The best summer meal I know how to make! This salad is bursting with fresh flavor – juicy peaches and nectarines, cherry tomatoes, summer corn, arugula and romaine lettuce, crisp smoky bacon, feta cheese, and creamy avocado dressing. Who ever said healthy eating isn’t flavorful and fun?
I’m on a roll with the peach recipes! This is my favorite summer salad – I’ve been eating it constantly for the past three months. It’s a great meal-prep type situation.
All you need to do at the beginning of the week is cook up your chicken and bacon, and mix up the creamy avocado dressing. I keep all the components in their own containers in the fridge – then, when it’s time to assemble the salad, I just toss everything together!
I don’t recommend assembling the salad ahead of time because some of the produce will get weird once it’s been cut/sitting in the fridge for a bit. In general, this is the way I do things with salads. And, since I work from home, it’s obviously super easy for me to take a break and assemble a salad from the fridge.
BUT – if you need to pack your lunch, throw this together before you leave for work in the morning. I like heating up the bacon, chicken, and corn – so you could pack that in a separate microwave-safe container so you can heat those things up, then add them to the cold salad ingredients.
The good news here, is that the avocado dressing keeps super well in the fridge for a whole week! If that’s not a meal prep win, I don’t know what is.
If you want to serve this as one big meal, instead of portioning out one salad for yourself each day, mix up the full quantity of ingredients below all at once. You can toss with the dressing just before serving, or keep it in a bowl with a spoon on the side so people can add it themselves.
The leftovers won’t be as good but you can store leftovers for a day or so if you serve it this way.
Happy salad-ing! And, remember – say no to boring salads!
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Peach Nectarine Salad with Bacon, Corn, Feta, and Creamy Avocado Dressing
bursting with fresh flavor - juicy peaches + nectarines, cherry tomatoes, corn,
arugula, lettuce, crisp smoky bacon, feta cheese, and creamy avocado dressing.
Ingredients
For the Avocado Dressing
- 1 medium avocado
- 1-2 TBSP lime juice
- 1/4 to 1/2 cup water
- 1/2 cup greek yogurt Full Fat or Fat Free
- salt + pepper, to taste
For the Salad
- 3 large peaches
- 3 large nectarines
- 1 and 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes
- 1 head romaine lettuce
- 3 cups arugula
- 1 cup feta cheese
- 3 cobs corn
- 8-10 slices bacon, cooked
- 2-3 lbs chicken optional, but I always add it to make this a more substantial meal
Instructions
- Prep: Cook the chicken, if using. I like to season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano. Chop the chicken into chunks and add to a large pan with 1-2 TBSP olive oil on the stovetop over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until no longer pink in the middle. Cook the corn: Shuck and rinse the corn. Add it to a large pot of boiling water and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until corn is tender. Slice the corn off the cob. Cook the bacon: Cook according to package directions - we always do it in the oven.
- Make the Dressing: Blend all ingredients in a food processor or blender until mixed. Add more water until desired thinness is reached (start with 1/4 cup and work up to 1/2 cup). Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Assemble for a 1-serving meal: Keep each component in its own container in the fridge. Assemble 1 salad at a time when you're ready to eat!
- Assemble for a 6-serving meal: Assemble the salad just before serving. Toss with the dressing, or leave the dressing on the side so people can add the amount they want on their portion.
- Store: I don't recommend assembling the whole salad and storing it that way - once you cut the peaches and nectarines they get a bit weird if you don't eat them right away, and salads don't tend to hold up super well as leftovers once they've been assembled and dressed. If you have leftovers from making a 6-serving salad, they'll keep for a day or so but this salad is better fresh.
Nutrition
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Ribana says
This salad really looks gorgeous! I love the colors and the combination! I always pack my salad for lunch in the office and I’m always looking for new idea to avoid that boring salads 🙂 Avocado dressing I’ve never tried it but I guess is really the perfect finishing touch 🙂