This hot honey chicken salad is perfect for a mid-summer day. The perfect balance between light and hearty.

This dish inspired by “Whipped It Up” has become one of my all-time favorite salads. Delicious savory and sweet hot honey chicken with the different textures of light cheese crunchy salad and fried onions make this dish especially yummy. Try this recipe for lunch or a light dinner and I am sure it won’t disappoint.

Tools Needed

Ingredients For Hot Honey Chicken salad

1 lbs. Chicken Breasts: Pasture raised is best, since they are fed the most natural diet, you can opt for free-range which isn’t as good as pasture raised but still better than factory farmed. You are free to use whatever you like, just be aware of the source of the chicken. This will also affect the quality and taste of your salad.
Reduced Fat Fiesta Blend Cheese: If I’m consuming cheese my go to is
Kraft Reduced fat fiesta blend. If you do not want to do dairy you can try
vegan cheese, although I cannot vouch for how it pairs with this salad. You can
also choose to omit it altogether.
Organic Spring Mix Salad: You can use whatever lettuce from your garden that you prefer during spring and fall. During the summer months, or if you prefer for convenience, I recommend Organic baby Spring mix salad.
Red Bell Pepper: Fresh Red bell pepper adds a nice sweet and refreshing crunch.
Cucumber: I like to use English cucumbers, but you can use whichever you prefer.
Purple Onion: Purple onions are sweeter and add a bit more color to the salad as a bonus.
Garlic Pepper Fried Onions: You can most certainly make this from scratch but for a quick and easy salad I like to purchase the Great Value Garlic Pepper fried onions when I want my salad a bit heartier.

Ingredients for Sauteed Chicken

Granulated Garlic Powder: Be sure to use granulated garlic powder.
Granulated Onion Powder Be sure to use granulated onion powder.
Adobo: I Like the adobo with sazon seasoning but original works just as well.
Coconut Aminos: You can also use tamari or soy sauce, I prefer the taste of tamari or coconut aminos, and they are also lower in sodium and gluten free.
Chicken Bouillon: This is completely optional and can be omitted if you want to reduce sodium and sugar.

Ingredients for Hot Honey Sauce

Coconut Aminos: Use instead of soy sauce for a soy and gluten free alternative. You can also use tamari.
Fresh Garlic: You can substiute with garlic powder, just use half the ammount.
Light Brown Sugar: If you are not opposed to artificial sweeteners, you can substitute the brown sugar for Lankato Golden Monk fruit sweetener. You can Also try to substitute with a more natural sweetener such as raw unfiltered honey or maple syrup, but the granulated sugars add a nice caramel like texture.
Honey: I always opt for raw and unfiltered honey.
Cornstarch: For a more natural thickener, substitute cornstarch with arrowroot powder.
Fresh Ginger: Fresh ginger is preferred but ginger powder can be used in half the amount if you do not have fresh ginger.
Water: For making your cornstarch slurry

How To Make Hot Honey Chicken Salad

Add: Add Tamari or coconut aminos, garlic and ginger, light brown sugar and honey to a saucepan on medium heat and whisk together.
Combine: Combine cornstarch or arrowroot with two tablespoons of water and add to saucepan with the other ingredients.
Simmer: Simmer on low heat until sauce begins to thicken. About 5-7 minutes. Set aside.

Prepare the Salad

Clean: Clean and dice your red bell pepper and cucumber. Peel and dice your red onion and set aside along with cucumber and pepper.
Prepare: Prepare the hot honey sauce by combining the teriyaki sauce, Frank’s Red Hot Buffalo sauce, and honey together and coat your sauteed chicken breasts with the mixture. Set it aside.
3) Place: Place your Organic Spring mix on a plate and top with fiesta blend cheese, fried onions, red onions, cucumber, bell pepper, and honey hot chicken on top of the salad.
4) Add: You’re your favorite dressing and enjoy!

Serving Suggestions

Serve with ranch or bleu cheese dressing
Wrap in a tortilla wrap and enjoy that way!

Tips

Make your Hot honey sauce ahead of time so that it is already ready when you want to make and enjoy your salad for faster preparation, just heat through when ready to use.

The BEST Home-made Birria Tacos!

This classic Mexican dish is bursting with flavor!

Prep Time 8

Cook Time 15

Total Time 8 15

Servings 16 Servings

Author Sharlana Johnson

Equipment

High Speed Blender
Bowl
small pot (for boiling water for dates)
16 0z. mason jar

Ingredients

5 lbs 5 lbs chuck pot roast (can also use goat or even oxtail, it will just be more fatty)
2 lbs short ribs
1 head garlic plus 8 cloves
1 white onion
2 Roma tomatoes
2 tsp Onion powder
2 tsp Garlic powder
2 tsp Adobo
1- 2 tsp Chicken bouillon
1-2 T Coconut aminos
1-2 whole carrots (optional)
1 T brown sugar (optional)
Salt to taste

For Adobo Sauce

20-22 guajillo Chile pods
3 Pasilla Chile pods
5 Chile de árbol
8 bay (leaves; divided )
6-8 whole cloves
1 inch Ginger
1 small whole Cinnamon stick
1 tsp whole black pepper (peppercorn)
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp Mexican oregano
2 tsp whole cumin
2 tsp thyme
1/4 cup white or apple cider vinegar

For Assembling Tacos

1-2 T Oil (preferably a neutral oil like canola)
Corn tortillas
Oaxaca Queso
2-3 bunches cilantro (chopped)
1 white onion (diced or chopped)

Instructions

1- start by dry briningyour chuck roast. Generously salt each side and let sit for atleast an hour.
2- lightly sauté a wholewhite Onion and two roma tomatoes and add to a large caldero (atleast 8 quarts)along with your brined chuck, ribs, 4 bay leaves. Chop the top Of thehead of garlic and add to the pot.Step
3- Add enough water to cover all of the top of the pot. Then add your garlic powder, onion powder, adobo, chicken bouillon, and coconut aminos to the water and bring to a boil. Let simmer for about an hour and a half.
4- Clean your guajillo pods, Pasillas pods, and Chile dè arbol chili's very well and remove the seeds. If you want your tacos to be a bit spicy you can opt to leave a little bit of seeds in but they are very hot. CAUTION! Be careful not to touch your eyes or mouth when cleaning and Be aware that the chili's are very hot and if you are not used to it it might cause you to cough, so be careful.
5 - Add guajillo and pasilla pods, along with the Chile dè arbol to a pot of water and bring to a boil.
6- Toast your sesame seeds until lightly toasted and golden in color and add to a high-speed blender along with the boiled pods and chiles.
Step 7- Lightly toast your Mexican oregano, black peppercorns, thyme, whole cumin, remainder bay leaves and cinnamon stick (broken up) in a pan until fragrant and add to the blender with the other ingredients.
Step 8- Add Some of thewater from the pot with your meat into the blender and remove the head ofgarlic and onion from the pot. ( You can also add half of the boiled onion if you want to add a bit more flavor but is is not needed). WARNING! Be VERY careful when blending hot liquids To make sure that too much pressure is not added in the blender and the blender explodes, you can even add a bit of ice to cool it down or wait a little bit until cooler.
9- Blend all Of the ingredients that you added to the blender along with the vinegar and knob of ginger to the blender and blend until smooth. Add to your simmering pot of meat and Let simmer for another hour and a half to 2 hours. You can add your carrots at this point or weight halfway through and then add them.
10- Towards the endof the cooking process taste to make sure it is season to your liking, Add saltif necessary or any other seasonings you feel is needed.
11- Remove your meat from the pot and chop or shred And then add back into the pot into a bowl with some of the consumè.
12- Add a bit ofoil to a skillet and dip your tortillas in the consumè sauté on one side and then flip.
13- spread your cheese all over the tortilla and add You're threaded me to half of the tortilla. Add your chopped onion and cilantro on top of the meat and then fold the tortilla over to finish cooking on both sides.
Step 14- Plate your tacos,then take a small bowl and add some consumè from the pot into the bowl andgarnish with Chopped onion and cilantro.Step
15- Enjoy!

Enjoy your delicious Salad!

Step by step with pictures

Step 1 &2

Make the hot honey sauce by combining the coconut aminos, mirin, light brown suger, honey garlic, and ginger and whisk until well mixed. Pour into a pre-heated saucepan and bring to a slight simmer and add your cornstarch slurry by mixing your cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water. After adding the cornstarch slurry bring to a boil.

Step 3&4

Once you bring your sauce to a boil, lower the heat and let simmer until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Pour into a bowl or dish. Add your Frank’s Red Hot Wings sauce and 2 teaspoons of honey and mix together. Set aside

Step 5&6

Cut, Clean, season, and saute your chicken breasts.

Step 7&8

Coat your chicken with the hot honey sauce by pouring all over chicken and using a spoon to coat every piece.

Step 9

Place your Organic Spring mix on a plate and top with fiesta blend cheese, fried onions, red onions, cucumber, bell pepper, and honey hot chicken on top of the salad.

Step 10

Enjoy!

Disclosure: There may be some affiliate links above and I may receive a small commission for purchases made through links in this post at no extra cost to you, I will only suggest products I highly recommend. I will never put anything on this page that I haven’t verified and/or personally used.

Sharlana Chenelle