Cajun Chicken Salad Recipe

Did you know that Cajun food is actually Canadian, by way of the deep south? Well, actually, as Culture Trip explains, many Cajun dishes have their roots in French peasant culinary traditions, and these old-world recipes came along with immigrants when they first settled in Canada's Maritime Provinces. The Acadians, as they were called, made their way down south to the Louisiana Territory in the eighteenth century when they didn't fancy becoming subjects of the British Crown. (France and England had a few issues back in the day.) When they arrived in their new homeland, these French-Canadian chefs adapted their cuisine to make use of local ingredients: rice in place of potatoes, bell peppers in place of carrots, and catfish, oysters, and even alligator in place of the cod, salmon, and lobster that they'd fished for in northern waters.

When you think of Cajun food today, you generally imagine something hearty and spicy like gumbo, jambalaya, boudin, po' boys, and boiled crawfish. Salads, though? Not so much. Recipe developer Ting Dalton of Cook Simply is a very imaginative cook with a flair for creative fusion foods. While her Cajun chicken salad may not be a southern classic, it's a fresh, fun dish that pairs Cajun-spiced chicken breasts with the kind of ingredients you might find in a taco salad.

As with any salad, you're going to need to prep all of those veggies first. You might want to give them a quick rinse, then chop the tomatoes (remember to remove the produce sticker!) and peel and slice the avocado. Finally, cut the ends off those baby gem lettuce and separate their leaves. There's no need to chop the lettuce, however, since those little tiny leaves are big enough to eat in a single bite.

Add a drizzle of vegetable oil to a skillet, then heat the oil over high heat until it sizzles. Once the pan and oil are hot, add the chicken breasts. Cook the chicken for five minutes on each side, making sure it's done all the way through (no pink inside!) before removing it from the heat. Once the chicken is thoroughly cooked, let it cool until you can touch it without burning yourself, then slice it into thin strips.

As this Cajun chicken salad contains meat, cheese, and veggies, it makes for a hearty lunch or a light dinner all on its own, no sides required. Dalton notes that this salad is "great to make ahead of time," and says that you can "put the salad in a suitable container and refrigerate, and you can eat it within two days." To keep it from getting soggy, however, you might want to hold off on adding the sour cream dressing until right before you plan to eat it.