Impress your guests (or just treat yourself) with a salad that tastes like it came from a cozy French bistro! This Red Wine Chicken Salad is a masterclass in elevating simple ingredients. Juicy, pan-seared chicken breasts are bathed in a rich, glossy red wine pan sauce, then sliced and served atop a bed of crisp, bitter greens. It’s sophisticated yet surprisingly simple to make, offering a perfect balance of savory, slightly sweet, and tangy flavors. Perfect for a date night at home or a lunch that feels luxuriously special.
This incredibly easy-to-make stewed chicken is a classic French home-style dish. It includes chicken, red wine, bacon, and mushrooms, and can be cooked over a stovetop in about an hour and a half. Once the meat is cooked through, remove it from the stove, reduce the sauce over high heat, and then blend the broth into a sauce – perfect with rice! A chicken can be prepared in many ways; chicken breast, legs, wings, and bones all have their own suitable cooking methods. For example, you can pan-fry the chicken breast, which tends to dry out after stewing, and make a quick cold salad – a perfect complement to the stew!
Red wine chicken breast salad
Ingredients
- free-range chicken Appropriate amount
- White mushrooms Appropriate amount
- Dried mushrooms Appropriate amount
- Bacon Appropriate amount
- chicken breast Appropriate amount
- garlic Appropriate amount
- onion Appropriate amount
- Parsley Appropriate amount
- wine Appropriate amount
- Broth Appropriate amount
- olive oil Appropriate amount
- salt Appropriate amount
- Black pepper Appropriate amount
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil Appropriate amount
- Italian Balsamic Vinegar Appropriate amount
- Brewed soy sauce Appropriate amount
- coriander Appropriate amount
Instructions
- Pat the chicken pieces dry, season with salt and black pepper, and pan-fry over medium-high heat until the skin is golden brown (it's best to do this in batches, otherwise the moisture will cause the pan to cool down quickly and turn into "boiling").
- In a separate pan, fry the bacon until caramelized and coated the bottom.
- Add onions, whole garlic cloves, and mushrooms and stir-fry until fragrant
- Add the chicken pieces back in and stir-fry until well combined
- Pour in red wine and stock in a roughly 1:3 ratio, covering the chicken to 3/4 of its volume (the chicken itself contains a lot of moisture). Bring to a boil for 3 minutes, then cover and simmer on the lowest heat for 1 hour or until the chicken is tender and not tough. Season with salt again after 30 minutes.
- Season the chicken breast with salt and black pepper, pan-fry over medium-high heat until 80% cooked, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove and let cool, then shred by hand into thin strips. Mix evenly with balsamic vinegar, EXVolive oil, soy sauce, salt, black pepper, and hot sauce. Stir in chopped cilantro and refrigerate for 15 minutes.
- Once the chicken is cooked through, remove it from the water, cover it, and reduce the sauce over high heat for 10 minutes. Then, pour some of the broth and sauce into a blender, blend until smooth, and pour it over the chicken. You can also pour the remaining sauce over rice. Finally, add some chopped cilantro and it's ready to eat!
