Pistachio-Crusted Chicken Salad

There’s a divine little restaurant in Yukon, Oklahoma called the Lokal.

Rob and I first tried it out last year when we met up with some friends to look at their apartments. The restaurant came highly rated from all of our friends who live in the Yukon/West OKC area, and one thing they recommended was the Lokal salad.

Of course I ordered it…and there’s no looking back. Now, everytime I’m in the area, I stop in and get that salad. It’s that good.

The Lokal salad comes with finely breaded chicken, candied pecans, strawberries, blueberries and blue cheese. Their house vinaigrette is superb, but I’m not quite sure what’s in it.

I wanted to make my own Lokal salad because we now live almost an hour away from Yukon. I didn’t have a few ingredients (pecans mainly—they’re SO expensive this year) and switched out the blue cheese for some regular goat cheese. In the end, this salad was strikingly similar to the one I had come to know and love.

You can use your favorite vinaigrette for this salad. Balsamic would be good, but I used Trader Joe’s Rose vinaigrette. I’m obsessed with that salad dressing; I use it on just about everything.

Enjoy!

Pistachio-Crusted Chicken Salad

• Servings: 4
• Time: 25 minutes
• Difficulty: Medium
• Print

A sweet and savory salad with pistachio-crusted chicken cutlets, strawberries, blueberries, almonds and goat cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 lb. chicken breast, cut into 4 thinly sliced cutlets
• 1 cup pistachios, crushed
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
• 1/4 cup dijon mustard
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• salt & pepper
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup strawberries, sliced
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 4 oz. goat cheese, crumbled
• 4 cups spring mix
• Vinaigrette, so serving (use balsamic or white wine)

Directions

1. Heat oil in a large, shallow pan over medium heat. Set up a dredging station: season flour with salt and pepper in one bowl, have mustard in another bowl, and stir together breadcrumbs and pistachios in another.
2. Dip chicken cutlets first into flour mixture, then mustard, then pistachio mixture. Place into hot oil and pan-fry for 2-3 minutes per side, or until chicken is cooked through. Place on a paper towel lined plate to cool.
3. Make the salad: start with a bed of spring mix, then top with almonds, blueberries, strawberries, and goat cheese. Slice up chicken and top salad with it. Drizzle your desired vinaigrette over the top and serve.