The wonderful combination of chicken fillet and prunes in salads can be complemented with a variety of ingredients. The dish looks beautiful on a flat large plate if the food is laid out in layers. The salad turns out incredibly satisfying, rich in protein, especially if mushrooms and hard cheese are added to it. Prunes are also useful. This dried fruit helps with cardiovascular diseases, as well as intestinal problems, and it is also full of vitamins and minerals beneficial to the body.
In the article, we will look at several popular recipes for preparing salads with chicken and prunes in layers, we will tell you which products will perfectly complement the taste of the dish, what you can season it with and how to cook each ingredient separately.
The photographs presented show how some salads should look when served on a festive table, and a step-by-step description of the work will help you cope with the preparation easily and quickly.
How to cook chicken for salad
Before laying out the salad with chicken and prunes in layers, you need to prepare all the ingredients, one of which is chicken fillet. It can be prepared in different ways. Some housewives peel it and remove all fatty layers and films, and then boil it in salted water until tender. You can add bay leaf and allspice for flavor. The meat does not cook for long, approximately 30-40 minutes. Then it is immediately removed from the broth and placed on a separate plate to cool. You can boil the meat in the evening, and in the morning just cut it into small cubes.
The second way to prepare fillet for salad with chicken and prunes in layers is to bake the prepared meat in the oven. Many people pre-marinate the chicken for at least half an hour to make the fillet softer and more flavorful. For baking, it is best to wrap the piece in a cooking sleeve or in foil. Bake the meat for half an hour, then cut the sleeve so that the liquid evaporates and the fillet is slightly browned, and put in the oven for another 10 minutes. When the meat has cooled, you can cut it into a salad.
Black Chicken Salad
“Black Chicken” is a portioned dish that is perfect for any buffet table.
Ingredients:
- Chicken meat - 150 gr.
- Orange - 1 pc.
- Prunes - 9 pcs.
- Krill meat - 1 can
- Lettuce leaves - 3 pcs.
- Walnut kernels - 1/3 cup
- Mayonnaise - 6 tsp.
- Salt, pepper, herbs - to taste
Preparation:
- Boil the chicken until cooked, cool and cut into small cubes. Soak the prunes in hot water for 15 minutes, cool and finely chop. We clean the orange from the skin, seeds and film and cut the pulp into pieces. Drain the liquid from the krill meat. Grind the nut kernels.
- Place a lettuce leaf in a glass serving bowl. Place chicken meat on top of the sheet. Lightly salt and pepper it.
- Place a spoonful of mayonnaise on top of the meat and sprinkle with walnuts. The next layer is pieces of orange and prunes. The last layer is krill meat with mayonnaise. We decorate this salad with sprigs of your favorite greens.
Preparation of prunes
The second main ingredient for a delicious salad is prunes. Choose dried fruits whole and without seeds. If the prunes are a little dry, don’t be upset, but don’t cut them into the salad either. To restore softness to dried fruits, just pour them into a deep bowl and pour boiling water over them.
Keep the lid closed for no more than 10 minutes. Then the water is drained and the plums are left to dry. When they are completely cool and dry, you can cut them into pieces for a salad with chicken and prunes in layers.
Salad “Tenderness”
“Tenderness” is considered one of the most popular meat snacks with prunes. The composition includes the following products:
- 4 eggs.
- Chicken breast – 300 grams.
- Pickled cucumbers - 2-3 pieces.
- 150 grams of prunes.
- Hard cheese – 80 grams.
- Chopped walnuts – 100 grams.
- Several whole kernels for a beautiful appearance.
- Salt and black pepper - to taste.
Lay out the salad with chicken, prunes and walnuts in layers, each of which is smeared with mayonnaise. If you are afraid of gaining extra pounds, then mix mayonnaise and low-fat sour cream in equal proportions and season the salad with this mixture.
Salad "Lady's whim"
Why this name? Probably, a certain lady got capricious and decided to prepare the “Tenderness” salad a little differently. So it turned out to be a lady's whim with chicken, prunes and cucumbers.
Ingredients:
- Boiled chicken breast – 500 g;
- Hard-boiled eggs – 5 pieces;
- Prunes – 200 g;
- Fresh cucumbers – 3 pieces;
- Walnuts and herbs for decoration.
For refueling:
- Mayonnaise – 3 tablespoons;
- Sunflower oil – 3 tablespoons;
- Pepper and salt – a pinch each.
Preparation:
- If the composition of this salad is almost identical to the previous one, then the preparation is somewhat different.
- Boil the chicken in advance or grill it, cool and cut into strips.
- We also cut the cucumber into strips, which we first wash, and grate the hard-boiled eggs.
- We wash the prunes and cut them into halves, and chop the nuts to coarse crumbs.
- We also add the salad in layers, seasoning with salt and pepper:
- cucumbers,
- chicken,
- prunes,
- eggs.
Drizzle the eggs with vegetable oil and sprinkle with walnuts. And once again we lay all the layers in the same sequence. Pour mayonnaise over the salad and decorate with herbs.
Note:
There are also completely different salad recipes called “Lady’s whim”. True, almost all of them contain chicken and nuts.
How to cook
Chicken takes the longest to cook, so boil or bake the meat first. When it cools down, you can cut it into pieces.
After pre-soaking, prunes are cut into small cubes.
Any hard cheese will do, so you can buy your favorite variety. For a salad with chicken, prunes, walnuts and cucumber in layers, grate the cheese on a coarse grater.
The eggs are washed and boiled for 3-4 minutes. Then drain the water and pour cold water into the bowl so that the shells come off well. Then the whites are separated and grated separately from the yolks into different containers.
It is most convenient to grind nuts using a blender, but if you don’t have one, place the required portion in a plastic bag and grind with a rolling pin. The nuts should not turn into powder, it is enough to achieve smaller pieces. Don't forget to leave a few whole kernels to decorate the top of the layer cake.
Choose only pickled cucumbers; pickled ones contain a lot of liquid inside and are soft, but for the salad we need crunchy and harder vegetables. If the can contains too much vinegar, rinse the cucumbers under running water and then cut them into cubes.
When all the products are placed in separate containers, begin to lay out the layered salad in a wide flat dish; each layer is smeared with sauce so that the salad is juicy.
Layout order
Salad with cucumber, chicken and prunes is laid out in layers in the following order, each of them (except vegetables) spread with mayonnaise:
- Boiled meat is placed in large pieces on the bottom.
- The second layer is chopped proteins.
- Nuts mixed with prunes.
- Pickles.
- Powdered yolks are poured on top. You can additionally decorate the puff salad with fresh herbs.
This dish is cut with a triangular spatula, like a cake. You can place the layers in transparent wide bowls and serve them in portions to each guest separately.
Layered salad with prunes, chicken, cucumber and mushrooms
A layered salad will turn out very tasty if you add stewed champignons to it. They are prepared as usual, with onions cut into half rings in a frying pan with vegetable oil. To get rid of excess fat after cooking, pour the prepared mushrooms into a sieve and place it in a bowl so that it does not touch the bottom.
Excess oil will drain into the container and our salad will not float.
The remaining products for the puff salad are as follows:
- Half a kilo of chicken fillet.
- Prunes – 150 grams.
- 200 grams of your favorite hard cheese.
- One cucumber.
- 0.5 kg of champignons.
- 10 walnut kernels.
- 1 onion for frying with mushrooms.
- Salt, pepper - to taste.
- Mayonnaise or mixture with sour cream.
- Refined vegetable oil for frying mushrooms.
How to make a salad with prunes and walnuts
In this recipe I replaced the chicken with chicken ham. This option is suitable for those who are short on time and need to set the table. Moreover, it is prepared in portions; cooked and chopped products can be placed in bowls or small salad bowls and served to each guest.
Or put it on the table and invite guests to try it; whoever wants can take a portion and evaluate it. The cooking process is very easy, now we will see everything for ourselves.
Ingredients:
- 200 grams of ham
- 2 boiled eggs
- 200 grams of fresh cucumbers
- 80 grams of prunes
- 1 handful of walnuts
- 4 tbsp. spoons of mayonnaise
- salt, to taste
Cooking:
- I washed the cucumbers, cut them on both sides and cut them into strips. I immediately prepare 2-3 small salad bowls so that there is portioned serving.
- I don’t smear each layer with mayonnaise, but simply lay it out layer upon layer and pour the sauce on top. Then I spread the ham cut into strips on the vegetables. I hope you can handle it and cut it into strips.
- I grate the boiled eggs on a large grater and sprinkle on top. Then chopped prunes. This is how everything works out super quickly. By the way, you can arrange it this way in a larger plate, not in portions.
- And the final component is walnuts, I chop them. I said that fried ones taste best, but you can also put them raw.
- Before sprinkling with nuts, pour mayonnaise over the dish. I have the usual one, from a pack, water it and sprinkle with nuts.
- If you don’t have walnuts, you can add salted peanuts, I tried it, it turned out wonderful, I even took salted peanuts with bacon, it was very tasty. Or try a different type of nut.
Preparing the salad
Boil the meat in salted water, add herbs and spices for flavor if desired. Cut the nuts into small pieces with a knife. Grate the cheese. To make it easier to grate, place it in the refrigerator for a while. Wash the mushrooms to remove sand and soil residues and cut into thin semicircles. Peel the onion and chop it too. Pour the mushrooms into the frying pan, cover them with a lid and place on low heat (do not add oil yet).
The mushrooms should release moisture. When you see that a lot of liquid has accumulated in the pan, remove the lid to allow the moisture to evaporate. When the mushrooms become dry, pour in vegetable oil and add chopped onions. Fry until done for 15 minutes. Finally add salt and a little black pepper. Then, use the method described above to get rid of excess oil. Prunes are cut into small cubes or strips. Fresh cucumber is peeled and cut into strips.
For a salad prepared for your family, you can simply mix all the ingredients in a salad bowl and season with spices and mayonnaise. Serving a salad of chicken, mushrooms and prunes in layers will look beautiful for guests. They are laid out as follows:
- At the bottom is meat.
- Prunes.
- Mushrooms with onions.
- Cucumber.
- Cheese.
- The top is sprinkled with chopped nuts.
All layers are coated with sauce.
You can serve the dish on a large plate or place it in portioned containers.
Salad "Prague"
Ingredients:
- 300 g chicken meat
- 150 g pickled cucumbers or gherkins
- 100 g prunes
- 2 chicken eggs
- 1 small onion
- 1 carrot
- 3–4 tbsp. canned green peas (without liquid)
- 3 tbsp. sour cream
- 2 tbsp. mayonnaise
- salt
Boil chicken in salted water, hard-boiled eggs and carrots until soft
Preparation:
- Finely chop the first, chop the second, leaving one yolk for decoration, grate the third.
- Pour hot water over the prunes for 5-10 minutes, then strain the liquid, wash the dried fruits and chop with a knife.
- Cut pickled cucumbers or gherkins into small slices. Remove the husk from the onion, chop it finely and pour boiling water over it so that the onion acquires a sweetish taste.
- Divide the sour cream and mayonnaise mixture into three parts and mix each with chicken, eggs and chopped prunes.
- Assemble a layered salad on a beautiful platter, alternating foods: chicken, pickled cucumbers, onions, eggs, carrots, green peas, prunes. Decorate the resulting “cake” with the reserved yolk.
Smoked chicken salad
Let's look at another interesting recipe for layered salad with chicken and prunes, which uses smoked meat. The salad turns out to be satisfying, since it contains potatoes. Prepare the following ingredients:
- 400 grams of smoked chicken fillet.
- 200 grams of prunes.
- A glass of peeled walnut kernels.
- 300 grams of champignons.
- 1 onion.
- 1 large carrot.
- 2 potatoes.
- 4 hard-boiled eggs.
- Hard cheese – 100 grams.
- Green onions.
Smoked chicken salad with prunes - general principles of preparation
For appetizers, smoked chicken breasts or legs are usually used; wings are not suitable. The pulp is cut into strips or cubes. Prunes are also chopped, but a little smaller. If necessary, pre-soak it. These ingredients are then mixed or layered.
What else do they add:
• eggs, cheese;
• nuts;
• vegetables and fruits;
• mushrooms.
Usually such salads are seasoned with mayonnaise. If legs are used, then this layer is smeared with a small amount of sauce. The breast can be soaked more abundantly. Mayonnaise is added to the mixed salad to taste.
Cooking
Since the meat is bought ready-made, the first step is to boil the vegetables - potatoes and carrots. Meanwhile, chop the mushrooms and onions and fry them in a frying pan. We will not repeat how to stew mushrooms, since we described the preparation in detail earlier in the article. Boil the eggs and cover with cold water to make them easier to peel. Steam the prunes with boiling water for 10 minutes and cool. Grate the cheese on a coarse grater. Chop the nuts.
Start laying out from the bottom layer in this order:
- Grated carrots, salt plus mayonnaise.
- Cheese and sauce again.
- Eggs into large pieces, salt and spread with a layer of mayonnaise.
- Boiled potatoes, grated on a coarse grater, salt plus sauce.
- Walnuts and prunes. Mayonnaise mesh.
- Chicken, diced. Sauce.
- Champignons with onions.
- The top is sprinkled with chopped green onions.
Can be served on a holiday table.
Making a salad
Boil the chicken in advance and cool, then cut it into small cubes. Chop the prunes into thin strips after soaking in boiling water. Grate the cheese on a coarse grater. Grind the boiled eggs, separating the whites and yolks. If you bought a can of pineapple rings, then cut them into pieces yourself.
Lay out the puff salad in the following order:
- Chicken.
- Pineapples.
- Prunes.
- Cheese.
- Protein.
- Sprinkle the top with yolk.
All layers are greased with mayonnaise (except for pineapples). Leave some chopped fruit for the top layer.
As you can see, you don’t need to be a professional chef to make a delicious and beautifully decorated holiday dish. Even a novice housewife can handle the preparation. Prepare new salads for your family and friends, surprise your loved ones with interesting combinations and flavors! Bon appetit!
Salad "Venice"
Ingredients:
- 400 g chicken fillet
- 1 large fresh cucumber
- 200 g prunes
- 200 g potatoes
- 300 g champignons (can be frozen)
- 200 g hard cheese
- 3 chicken eggs
- 100 g natural yogurt
- 150 g 10% cream
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 small onion
- 10 g each fresh basil, dill and parsley
- a pinch of ground white pepper
- salt
- vegetable oil
Preparation:
- Boil chicken fillet, hard-boiled eggs and potatoes (in salted water for 20 minutes). Soak the prunes by pouring boiling water over them and leaving for 15 minutes.
- Fry the chopped champignons in vegetable oil for 15 minutes and drain them in a colander so as not to load the salad with excess fat. Cut the potatoes, chicken and prunes into slices, and the cucumber into strips.
- Grate the peeled eggs and cheese on a coarse grater. Prepare 4 small salad bowls for serving appetizers in portions.
- Make the sauce. To do this, whisk together yogurt and cream, mix with chopped onion, basil, dill and parsley. Add crushed garlic, white pepper and 0.5 tsp to the dressing. salt.
- Stir the mixture until smooth. Place all ingredients in salad bowls according to this list: prunes, chicken + 1 tsp. without sauce top, potatoes + sauce, mushrooms, eggs + sauce and cheese. Divide the portion of cucumber straws into 4 parts and arrange them beautifully in a mound on top of the salad.
