Grilled Lemon Garlic Chicken Salad

I would say a new yummy salad for a new year but we have been making this salad for a while now and it's a staple in our house!  I just am finally blogging it!  This chicken has to be one of my favorite grilled chicken recipes.  We have made it a million times and it comes out perfectly every time.  It is so flavorful, so easy to just throw on the grill and makes the perfect topping for a healthy salad, or pair it with some rice and grilled veggies or throw it on top of a loaded baked potato!  I can't praise this grilled chicken enough and when you throw it on top of a salad with avocado, black olives, tomatoes, and shallots with a champagne dressing, you have me hooked!  

[What you need]

For the chicken marinade:
1/2 cup roughly chopped garlic
3 lemons
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper

2 chicken breasts
1 can black olives
2 medium sized shallots
1 tomato
1 avocado
50/50 blend lettuce (or lettuce of your choice
Champagne dressing

[What to do]

First things first, you have to marinate your chicken.  Slice your chicken breasts into slices (or cubes if you prefer) and put them in a large plastic bag.  Salt and pepper the chicken.  Add in the chopped garlic.  Zest 2 of your lemons and add this to the chicken and then juice the two lemons and add the lemon juice to chicken.  Slice the remaining lemon and add the lemon slices to the chicken.  Then add in your olive oil and seal the bag and shake it to make sure everything is coated.  Refrigerate for 6-8 hours.  The good thing about this recipe is that the lemon juice penetrates the chicken fairly quickly so if you only have a few hours, that will be fine but ideally you want to marinate it for the day.  This will make your chicken soooooo flavorful and delicious!

I usually chop and prep the olives, tomato, and shallots when I marinate the chicken to save time later and make it easier when you are making your salad.

Skewer your chicken and gill it over medium direct heat at 400 for about 10-15 minutes (depending on the thickness of your chicken) flipping halfway through.

When your chicken is cooked, add your lettuce, olives, shallots, tomato and avocado to a bowl and toss with champagne dressing. Top with your chicken skewers and enjoy!