Fruity Couscous Salad with Chicken

To make sure this Fruity Couscous Salad with Chicken is full of fruit flavors, use fresh fruits as well as fruit juice to cook the couscous.

There are times that I start with a pretty good idea of what I want to cook and then there are days that I find myself combining ingredients that were meant for another recipe. This fruity couscous recipe is an example of the latter.

Key Ingredients in This Recipe

• Chicken breast – you can also use chicken thighs, turkey breast, or tofu.
• Green leaf lettuce – iceberg lettuce or butter lettuce are great substitutes.
• Orange juice – Not in the above image, but a great way to emphasize a fruity flavor.
• Black grapes – green or red grapes are obvious alternatives.
• Couscous – pearl couscous can also be used or farro, barley, buckwheat etc.
• Mango
• Chickpeas
• Sweet red peppers – orange or yellow work well, just less contrasting in color.
• Pistachio nuts – you can also add walnuts, pine nuts or almonds.

How to Make Fruity Couscous Salad with Chicken

Step 1 – Cook the couscous in orange juice, ratio 1: 2 (1=couscous, 2 = liquid). Cook liquid, add couscous and turn heat off. Allow couscous to absorb all liquid, then fluff with a fork. Instead of orange juice you can use chicken stock.

Step 2 – Season the chicken breast, use salt, pepper, cumin, coriander and paprika. Cook in oil or butter until done (internal temperature of 165 degrees F.)

Step 3 – Chop fruit, vegetables and nuts in your preferred sizes.

Step 4 – Mix all salad ingredients, add a little bit of vinaigrette if you need to. I believe that this salad is already full of flavor and texture and does not need much if any dressing at all. You can also select to just add a little bit of olive oil.

Step 5 – Plate the salad, cut the chicken in strips and place on the salad.

Another Couscous Recipe to Try

• Mediterranean Chicken Couscous