Protein rich broccoli fitness salad

The kind of salad your life needs right now

Pens and notepads out or hit that shortcut button. This broccoli fitness salad needs to be on your weekday dinner routine list. Not only is it full of good nutrients, it also delivers in the taste department. Big time, in fact!

I am a huge fan of hearty salads after a workout or a day of hiking or loooong walks. I also believe in balance of soul food and healthy food as I strongly advocate to always try to find ways to form a strong union of the two in a meal. This broccoli fitness salad is all that and more as the bacon and the rotisserie chicken add an amazing richness in flavor and the perfect amount of protein to replenish your energy after excersising. You also got your naughty carb source in terms of the sweet corn. On top of that, you got a boat load of vitamins from the veggies.

What makes this broccoli fitness salad a clear winner in terms of dinner (woooooah, that rhymes), is the fact that you won’t feel hungry or crave bread on the side. Which is a negative side effect of so many supposedly healthy salads or meals. They are all nice and dandy and make you feel good, while eating them, but shortly thereafter you catch yourself pacing your kitchen, searching for something to eat like a grizzle bear preparing for hibernation. Which in turn makes your super healthy meal, super unhealthy, if you munch on a dry loaf of bread afterwards to make your stomach stop crying out in hunger pain.

Since the bacon and the broccoli prepare themselves (in the oven and the pot), it’s not too labor intensive, which is another winning aspect of the broccoli fitness salad.

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How to prepare broccoli fitness salad

Step 1: Start with the bacon first, as it is the preparation step that takes the longest. For this, place parchment paper on a baking tray and lay the bacon strips on it. Then place the tray in the oven and only then set the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit/175 degrees Celsius. Thereby the excess fat of the bacon can dissolve better, which is not the case if the oven (or the pan) are already hot. Bake the bacon for approx. 10 min. Then take it out of the oven and let it sit and cool down.

Step 2: Cook the broccoli florets for 5 minutes in a pot with lightly salted water. The idea being, that your greens are slightly softened, but still a bit firm and definitely not soggy or mashy.

Step 3: Next, shred the rotisserie chicken into smaller bits and place it in a large salad bowl. Cut the cucumber and carot into slices and add them to the bowl as well together with the sweet corn. Add the broccoli once it’s done.

Step 4: When the bacon has cooled down, place it in the center of a paper towel. Fold the towel and then crush the bacon into small bits. Drizzle it into the salad bowl as well.

Step 5: Toss up all the ingredients and then – as a last step to finalize your broccoli fitness salad – add a salad dressing of your choice, like simple olive oil and vinegar with a bit of salt and pepper or a creamy blue cheese dressing.

Loved the broccoli fitness salad and crave for more healthy dinner option? Look no further and check out great recipes for tasty healthy meals on Mareike’s Cozy Corner: