 right now so I am wondering if you have a whole 30 compliant dressing to recommend that you think would pair well?
I’m actually posting a VERY similar salad with Whole30 compliant dressing this Sunday, so look out for that!
I am thinking of pairing this salad with a nice soup for a girls night dinner……..any soup flavor recommendations?
This was so yummy! I used a chicken breast instead and a mallet to thin it for decreasing the cook time. I also tossed the kale I used in the dressing prior to putting on the toppings, and that seemed to take some of the bitterness out of the kale.