Honey Citrus Chicken, Blood Orange, and Avocado Chopped Salad

This chopped salad is filled with honey citrus chicken, blood oranges, avocado, and shredded brussels sprouts! It’s finished with a citrus dressing, and it’s super hearty so it makes a great lunch to take to work or pack on-the-go!

This salad will brighten the dreariest of winter days. It’s this time of year that I start craving more fresh, summery foods. I can just sense the days getting a litttttle bit longer, and having the sun rise a little earlier has been wonderful. I also can’t stop with the blood oranges. They’re so stunning, obviously, but their flavor is out of this world. They’re not as “orangey” as a typical navel orange..almost more fruit punchy? Or something? Don’t quote me on that. If you haven’t had them, you’re missing out.

I also could’ve sworn that I had pistachios and feta in the house when I was ready to make this. But, I didn’t. Spoiler alert: the day after I made this I found a huge two pound bag of pistachios hiding underneath my flour stash. Such is life.

Pistachios and feta would make this salad even better, so I highly recommend you adding them! This salad is great without them too, but you can’t beat the salty bite and crunch those ingredients offer.

The creamy avocado and tangy citrus are so delicious together. I also used beautiful chopped butter lettuce and shredded brussels sprouts as the salad base and I LOVED the combo. I pretty much always eat my brussels roasted, but I loved them raw in this salad! Need to do that more often.

Also, the dressing is so gorgeous and fresh. And it’s literally magenta.

For the chicken, I quickly marinated it in a little cara cara orange zest, orange juice, tangelo juice, and honey. It’s so simple but offers so much flavor! Going to be making chicken like that more often.

Cara cara oranges, tangelos, and blood oranges are my winter citrus trifecta. I made margaritas with them the other week and the flavors work SO PERFECTLY together.

Moving along from my love of winter citrus, I love chopped salads because you seem to get more of everything in each bite. And they’re so pretty!

Who else is looking forward to spring and warmer weather?!

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Honey Citrus Chicken, Blood Orange, and Avocado Brussels Sprout Chopped Salad

This chopped salad is filled with honey citrus chicken, blood oranges, avocado, and shredded brussels sprouts! It's finished with a citrus dressing, and it's super hearty so it makes a great lunch to take to work or pack on-the-go!

Course Main, Salad

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 4

Author Molly | Spices in My DNA

Ingredients

For the chicken

• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts (2-3 breasts)
• zest and juice of 1 cara cara orange (can use navel orange too)
• juice of ½ a tangelo (also labeled as minneolas)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

For the dressing

• juice of ½ a tangelo
• juice of 2 blood oranges
• 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

For the salad

• 3 cups shredded brussels sprouts
• 4-5 cups chopped butter lettuce
• 2 blood oranges, peeled and diced
• 2 avocados, pitted and diced
• 1/3 cup chopped pistachios (optional)
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta (optional)

Instructions

1. Begin by marinating the chicken. Combine cara cara orange juice and zest, tangelo juice, honey, olive oil, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl and add chicken. Toss to coat and set aside while you prepare the rest of the salad.

2. Preheat the oven to 375℉. Make the dressing. In a medium bowl, whisk together the tangelo juice, blood orange juice, apple cider vinegar, honey, garlic, and olive oil until combined. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside. Add the shredded brussels and butter lettuce to a large bowl and toss. Set aside.

3. Heat an oven safe medium skillet to medium/high and add a drizzle of olive oil. Add the chicken and cook for 3-4 minutes per side. Pour the marinade over the chicken and bake for about 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. This will vary depending on their thickness. Once chicken is finished, let rest for a few minutes and then cut into bite sized pieces.

4. Add the chicken, blood oranges, avocado, pistachios, and feta to the brussels and lettuce mixture and toss. Drizzle over desired amount of dressing and toss again. Enjoy!