Chopped Salmon Salad with Candied Peanuts

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If you’ve ever worked in a big city and are looking for something healthy to eat for lunch, you know all about this famous dish. The classic Chopped Salad is a favorite for quick serve lunches across the world. Stand in a queue and pick out your favorite fruit, vegetables, and a protein. It’s then feverishly chopped up right in front of you and for a low price of $20 it’s all yours. Well, how about instead of dropping $20 for a Salad, try making your own! Our Chopped Salmon Salad with Candied Peanuts is a fantastic alternative. Perfect for lunch or a light, healthy dinner

What makes the Chopped Salad so popular?

I think it comes down to the sheer variety of ingredients you can include in your salad. The personalization experience of making your own Chopped Salad is second to none. Good grab and go salad places have a ridiculous amount of food options to enjoy, from the classics like Romaine, Tomato, and Apple, to some more fun ingredients like Mango, Pineapple, and Shrimp!

It’s one of those dishes that you can experiment with a lot to see what your preferred mixture of ingredients are. That is exactly what our Chopped Salmon Salad recipe is all about. We’ll give you a list of ingredients that work great for this salad and our palates. However, if you want to swap out a few ingredients then go right ahead! There’s no right or wrong way to build a Chopped Salad

How to make our Chopped Salmon Salad

There are a few key ingredients in this dish which make it so tasty and unique. The first is the star of the show – the Salmon. We recommend using whatever Salmon is great in your area. Atlantic Salmon is always a good go-to for east coasters in the USA. However, there are so many great varieties of Salmon all over the world, so take your pick

Preparing the Salmon for this salad is so easy. We follow our Oven Roasted Salmon Recipe which we developed as a great way to prepare and enjoy Salmon for lunch. Simply place the Salmon skin-side down on a sheet pan with some foil. Season with Salt, then roast in the oven at a low temperature (around 220F) for 20 – 25 minutes until cooked

Remove it from the Oven and allow it to cool. Hit it with a squeeze of Lemon Juice then you can just peel away the flakes of Salmon to add to your Salad. It’s so easy to make and is a great way to showcase the natural flavors of this wonderful protein

We’ve included a classic combination of Fruit and Veg in our Salad

As mentioned above, you can add any combination of fruit and vegetables to your Chopped Salmon Salad. Go with what is in season, looks fresh and ripe, and that you enjoy eating. For this recipe we used a very classic combination of ingredients – Romaine Lettuce, Cucumber, Red Onion, Cherry Tomatoes, and Green Apple

For some added sharpness we finish the Chopped Salad off with a little bit of crumbly Goats Cheese. We don’t use too much, just about 1 tbsp. or so is all you need. The Goats Cheese is a powerful flavor and brings a lovely sharpness, as well as a creamy texture to the Chopped Salmon Salad

Texture is a big deal in a Chopped Salad

Fresh fruit and vegetables will give you a wonderful array of textures in your Chopped Salmon Salad, but to really amp up the texture we recommend adding this second fun ingredient – Candied Peanuts! It’s a little bit of a decadent treat to add to the Salad, and adds a beautiful sweetness to the dish, along with loads of crunch!

We lean on our Candied Walnuts recipe to make these Candied Peanuts. In fact, it’s literally the same recipe but instead of using Walnuts, we swap them out for Peanuts. The trick to making perfectly candied Peanuts is to keep a close eye on the pan when heating the Sugar and Peanut combination

You’ll be stirring it for a few minutes, and nothing will change. Then, almost immediately, the sugar will start to caramelize and turn into a toffee. You’ll need to act fast now! Mix the Peanuts and Caramel together to incorporate, and then spread it all out onto a flat surface. It will cool quick, leaving a beautiful Peanut Brittle

You can get fancy with your presentation and flake off a large shard and place it on top of the Salad. Otherwise, simply crush the brittle up (once it’s cooled!) with your hands or a knife and sprinkle over the top of the Salad

Don’t want the sugar of the Candied Peanuts? Easy, just don’t make it!

The inclusion of the Candied Peanuts is as much about adding a little bit of flair to a regular old Chopped Salad. However, if you’re wanting a Salad that’s super healthy for you, or simply don’t have time for the added step of making the Candied Peanuts then simply don’t include it! It’s a easy as that!

The Chopped Salmon Salad is more than delicious enough without the need to include the Candied Peanuts element. So, for those short on time or simply looking for the healthiest option possible – you can exclude it

Another option is to keep the Peanuts on the Salad, just don’t candy them. This will still give you that lovely flavor and crunch from the Peanuts, but without the sugar hit. Just roughly chop up a handful of Peanuts and sprinkle them over the Chopped Salmon Salad right before serving for a tasty textural addition

Chopped Salmon Salad with Candied Peanuts Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Salmon Filets (2 medium sized filets)
• 2 cups Romaine Lettuce
• 1 Green Apple
• 1 cups of Cherry Tomatoes
• ½ Red Onion
• ½ Cucumber
• 1 tbsp. Goats Cheese (optional)
• Juice of ½ a Lemon
  
  

For the Salad dressing

• 4 tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp. Balsamic Vinegar
• Juice of 2 Lemons
• 1 tsp. Salt
  
  

For the Candied Peanuts

• 1 cup Peanuts
• ½ cup of White Sugar
• ½ tbsp. Butter
  
  

Instructions

1. Place the Salmon filets skin side down onto a sheet pan lined with aluminum foil. Season with Salt then place in the oven which has been pre-heated to 220F. Bake for 20 minutes until pink throughout and cooked
2. Remove the Salmon from the oven and set aside to cool. Once cooled and right before serving, squeeze the Lemon Juice over the Salmon
   
   

Making the Candied Peanuts

3. Heat the Butter and White Sugar in a medium sized saucepan over medium / low heat. Once the Butter has melted, add the Peanuts and stir the mixture continuously with a spatula
4. Continue to stir until the sugar begins to turn into a light caramel, (about 6 – 7 minutes time). Once the Sugar has caramelized, quickly pour the mixture onto some parchment paper / aluminum foil placed on a flat surface
5. Spread the mixture out into a flat formation with your spatula and leave to set and cool. Once cooled, break off into shards or cut into pieces for plating on the Salad
   
   

Making the Chopped Salmon Salad

6. Combine the Salad Dressing ingredients into a large bowl and whisk well. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary
7. Chop the Romaine Lettuce, Tomatoes, Cucumber, and Green Apple into even, bite-sized pieces. Slice your Onions into thin strips then add to the bowl with the dressing along with the other prepared salad ingredients. Mix well to coat the dressing
8. Plate the Salad into individual bowls for serving. Crumble over some Goats Cheese, then add a generous amount of cooked Salmon flakes. Finish with the Candied Peanuts and serve
   
   

Recipe Notes

• The key to a great Chopped Salad is to try and get your ingredients the same size
• Be sure to serve the dish when the Salmon and Candied Peanuts have cooled to room temperature
  
  

For a healthy and delicious meal, you can’t look past this amazing Chopped Salmon Salad with Candied Peanuts. Say goodbye to those $20 quick service salads from Sweet Greens when you can make an even better version at home for a fraction of the price!

We’ve got loads more healthy salad recipes on our website. Here’s a few of our favorites that we would recommend you check out

• Greek Salad with Chicken
• Creamy Lemon Pepper Chicken Salad
• Strawberry Romaine Salad with Green Apple
• Thai Mango Salad with Peanut Dressing
  
  

Happy Cooking!