Chicken Salad Lettuce Wraps

One of my all-time favorite foods is a chicken salad sandwich. I could scarf down those chicken-stuffed croissants for days. However, that meal is no where near healthy. I found this alternative recipe on Pinterest and I fell in love! Super fresh and super crisp, it makes a great light meal. 

INGREDIENTS

Dressing

• 1 cup Greek yogurt (or low-fat mayo)
• 5 teaspoons honey
• 4 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
• ⅛ teaspoon salt
• ⅛ teaspoon pepper

Salad

• 4 cups diced grilled chicken breasts
• ½ cup crushed almonds
• ½ cup red grapes, sliced in half
• 1 red apple, diced
• Iceberg lettuce pieces

INSTRUCTIONS

1. To make the salad dressing, combine the yogurt, honey, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper in a bowl. Whisk together until creamy and well-mixed.
2. To prepare the salad, combine the chicken, almonds, grapes, apple and salad dressing in a bowl using a wooden spoon. Stir until the ingredients are well coated with the dressing. Let chill in the refrigerator until ready to prepare wraps.
3. To prepare wraps, put a large piece of iceberg lettuce on a plate. Spoon a generous portion of chicken salad into the wrap.

If you use pre-cooked chicken, this meal takes about 20-30 minutes of prep time. This recipe includes most food groups: fruits, vegetables, proteins, and fats. The main thing it lacks is grain, which could easily be introduced by putting the salad on a couple slices of whole-grain bread. 

Per Serving (1 large wrap):

Calories: 135

Carbs:    6g

Fat:      2.8g

Protein:  22g

Cholest:  51mg

Sodium:   57mg

Sugar:    5g

Fiber:    0.5g

When I did a nutritional analysis of this recipe, I found a few  interesting things. First, almost all of the fat and protein comes from the chicken, yogurt, and almonds. Greek yogurt contains almost no fat, but it does have lots of healthy protein. Protein is great for you because it helps repair and make new cells in your body; it helps maintain the structure of our bodies. Fats are also necessary because they provide us with energy!

Another thing I noticed is that the sugars in this recipe are natural. Natural honey, natural fruits, natural sweetness. There is no processed sugar, which makes it a lot better for us. We need natural carbohydrates in our diet to stay healthy and keep up our calorie count.

When it comes to vitamins and minerals, this recipe has got plenty. Since major minerals are often found in fruits, and trace minerals are found in poultry and nuts, this recipe is a great way to squeeze some minerals into your diet. Almonds also contain Vitamin E, which is essential to calcium disbursement and regulation of cell production. These natural ingredients make getting essential nutrients easy.

 This recipe seems to meet a lot of criteria for a healthy meal.  Low calories, low carbs, low fat, low sodium.  My biggest complaint is that, by itself, the wraps are not very filling. You would have to pair it with grains (or fiber) to feel really full after eating. However, the chicken salad wraps were still delicious and are still a quality food choice. This would make for a great meal if you wanted healthier alternatives to classic recipes.

Futral, M.