Chinese Grilled Chicken Salad

If you haven’t used Chinese five spice before, this is a great way to try it for the first time. Chinese five spice is a blend of anise, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, and ginger.  It’s an interesting combination, for sure.  It’s very aromatic; the whole house smelt like it once the chicken hit the griddler.

My inspiration for this salad came from here.  It’s the middle of August, though, so I was not about to turn my oven on.  I decided to grill the chicken on my Cuisinart Griddler.  I was a good choice.  As for the salad, use whatever veggies you like.  I went with snow peas, scallions, some cilantro, and carrots (for a little color).  You can make your own dressing.  I had a bottle of Ken’s Lite Asian Sesame already open, so I decided just to use that.

Start with the marinade for the chicken…

• Mince up a 1 inch piece of ginger and a few cloves of garlic.  (Hint: I peel and store my ginger in the freezer when I buy it.  It makes mincing it so much easier and it lasts much longer!)

• Pour 1/2 cup soy sauce into a measuring cup.

• Add the ginger and garlic.

• Add 2 tablespoons sugar.

• Add 2 tablespoons Chinese five spice.

• Whisk to combine everything.

• Place 1 pound of thinly sliced chicken breasts into a large resealable bag.

• Pour in the marinade.

• Massage it into the chicken.

• Place the bag in your fridge for at least 1 hour.  (I marinated for 2 hours.)

A little before you’re ready to grill your chicken, make the salad…

• Slice up 1 large head of romaine lettuce.  Wash it thoroughly and dry using your salad spinner.

• Mince up some fresh cilantro.

• Slice up some scallions.

• Cut some snow pea pods in half.

• Add all of the veggies to your lettuce.

• Peel 1 carrot into the salad (for some much needed color!).

• Add 1/2 a small package of sliced almonds (about 1 ounce).

Now you’re ready to grill the chicken…

• Preheat your Cuisinart Griddler (or grill or grill pan) to medium-high heat.
• Remove the chicken from the fridge.

• Place it on the grill.  Cook for 4-5 minutes on one side.

• Flip the chicken and cook for about 4 more minutes (depending on how thick your chicken is).

• You want to have nice grill marks, like this:

• When the chicken is finished cooking, remove it and slice into thin strips.

To serve, pile the salad high on your plate.

Top it with some of the chicken.

Drizzle the dressing on top.

Enjoy!