Watch how it’s made
Every step in 1:01 — from the ingredients to the finished dish.
This is the lunch to make when you want something that will not leave you sleepy at three in the afternoon. At 14 grams of carbohydrate per serving it is the lowest-carbohydrate main course in this collection, and nearly all of that comes from vegetables rather than starch, so the effect on blood sugar is modest.
Grilled chicken supplies 28 grams of protein, avocado supplies monounsaturated fat and fiber, and the greens supply volume. The dressing is olive oil and lemon juice, which is worth noting because bottled dressings are one of the most common places added sugar enters an otherwise sensible salad.
The dressing is the hidden variable
A two-tablespoon serving of bottled honey mustard or French dressing can contain 6 to 10 grams of sugar, which is more carbohydrate than everything else in this salad combined. Olive oil and lemon juice, whisked with salt, pepper and a little Dijon mustard, take thirty seconds and contain essentially none.
Olive oil is not merely neutral here, it is doing useful work. The fat helps your body absorb the fat-soluble vitamins in the greens, and it contributes to the slow, steady digestion that keeps this meal from producing a spike.
Cooking the chicken well
Dry chicken is what makes people give up on salads. Pound the breasts to an even thickness before cooking so the thin end does not overcook while the thick end catches up, and take them off the heat at an internal temperature of 165F. Resting for five minutes before slicing lets the juices redistribute instead of running onto the board.
Leftover roast chicken or a supermarket rotisserie bird works perfectly well and turns this into a ten-minute lunch. If you use rotisserie, remove the skin to keep the sodium and fat closer to the numbers listed.
Packing it for work
Keep the components separate until you eat. Greens go soft within an hour of meeting dressing, and avocado browns. Pack the dressing in a small jar, keep the avocado whole or tossed in lemon juice, and assemble at your desk. Prepared this way the salad holds for two days in the refrigerator.