My Chicken Mango Salad Recipe

I first made this recipe on one of those hot summer nights when there wasn’t much in the fridge. The salad ended up being a cross between a traditional mango salad and a chicken Caesar salad. Now it’s one of my go-to salads in the summer because I know it’s going to satisfy and fill me up.

It’s a great one to make for my family (1x coeliac, 1x low FODMAP diet) because I lay the ingredients out on the bench and people can add in what they want/ can tolerate. I haven’t put specific quantities for most of the ingredients because that will depend on how many people you’re making it for, how hungry you are and what ingredients people will choose to eat.

This salad is a great one to mix up a bit and use up other ingredients in the fridge. So, get creative, have a go and I’d love to see what you come up with.

• Chicken breast fillets sliced (approximately 2 fillets for 4 people)
• 1-2 tsp Cajun spice mix (you can add more depending on your spice tolerance)
• 1tbs olive oil plus extra for cooking
• Bread- great to use up old bread
• Cos lettuce
• Cherry tomatoes
• Mango
• Approximately 1/3 cup Greek yoghurt
• Sweet chilli sauce

• Mix chicken, Cajun spice and oil together and marinate for a few minutes
• Cook in a frying pan with extra olive oil if needed until cooked through. Take out of pan and place onto paper towel
• Slice or rip up bread into crouton sized pieces and cook in same frying pan that the chicken was in until brown and crispy. Set aside when ready
• Cut up the lettuce, mango and tomatoes ready for the salad. Make sure you cut up the cherry tomatoes in at least half, whole cherry tomatoes are so annoying in salads because you can’t pick them up with your fork! Don’t be one of those people. Set lettuce, mango and tomatoes aside ready to assemble
• In a small bowel mix the yoghurt and sweet chilli sauce. Again, you can adjust the amount of sweet chilli to taste. Mix together well
• Now’s the fun bit, add in all the ingredients together in your bowl with desired quantities. If you’re family’s anything like mine then be quick with the mango, that will go first

As I mentioned above this recipe is so easy to adjust for different food preferences and intolerances:

• I add gluten free bread croutons for coeliac disease, making sure I cook them separately from the other bread.
• Thankfully the family member on the low FODMAP diet has gone through the whole process and knows that she can tolerate mango and small amounts of garlic and onion (found in the Cajun spice mix) but leaves out the yoghurt dressing. For strict low FODMAP they’ll have to leave out the mango (could try orange instead) and cook using a different spice or could cook with just garlic infused olive oil for some flavour. They’ll also need low FODMAP bread (found at Bakers Delight).
• The dressing is another one I change up a bit depending on what’s in the cupboard. Sometimes I’ll use a pre-made aioli or mix olive oil, lemon juice and chilli for a lighter dressing