Grilled Sesame Chicken with Beets & Arugula

Have y'all ever been stuck in a lunchtime rut? I got into one  recently. I was either prepping the same old boring things or not managing my time well, which would lead to me skipping prep altogether and grabbing to-go from a restaurant. My Pinterest feed didn't even do the trick. Instead, inspiration literally showed up on my doorstep in the form of the Mary's Secret Ingredients spring box. I talked about this quarterly subscription service here back in January. Each of the items in the spring box was interesting to me but the Get Dressed Sesame Sensation dressing and marinade caught my eye, in particular, and I decided to try it out on some chicken one weekend. I marinated the chicken overnight then cooked it up quickly on my grill pan.

From the pictures below you can see that my original bottle is almost empty and I've already re-upped since then! What I like about this line of dressing is that it provides simple serving suggestions based on the flavors in each bottle. This particular one claims to pair well with chicken, fish, beets, and arugula. The chicken was already in the works and I absolutely love beets and arugula together, so I decided to combine the three for a lunchtime salad to get me through the work week. The result blew my mind. There are some meals that make me look forward to my lunch so much that I eat it early and do a happy dance on my way to the kitchen. This is one of those. And I hadn't been so excited about my lunch in a couple of months. It's a gluten-free meal, too, so those of y'all with sensitivities can try it out!

I wanted to do something different with the beets and landed on quick-pickling them to get a bit of tanginess in the mix without having to wait weeks. You can buy pickled beets from most any grocery store or follow this tutorial I found on Pinterest. It's extremely easy, takes about 10 minutes, and they're ready the next day! I'm a novice-level preserver and had no issues making these, although, I did knock over a jar and spent a bit of time grumbling and cleaning up beet-colored vinegar off virtually every surface in my kitchen (how did it splash so much?!). They really add a fantastic flavor component to the meal so I encourage you to go for them over roasted or raw beets when you try out this recipe.

I hope this quick meal inspires you out of any lunch or dinnertime rut you might face. Also, Dash of Jazz readers can get 20% off a box from Mary's Secret Ingredient with the code "TRYMSI". Thanks for reading!

Grilled Sesame Chicken with Beets & Arugula

An easy, 4-ingredient meal salad with amazing flavors from a marinade that doubles as a dressing!

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Prep Time 2 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 22 mins

Course Salad

Cuisine American

Servings 5 servings

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 5 boneless skinless chicken thighs
• 4 beets sliced and pickled
• 5 cups baby arugula
• Get Dressed Sesame Sensation dressing & marinade

Instructions

 

• Marinate chicken overnight in about a ½ cup of the Get Dressed dressing.
• Cook chicken through, either on a grill or grill pan. It can also be baked.
• Slice chicken width-wise and assemble on a bed of about 1 cup arugula along with about eight beet slices and a drizzle of dressing.

Keyword chicken marinade, easy spring salad, pickled beets

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