Just like people, culinary soul mates compliment inherently—one food’s acidity highlights the natural sweetness of the other; one food’s bland flavor and soft, creamy texture allows another’s salty, smoky, fatty qualities to linger on the tongue. Consider some classic food marriages: chocolate and peanut butter, tomato and basil, bacon and eggs, salt and pepper. These pairings harmonize instead of tussling; their unadorned states enhance their partner’s naturally.

I’d like to add a serendipitous food pairing to the list in the hopes that it one day becomes a classic: grapefruit and avocado. The fresh, slightly bitter taste of grapefruit cuts through the creamy unctuous qualities of the avocado; it’s a euphoric combination that pauses on the palette before it cleanses it. For anybody who is stuck in a lunchtime mason jar salad rut, this dairy-free, nut-free keto chicken salad recipe will brighten your afternoon.

Keto Chicken Citrus Salad with Lemon Turmeric Dressing

Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 1

Ingredients

• 1 skinless, boneless chicken breast or thigh
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• ¼ cup Primal Kitchen Lemon Turmeric Dressing
• 1 tablespoon Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil
• 1 cup baby arugula leaves
• ¼ cup grapefruit or orange segments (or both)
• ½ avocado, cubed

Instructions

• Place the chicken in a bowl and season both sides with salt and pepper. Pour about 2 tablespoons of Primal Kitchen Lemon Turmeric Dressing on top. Flip the chicken so it gets coated in dressing on the other side too.
• Place in the refrigerator to marinate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour.
• When chicken has finished marinating, remove from refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature on the counter (about 10 minutes).
• Heat an indoor grill pan or cast-iron skillet to medium-high. Add 1 tablespoon of Primal Kitchen Avocado Oil.
• Cook chicken thigh for about 6 minutes per side, and chicken breast for about 7 minutes per side (depending on how thick your chicken pieces are). Cooked chicken should register 165ºF on a meat thermometer when inserted into the thickest part of the meat.
• Remove the chicken from the pan and allow to rest on a cutting board for 5-10 minutes. Slice chicken into bite-sized pieces.
• Tumble arugula leaves into a large bowl. Add grapefruit or orange segments (see instructions below for how to create segments), chicken, and avocado cubes to bowl.
• Drizzle with 2 tablespoons (or however much you’d like!) Primal Kitchen Lemon Turmeric dressing. Enjoy!

How to Segment a Grapefruit or Orange

1. Use a sharp paring knife or other knife with a small blade.
2. Cut the grapefruit in half from top to bottom (not through the center). It’s easier to work with a grapefruit cut in half because of its large size. You can simply peel the skin away from the orange; skip to step 4 if you’re segmenting an orange.

3. Lay the cut side down on a cutting board. Cut away the skin carefully, holding the top of the fruit steady with the other hand.
4. When the knife reaches the middle of the fruit, switch your hand from the skin side to skinless side of the fruit to hold it steady as you continue to gently saw the skin away.
 Remove all of the fruit’s thick peel. Try to remove as much of the white pith as you can.

5. Slice carefully into one segment of the fruit, as close to a membrane as possible, so you create a slit on one side that frees the meat of the fruit from the membrane.

6. Make another slit on the other side, as close to the membrane as possible, so you can loosen the fruit completely.
 Lift out the fruit segment. Set aside.

7. Repeat the process until all of the fruit segments are removed from the membrane.

You might also like these other not-boring salad recipes:

• Antipasto Salad with Tuscano Salami
• Baby Kale Rainbow Salad
• Grilled Romaine Caesar Salad
• Primal Harvest Bowl with Honey Mustard Vinaigrette