Who said making lunch had to be difficult? This baked paprika chicken chopped salad can be made in about 20 minutes and tastes wonderfully! It’s only 5 Freestyle points on Weight Watchers (less if you don’t use the dressing).
Spoiler alert: Salads on Weight Watchers can be deadly in terms of using your SmartPoints. And I do love a good salad, but I don’t eat many of them any more because of this. Do you eat many salads?
The hard part is that we were brought up to think that any salad is healthy, when that just isn’t true. I used to get either the Santa Fe Chicken Salad (20) or the Boneless Buffalo Chicken Salad (32) at Chili’s all the time and – shocker – both are really high in points.
If I only get 23 Freestyle points/day, I’m not about to spend 2/3 of them on a salad. Nope.
The good thing is that this baked paprika chicken chopped salad is only 8 Freestyle points and could be even less if you use less dressing. I absolutely loved making my own dressing because I could control what was put in it and how much I wanted on my salad.
One of they keys to salads is to baked the chicken. This cuts back on the batter and frying, which cuts back on points used. I know it’s hard to get out of the mindset that all salads are healthy, but the good thing about this one is that it’s healthy without you even realizing it’s healthy.
To make this baked paprika chicken chopped salad recipe:
Preheat the oven to 350. Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the smoked paprika, salt and pepper over the chicken breasts. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Slice and set aside.
Meanwhile, chop the tomato, red pepper and romaine lettuce for the salad. Also, get the avocado chopped and ready, if using.
Using the red wine vinaigrette ingredients, mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.
To assemble, place 1 cup of chopped romaine into a salad bowl. Add all the ingredients, as desired. Use 4 oz of cooked paprika chicken in each serving and 1/8 cup of Parmesan cheese. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and enjoy immediately.
What salads do you love to eat and how do you keep them in check?
Baked Paprika Chicken Chopped Salad
Ingredients
Paprika Chicken:
- 1 pound boneless chicken breast
- 2 Tablespoons smoked Paprika
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
Red Wine Vinaigrette:
- 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
- 1/2 large lemon juiced
- 2 teaspoons garlic minced
- 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/8 cup olive oil
Salad:
- 1 large red pepper chopped
- 1/2 can corn drained and rinsed
- 1/2 can black beans drained and rinsed
- 1 medium tomato chopped
- 1/2 medium avocado chopped (optional)
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese shredded
- 4 cups romaine lettuce chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the smoked paprika, salt and pepper over the chicken breasts. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through. Slice and set aside.
- Meanwhile, chop the tomato, red pepper and romaine lettuce for the salad. Also, get the avocado chopped and ready, if using.
- Using the red wine vinaigrette ingredients, mix all the ingredients together in a small bowl.
- To assemble, place 1 cup of chopped romaine into a salad bowl. Add all the ingredients, as desired. Use 4 oz of cooked paprika chicken in each serving and 1/8 cup of Parmesan cheese. Drizzle with the vinaigrette and enjoy immediately.
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