Spinach & Grilled Chicken Salad Bowl
It looks like a light salad. It is not. This bowl packs 46g of protein and 41g of fat into a ten-minute assembly job that never touches a stove.
Spinach, sliced carrots, thin radish rounds, and cool cucumber form the base. Grilled chicken strips land on top. The dressing is the quiet star: nonfat yogurt mixed with mustard, lemon juice, and a warm spice blend of cumin, cinnamon, paprika, and turmeric. It turns a pile of raw vegetables into something that actually has personality.
Then the nuts. 56g of mixed nuts scattered over the top carry most of the fat and a good chunk of the calories. Two slices of whole wheat bread on the side round it out to 713 kcal.
Ingredients
- carrot 1
- radishes 5
- cucumber 0.5
- yogurt, nonfat 1 tablespoon
- yellow mustard 1 teaspoon
- lemon juice 1 squeeze
- ground cumin 1 pinch
- cinnamon 1 pinch
- paprika (ground spice) 1 pinch
- turmeric 1 pinch
- spinach 1 handful
- grilled chicken strips 3 ounces
- mixed nuts, unsalted 2 ounces
- bread, whole wheat 2 slices
Method
-
Wash the carrot and slice it. Slice the radishes into thin rounds. Halve the cucumber lengthwise and cut it into slices.
-
Make a dressing by mixing the yogurt, mustard, lemon juice and the spices.
-
Place the spinach in a bowl and add the carrot, radish, cucumber and grilled chicken.
-
Pour the dressing over the salad and toss everything together. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Finally, sprinkle the nuts over the salad and serve with the (toasted) bread.
Toast the nuts in a dry pan for about two minutes before adding them. The heat releases oils that deepen the flavor without changing anything on the ingredient list. Keep the dressing separate if you are packing this for later.
Behind this recipe
Is 41g of fat too much for a healthy meal?
Most of the fat in this bowl comes from 56g of mixed nuts, which are predominantly unsaturated fatty acids. A Cochrane meta-analysis covering 57,000 participants across 37 trials found that how much fat you eat does not independently determine whether you gain or lose body fat. What drives fat change is total calorie balance. At 713 kcal, this salad fits within most daily targets without issue.
Read the full evidence reviewCan my body actually use 46g of protein in one meal?
Yes. The idea that your body caps out at 30g per meal does not appear in any systematic review of protein metabolism. Research found that protein absorption continues for 12 or more hours after eating. The 46g in this bowl gets fully processed. Absorption just takes longer than one sitting.
Can I meal-prep this and take it to work?
The salad holds up well in a sealed container for up to a day. Keep the dressing in a separate small container and add the nuts right before eating. The spinach stays fresh, the vegetables stay crisp, and the nuts stay crunchy.
