chicken paillard with a pear & manchego salad
and a chicken paillard video tutorial!
Today I wanted to give you guys an absolutely delicious salad that would be a delightful side on any Thanksgiving or holiday table, but that also makes a great entrée any ole weeknight with the addition of a protein.
We’re making a pear and manchego salad that has homemade candied nuts and a creamy apple cider tahini dressing. The salad’s amazing with any protein you have or are craving — steak, chicken, shrimp, tofu, a big old roasted turkey perhaps… — but my favorite protein pair for it is chicken paillard! If you’ve never cooked chicken paillard before, you’re in for a treat.
“Paillard” means “pounded thin” in French, and it’s a classic French cooking method in which you, yep, pound a piece of meat into a thin, even layer. We’ve never done a chicken paillard here at What To Cook because pounding chicken breasts seems like something you may not want to do when you don’t feel like cooking. However, it makes the chicken cook so quickly and uniformly (4 to 5 minutes total!) that while it’s more active cook time, it’s less overall cook time, which is sometimes the goal!
Cooking chicken paillard is a great skill to have and I’m excited to teach you how to do it today. In the recipe I tell you what to do, and beneath the recipe you’ll find a video in which I show you what to do. Watch it before you start cooking!
Like I said above, the salad is amazing with all types of protein. It’s also a delicious side salad all on its own — it serves 4 to 6 adults without the chicken. It would be an excellent option for a crisp green salad on your Thanksgiving table, or at any fall or winter potluck.
And once you’ve mastered the art of making chicken paillard, you can pair it with any side you’d like! I love it with roasted vegetables, mashed potatoes, or frozen French fries (poules frites!).
I promise it’s not difficult! It’s definitely a hands-on, active cooking process, but every step is quick, and you’re going to be so impressed with yourself when all is said and done. You’ll have made candied nuts, a homemade salad dressing, a beautiful leafy green salad, and chicken paillard all from scratch — and all in under 40 minutes!
If cooking all of that sounds exhausting to you right now… don’t leave!! This meal is still for you! Scroll down to the “what to cook when you really don’t feel like cooking” section in the Notes beneath the recipe for some excellent store-bought shortcuts to make this meal even easier. Choose one or all of them.
My perfect fall chicken and kale salad sans chicken is another great leafy green option for your Thanksgiving spread! If you like the *simple, delicious protein plus a yummy side* formula of this recipe, I highly recommend trying the steak, salad, and fries that Ali Slagle shared with us two years ago. And if you want to lean even harder into French cuisine, cook Ina Garten’s mustard-roasted fish with haricots verts!
Serves: As an entrée salad with chicken, this meal serves dinner for 2; as a side salad by itself, it serves 4 to 6
Cook time: ~40 minutes
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