Grilled Chicken Chimichurri Salad {Gluten-free, Paleo, Nightshade Free}

Mama’s take on Grilled Chicken Chimichurri Salad. A super favorable twist on traditional chimichurri sauce is both the marinade and dressing for this glorious grilled chicken salad.

Disclosure: Mama Knows Gluten Free received the products mentioned for free. Regardless, we only recommend products or services we use personally and believe will be good for our readers. 

Grilled Chicken Chimichurri Salad

When I saw a beautiful Grilled Chimichurri Chicken and Avacado Salad on Facebook from Cafe Delites I immediately wanted to make it.

But I can’t handle the heat of peppers and my husband needs to stay away from nightshades, so I went to work trying to figure out how I could do a nightshade free (no peppers) version of Chimichurri sauce.

When Betsy’s Best Gourmet Butter sent me their cashew butter to try, a light went off and I thought about one of my favorite dipping sauces.

Chimichurri Sauce with a Twist

Chimichurri sauce is both a perfect marinade and salad dressing. What makes my chimichurri sauce so different from the traditional sauce, is the cashew butter.

It is sweetened with honey and has no peppers. It still has all of the other ingredients of a traditional chimichurri sauce, but it’s definitely a twist on traditional chimichurri sauce.

This super flavorful sauce only takes a few minutes to make by chopping the ingredients in a food processor (you can also chop by hand).

After marinating the chicken breasts in the chimichurri sauce for a few hours, I grilled them in my ceramic grilling pan and they came out perfectly.

I was really happy that the grilled chicken turned out so flavorful and juicy. I seriously can’t handle dry, grilled chicken – no matter how much sauce you pour on top of it!

I try and eat a big beautiful salad for lunch every day. This salad is one of my favorites.

The grilled chicken is perfectly marinated and the chimichurri sauce makes a perfect dressing to drizzle over your favorite salad fixings.

Looking for more gluten-free salads?

• Southwest Quinoa Salad
•  Balsamic Vinaigrette Salad Dressing {Gluten-Free, Paleo, AIP}
• Creamy Italian Pasta Salad {Gluten-Free}

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Grilled Chicken Chimichurri Salad {Gluten-free, Paleo, Nightshade-Free}

A super favorable twist on traditional chimichurri sauce is both the marinade and dressing for this glorious grilled chicken salad.

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword chimichurri, grilled chicken chimichurri salad

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes

chicken marinade 1 hour

Total Time 25 minutes

Servings 2 salads

Calories 275 kcal

Author Audrey from Mama Knows Gluten Free

Ingredients

• 4 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup cashew butter , I like Betsy's Best
• 1 cup fresh cilantro
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 green onions
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 2 chicken breasts
• your favorite salad fixings pictured: romaine lettuce, avocados, cilantro, cucumbers, chopped cashews, chopped super blend mix, grape tomatoes, hard boiled eggs and a squeeze of fresh lime.

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Sauce:

1. In a food processor puree cilantro, garlic, green onions, and cumin.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl stir together cashew butter, vinegars, turmeric, honey and microwave for 1 minute.
3. Add the cilantro mixture to the cashew butter mixture and stir until fully combined.
4. Pour olive oil into the combined mixture and stir to finish the sauce.
5. Refrigerate until ready to use.
6. The sauce will make 1 1/2 cups. 1/2 a cup is used for the chicken marinade.

Chicken:

1. Add two chicken breasts to a large plastic storage bag and pour 1/2 cup of the chimichurri sauce over the chicken. Seal the bag and allow the chicken to marinate for at least one hour (the longer the better).
2. Add olive oil to your grill pan. Grill the chicken breasts on both sides until completely cooked.
3. Allow chicken to cool before slicing it for the salad.

Salad:

1. Chop your favorite salad fixings.
2. Place grilled chicken on top of salad.
3. Drizzle, or pour (like me) the chimichurri sauce all over the salad.
4. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

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Nutrition Facts

Grilled Chicken Chimichurri Salad {Gluten-free, Paleo, Nightshade-Free}

Amount Per Serving (1 salad)

Calories 275 Calories from Fat 54

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 6g 9%

Saturated Fat 1g 5%

Cholesterol 144mg 48%

Sodium 270mg 11%

Potassium 928mg 27%

Total Carbohydrates 3g 1%

Protein 48g 96%

Vitamin A 14.5%

Vitamin C 9.8%

Calcium 4%

Iron 10.1%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.