Grilled Chicken Thigh and Pineapple Salad with Greens

Name: Grilled Chicken and Pineapple Salad with Greens
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Chicken thighs 4; Ripe pineapple 1; Red onion 1; Cherry or cocktail tomatoes 6-8; Cucumber 1; Mixed salad greens (lettuce, radicchio, romaine, oak leaf, arugula, endive) to taste; Herbs (parsley, green onion, cilantro) to taste; Avocado, olives optional; Brined cheese (feta, brynza) optional; Vegetable oil for brushing the skewers; Pineapple juice from the remaining half of the fruit; Light soy sauce 2 tbsp; Brown sugar 1 tbsp (14 g); Olive oil 2 tbsp (1 for the marinade, 1 for the sauce); Balsamic vinegar 0.5 tsp; Black pepper to taste; Lime juice a few drops, optional

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1 h 30 mins

This homemade chicken and pineapple salad is perfect for a picnic or for guests, especially if you are planning kebabs or any dish cooked on the grill. Unlike most familiar salads, it is more a beautiful way of serving a dish. It uses different salad leaves, herbs, vegetables and grilled chicken pieces with large slices of lightly seared fresh pineapple.

What makes this salad special is that the ingredients are not chopped together but laid out on a large platter or plate. They are only drizzled with the dressing and not mixed. It is a very interesting way to serve, and it is assembled much like a Cobb salad, a calling card of American cuisine. I confess I like this arrangement a lot, because none of the flavors get mixed up.

To many people a pineapple looks like a pine cone with a tuft. It is a tropical cultivated plant that grows in many countries. An unripe pineapple is not worth eating or even tasting. Most likely your lips and tongue will burn from the harsh juice, and you may have digestive problems too. As the fruit ripens, all these unwanted properties disappear. The flesh becomes sweet-and-sour and very aromatic.

Fresh pineapple is very good for the body after a lot of meat, which is very useful with kebabs. So the combination of ingredients in this chicken and pineapple salad is well chosen. The salad has plenty of green leaves, juicy slices of fruit, fresh vegetables and a light olive oil dressing, which makes it quite healthy food.

Of the many tips on choosing one, the simplest is to catch the fruit’s aroma. If it is delicate and pleasant, the pineapple is ripe. A sharp, “boozy” smell means it has gone bad. Also, on a ripe fruit the crown turns slightly, and the color on the sides is closer to yellow than green.

Botanists say a pineapple is a vegetable. Pineapples are picked when they are just starting to ripen, but as a rule they ripen poorly on the way. At home you can wrap an unripe pineapple in a towel and leave it in a warm place for a few days. Still, it is better to buy ripe fruit that is ready to eat. The salad needs fresh pineapple, not canned. Peel it and cut it into large pieces. Some will be grilled, and from the rest you squeeze juice for the sauce and marinade.

Ingredients

for two

Chicken thighs 4
Ripe pineapple 1
Red onion 1
Cherry or cocktail tomatoes 6-8
Cucumber 1
Mixed salad greens (lettuce, radicchio, romaine, oak leaf, arugula, endive) to taste
Herbs (parsley, green onion, cilantro) to taste
Avocado, olives optional
Brined cheese (feta, brynza) optional
Vegetable oil for brushing the skewers

Pineapple juice from the remaining half of the fruit
Light soy sauce 2 tbsp
Brown sugar 1 tbsp (14 g)
Olive oil 2 tbsp (1 for the marinade, 1 for the sauce)
Balsamic vinegar 0.5 tsp
Black pepper to taste
Lime juice a few drops, optional

Step-by-step recipe

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How to marinate the chicken

This chicken and pineapple salad is easy to make. It takes some time to marinate the chicken and grill it with pieces of juicy pineapple, and it is important that the pineapple is ripe and aromatic. You can buy all the vegetables and the salad leaf mix in a shop, and most salad mixes need no preparation or washing at all.

Peel and cut the pineapple. With a large knife, cut off the top with the leaves and the bottom. Cut off all the skin and cut out the remaining “eyes”. Cut the fruit in half lengthwise and remove the tough core. Cut each half into wedges 2-2.5 cm thick, 3-4 wedges per serving for the salad. Squeeze the juice from the remaining part into a cup.
Make the marinade and marinate the chicken. Add 2 tbsp of light soy sauce and 1 tbsp of brown sugar (14 g) to the pineapple juice and season with a little freshly ground black pepper. Do not add salt, because soy sauce is quite salty. Stir well so the sugar dissolves, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and whisk with a fork.
Remove the skin from the chicken thighs, cut out the bones, and trim off the fat and cartilage. Put the chicken in a bowl or container, pour the marinade over it and refrigerate for 40-45 mins.

How to grill

The salad is especially good if you can cook the ingredients with a smoky aroma over a charcoal grill. For home cooking, an electric grill or a grill pan works well. You will need kebab sticks or small skewers.

Make a sauce from the marinade. Take the meat out of the marinade, pour the leftover marinade into a small saucepan, add 1 tbsp of olive oil and 0.5 tsp of balsamic vinegar and bring to a boil. Simmer over low heat, stirring, until the sauce thickens, then let it cool. If you like, add a few drops of lime juice to the sauce.
Cut the chicken and pineapple and thread them onto skewers. Cut the chicken and the pineapple wedges into square pieces of equal size, with sides about the length of a matchstick. Thread the chicken and pineapple pieces onto the skewers, alternating them.
Grill the skewers. Turn on the electric grill or light the charcoal. Brush the skewers with a little vegetable oil and put them on the hot grill. Cook on all sides until the meat is done, usually 10-15 mins; the juice should run clear when you pierce the meat.
Alternatively, you can grill the chicken on skewers separately and the pineapple slices on the grate, turning them for even browning.

Serving

Arrange the salad leaves and vegetables on a platter. It is convenient to serve and build the salad on a large platter. Lay down the leaves torn into pieces; take a colorful mix. Add onion cut into thin rings or strips, halved cherry tomatoes (any small tomatoes will do) and diced juicy cucumber. Do not mix the ingredients.
Put the chicken and pineapple on top and drizzle with the sauce. Lay the grilled chicken and pineapple wedges over the salad; for serving at a shared table, you can leave the meat on the skewers. Drizzle the salad with the thick sauce made from the marinade. Finely chop the cilantro and parsley and the green onion tops and sprinkle them over the meat.
If you like, add olives and sliced peeled avocado, a soft one, or diced brined cheese such as feta or brynza. Serve the salad while the meat is still hot.

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Calories and macros

1130 kcal

Serving ≈ 1150 g

Protein51 g18% of kcal
Fat60 g48% of kcal
Carbs94 g34% of kcal

100 g99 kcalProtein 4.4 gFat 5.2 gCarbs 8.2 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

Grilled Chicken Thigh and Pineapple Salad with Greens

Ingredients

For the salad

For the marinade and sauce