Chicken and Bulgur Salad with Avocado

Boneless chicken breasts pair with a citrusy vinaigrette, avocado, fennel, and tomato for a refreshing and easy to make dish.

Active Time: 25 mins
Total Time: 45 mins
Servings: 4

Chef Alfred Portale makes a spectacular avocado terrine that he serves alongside sliced chicken and a bulgur wheat salad. Here, we tossed chunks of avocado with chicken and bulgur to create a less dramatic but equally delicious salad.

Bulgur is a quick-cooking whole grain made from wheat kernels that have been parboiled, dried, and cracked. It's widely used throughout the Mediterranean and West Asia to make dishes like tabbouleh, kibbeh, porridge, and pilaf. It's categorized by grain size, ranging from fine to coarse. Fine bulgur is prepared by soaking it in boiling water; coarse bulgur can be made this way as well, though it will require a significantly longer soak — some opt to cook it on the stovetop for this reason.

Select fine bulgur for this recipe. If you're not sure where your bulgur falls on the grain size spectrum, be aware that it may need to soak longer than the instructed 30 minutes to become tender.

The best avocado variety for this dish

Of the more than 500 types of avocado, Hass avocados account for 80% of the world's avocado crops — and for good reason. Their relatively high fat content makes for especially creamy flesh with a wonderfully buttery flavor, which is why they're great in this salad.

Notes from the Food & Wine Test Kitchen

For this recipe, only the fennel bulb is used — but that doesn’t mean you should discard the fronds and stalks. The feathery fronds have a delicate, anise-like flavor and can be used as you would tender herbs in salads, soups, stews, and other dishes, or to make a pesto. The similarly flavored stalks can be finely chopped and used like celery in any number of dishes. Alternatively, you can pop the fronds and stalks in the freezer and add them to the pot next time you make vegetable or chicken stock.

Make ahead

The salad can be refrigerated for up to two hours.

Suggested pairing

A ripe, oaky Australian Chardonnay will blend the sweet, tangy, and assertive flavors in this salad.

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Ingredients

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This recipe was developed at its original yield. Ingredient amounts are automatically adjusted, but cooking times and steps remain unchanged. Note that not all recipes scale perfectly. Original recipe (1X) yields 4 servings

• 1 cup bulgur

• 1 cup boiling water

• 2 (6–ounce) skin-on boneless chicken breasts

• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil, divided

• Kosher salt

• Freshly ground black pepper

• 1/2 cup fresh orange juice

• 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

• 5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

• 2 large scallions, thinly sliced

• 2 Hass avocados, cut into 1-inch chunks

• 1 medium fennel bulb (about 12 ounces), cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

• 1 cup cherry tomatoes

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F. In a heatproof bowl, cover the bulgur with the boiling water. Cover the bowl with a plate and let stand until the water has been absorbed and the bulgur is tender, about 30 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, on a rimmed baking sheet, coat the chicken breasts with 1 tablespoon of the grapeseed oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the chicken until the internal temperature registers 165°F with an instant-read thermometer, 15 to 18 minutes; let cool. Slice the breasts on the diagonal about 1/4-inch thick.

3. In a small bowl, whisk the orange juice with the basil, lemon juice, scallions, and the remaining 1/4 cup of grapeseed oil; season the vinaigrette with salt and pepper.

4. In a large bowl, toss the bulgur, chicken, avocados, fennel, and tomatoes with the vinaigrette; season with salt and pepper. Mound the salad onto plates and serve.

Originally appeared: September 2002