Chicken and Mango Salad with Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing

I enjoy our cool evening weather and have a hard time coming in from the garden to make dinner. So I usually bring a bowl of greens with me when I finally come in and throw together a salad. The inspiration for this salad was a great sale on mangoes and limes at our local grocery store last week. I bought lots of both. My husband compared the salad to pizza with pineapple: ” an odd combination, but it works”. My daughter said she was surprised at how good it was to have a piece of mango and onion in the same bite.

Chicken and Mango Salad with Creamy Cilantro Lime Dressing Recipe

Yield: 6 servings
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cooking Time: None if you have leftover chicken

Salad Ingredients:

8 cups lettuce and other greens
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1 cup carrots, julienned (optional)
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced (optional)
2 cups cooked chicken, diced
2 mangoes, cut into bite size pieces

Dressing Ingredients:

1 cup plain yogurt
juice and zest of one lime (tip for buying and freezing lime juice and zest when they are on sale)
2 tablespoons oil (I used grape seed oil)
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro ( or 1 tablespoon dried)

Directions:

In a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup (or small bowl) combine dressing ingredients. Use a whisk to thoroughly combine ingredients.

In a large bowl, combine salad ingredients and toss. OR toss greens, onions, celery and carrots and keep chicken and mango separate:

You can mix all of the salad ingredients and then toss them with the dressing, but then you either have to finish the salad or toss out soggy salad the next day. By keeping the ingredients separate, I can use them tomorrow to make  chicken mango wraps and use the dressing as a tasty substitute for mayo. Which is a good thing, because I will probably drag myself in from the garden at the last minute and be greeted by 4 hungry faces.

I still have lots of greens and show no signs of changing my ways, so please share your quick dinner ideas with me!

This post is linked to Foodie Friday, Feed Me Tweet Me Follow Me Home, and  Friday Potluck.