Wild Rice Salad with Chicken, Dried Cherries & Goat Cheese

Name: Wild Rice Salad with Chicken, Dried Cherries & Goat Cheese
Prep time: 2019-05-24T00:00:00+00:00
Total time: 2019-05-24T00:00:00+00:00
Yield: Serves 6
Ingredients: The salad::; 1 cup wild rice blend; Water (follow package instructions); 6 oz. cooked skinless chicken breasts, shredded; 2 cups chopped kale, stems removed; 1/2 cup dried tart cherries; 2 oz. soft goat cheese, crumbled; The dressing::; 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar; 1 tsp Dijon mustard; 1/4 tsp garlic powder; 1/2 tsp crushed dried rosemary; 3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Mar 5, 2015 by Dara 19 Comments

Take on the wild side (rice, that is) and whip up this healthy chicken and kale salad for dinner. Dried cherries and goat cheese add the perfect amount of sweet and tangy. Thank you to the Cherry Marketing Institute for helping me to share this recipe with you.

Whenever I make a dinner that leaves us with leftovers, I earn some serious points with my husband, Steve. Every night, Steve goes through an elaborate process of making his breakfast, lunch and snack to take with him to work the next day. He runs a lot; therefore, he eats…a lot! Seriously, if you saw how much this man ate, you’d think he was feeding a small town. And he is nothing but lean muscle. Annoying. Anyways…when he can just scoop some leftovers into a container when making his work day meal, he’s a happy husband.

One of the ways that I like to pump up the flavor of simple rice dishes is by adding some creamy cheese and tart cherries. The flavors and textures of those two ingredients complement each other so well, and the easy rosemary vinaigrette adds a fresh herbal flavor.

Along with the scoop of tart cherries on his cereal and two daily glasses of tart cherry juice, Steve gets a quadruple dose of the powerhouse fruit each day. Quite honestly, we’re both a bit smitten with the sweet-tart flavor and find ourselves toting around a bag of tart cherries mixed with raw almonds whenever we head out to run errands.

If you spotted my Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal with Tart Cherries & Pepitas and Curry Spiced Nuts with Dried Cherries, you already know that dried cherries pack a lot of health benefits. One of the lesser known benefits is that tart cherries are a natural source of melatonin, which is linked to better sleep efficiency. They have been shown to increase both the quality and duration of sleep, which is so important for overall health.

A number of whole grains would work well in this recipe, from brown rice to farro or barley. I used a wild rice blend that I found at the supermarket, which contained wild rice, brown rice, wehani rice and black japonica rice. Use whatever blend appeals to you, but be sure to follow the package directions, as cooking time will likely vary.

For more information on tart cherries and recipe inspiration, be sure to visit the Cherry Marketing Institute site, and follow Choose Cherries on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.

Other tart cherry recipes:

Cookin’ Canuck’s Curry Spiced Nuts with Dried Cherries
Cookin’ Canuck’s Baked Steel Cut Oatmeal with Tart Cherries & Pepitas
Running to the Kitchen’s Cherry Power Cookies
Love & Zest’s Chocolate Cherry & Chia Bark
The Inventive Vegetarian’s Apple Walnut Salad