Roasted Vegetable Salad with Balsamic Dressing & Baked Chicken

This post is sponsored by Perdue Farms. The opinions shared are my own. 

This roasted vegetable salad is a healthy and hearty meal built with roasted seasonal vegetables, juicy grilled chicken, and fresh greens tossed in a homemade balsamic vinaigrette.

If you love to add toppings to your salads, this recipe is for you. The roasted vegetables have a caramelized texture that includes butternut squash, beets, and Brussels sprouts.

For protein, I baked Perdue’s All-Natural Chicken Breasts, which are packed individually, making it easy for me to decide how many portions I want to prep.  

All of these deliciously nutritious toppings are served over a fresh mix of salad greens. 

Did I mention that this is also the perfect meal prep recipe to cook once and eat throughout the week? Yes, this is one recipe I often incorporate into my weekly lunch prep plan.

Roasted Vegetable Salad Ingredients

Roasted vegetable salads are usually referred to as combining freshly roasted vegetables and traditional salad greens tossed in a light dressing. My favorite roasted vegetables to use on a salad are:

• Greens: Kale, arugula, Bibb lettuce, Romaine, etc
• Roasted Vegetables: Beets, butternut squash, broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, sweet potatoes
• Protein: Roasted chicken or turkey, sometimes grilled salmon
• Cheese: Goat, feta, and farmers cheeses
• Dressing: any vinaigrette

Today’s recipe is a delicious combination of roasted beets, butternut squash, and Brussels sprouts with perfectly baked chicken breasts.

How to Make Roasted Vegetable Salad

The first thing you’ll want to do to make a roasted vegetable salad is roast your vegetables. Check out how easy it is to do in this video:

https://youtu.be/EcuuZyg8rOE

You’ll want to:

• Prep your vegetables by dicing them in similar size
• Roast the vegetables
• Assemble the roasted vegetable salad

What Temperature Should You Roast Vegetables

Roasting vegetables involves the least amount of work and the outcome can be tender soft pieces of veggies to use in many recipes.

I prefer to roast my veggies in a 400F oven when I am cooking them alone. However, for this recipe, to make it easier on me and be able to cook an entire meal in the oven at once, I roasted them at 375F along with the chicken breasts.

That means, when cooked at 400F, they’ll cook for approximately 30-35minutes. When cooked at 375F, they’ll need 35-40 minutes.

The size in which you chop your veggies will also determine how long they’ll need to bake to fork-tender.

Baked Chicken for Vegetable Salad

To make this recipe ultra-convenient, I’m baking chicken breasts along with the vegetables. 

As you know, I’ve been buying my high-quality proteins from Perdue Farms and getting them delivered right to my door. 

I love supporting this family-owned business whose farmers are devoted to humane animal practices and environmentally conscious efforts; all reasons why I choose to both partner with them and support them. 

With Perdue Farms’ online shopping experience, I can purchase their full line of products -not just what my local store carries. I can count on them to have all my chicken, pork, lamb, and beef cuts to make my favorite recipes like the Thai Chicken Bowls, Korean Chicken, Spanish Chicken and Rice, and more.

Making the Balsamic Dressing

If you have 5 minutes, you can make the Balsamic vinaigrette dressing for this roasted vegetable salad. 

It’s the perfect balance of acid, sweetness, and fats that delicately coat the caramelized veggies and baked chicken breasts.

Recipes like this one are why I like to keep a jar in my fridge at all times. The storebought is no match for this homemade version, and it takes 2 minutes to whip up.

All you have to do is combine the ingredients in a jar as I show you in this video.

https://youtu.be/doJGBEWCz2M

How to Use the Balsamic Dressing as a Marinade

To make the chicken breasts even juicier and soak them in flavor, I will use the Balsamic Dressing as a Marinade. Here is how:

1. Make the Balsamic dressing in a jar.
2. Place the chicken breasts in a zip bag and pour half of the Balsamic dressing in the bag, press down to take out any air, zip closed, and refrigerate for one hour or overnight. 
3. When ready to bake, transfer the chicken breasts onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and discard the marinade in the bag.
4. The remaining Balsamic dressing will be used for the salad.

How to Meal Prep Roasted Vegetable Salad

One of the reasons I love ordering Perdue Farms Chicken in bulk is so I can plan my meals ahead of time -not just dinner, lunch too! 

Meal prep is one of my favorite subjects, and this amazing recipe can be entirely made ahead from start to finish. Here’s how to do it: 

1. At the beginning of the week, roast the chicken and vegetables. 
2. Once cooked, allow everything to cool down to room temperature before packing into large food-storage containers and refrigerating for up to 4 days. 
3. While the chicken bakes, assemble the mixed greens in a large container and refrigerate. Prepare the Balsamic Vinaigrette or your dressing of choice and refrigerate. 
4. Ready to eat? Grab a bowl or meal prep container and fill with the mixed greens. Top with a portion of reheated chicken and veggies. If enjoying at home, drizzle with dressing. If packing for lunch, place the dressing in a mini sauce container and send it with the salad. 

How Long Does Roasted Vegetable Salad Last

This roasted vegetable salad lasts four days when stored properly.

What I like to do, is refrigerate the roasted vegetables and the baked chicken breasts in their own containers and keep the salad greens in the crisper drawer.

When it’s time to build a plate, I simply warm up the chicken and vegetables, and place them over or next to crisp salad greens, and drizzled with a tablespoon or two of Balsamic dressing.

However, to meal prep this roasted vegetable salad, I like to place the salad greens in a separate section of my container and the dressing in small lidded containers that I can drizzle when I’m ready to eat.

Separating the greens from the other ingredients and not tossing it in with the salad dressing ensures that the roasted vegetable salad will last up to four days in the fridge.

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