Chicken and Wild Rice Salad with Almonds

As soon as I read the December 2009 issue of Cooking Light, this was the recipe I knew I had to make.  We were spending the holidays with my family in Atlanta and I happened to stumble upon fig vinegar while at Publix.  So I carted it back home and made this recipe. I've made it several times since and it seems to only get better with time.  

I haven't seen fig vinegar yet in the north (or semi-north since we are still below the Mason-Dixon line in DC) at Wegman's, but I'm sure one of the grocery stores must carry it.  Otherwise, I'll just have to bribe my mom to bring some with her when she visits. :)  They say you can sub other vinegar if you don't have the fig vinegar, but I think it's worth looking for.

We didn't make any changes to this recipe, except to cut the amount of rice to 1 cup instead of 1.5 cups.  But looking at the picture on myrecipes.com their rice is 100% wild while we used a wild/brown mix.  You could even use rotisserie chicken to make this a quick meal.  It's a very flavorful and tasty recipe and the portion sizes are generous. 

As of today's post, 14 reviewers rated it on average a 5 out of 5!


I hope you enjoy this in your home as much as we do in ours!

Recipe by Ashley Bone, Spring Hill, Tennessee, Cooking Light, DECEMBER 2009

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: about 1 1/3 cups)

Ingredients

• Dressing:
• 1/4  cup  fig vinegar or white wine vinegar
• 2  teaspoons  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  Dijon mustard
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1  garlic clove, minced
• 2  tablespoons  canola oil
• 
  Remaining ingredients:
• 2  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2  cups  uncooked wild rice
• 1  tablespoon  butter
• Cooking spray
• 1  pound  skinless, boneless chicken breast
• 1/4  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1  cup  chopped celery
• 1/2  cup  shredded carrots
• 1/3  cup  dried cranberries
• 1/4  cup  chopped almonds, toasted
• 2  tablespoons  minced red onion

Preparation

1. To prepare dressing, combine first 5 ingredients in a medium bowl. Gradually add oil, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Cover and chill.
2. Combine broth, rice, and butter in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 45 minutes or until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed. Remove rice mixture from heat; cool.
3. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle chicken with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Add chicken to pan; cook 8 minutes on each side or until done. Cool; cut into 1/2-inch cubes.
4. Combine cooked rice, chicken, celery, carrots, cranberries, almonds, and red onion in a large bowl. Add dressing; toss gently to coat. Cover and chill.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 352

Fat: 10.3g (sat 2g,mono 5g,poly 2.5g)

Protein: 25g

Carbohydrate: 40.6g

Fiber: 4g

Cholesterol: 49mg

Iron: 1.6mg

Sodium: 357mg

Calcium: 42mg