Jerk Chicken And Mango Chopped Salad

This perfectly filling chopped salad is packed with fresh produce and has a sweet-spicy-tangy flavor combo that is absolutely insane – a must-try, especially in the warmer months!

Why Make Jerk Chicken and Mango Chopped Salad

Salads are one of my favorite summer meals for when it’s too hot for me to stand over a hot stove…Which, post June until September, is most days. That said, making meals that don’t fill me up is an exercise in futility, so I only tolerate salads that will fill me up. I love a salads with lots of protein, so I often like to eat salads with chicken in them (see what I mean), but I can only have regular grilled chicken so many times before it starts to get tired.

Jerk chicken is one of my fave chicken dishes, but eating it traditionally with rice and peas can leave me feeling heavy, which isn’t ideal on super hot summer days. So, I figured, why not combine that best of both worlds and adapt one of my favorite chicken flavors (if we can call it that?) for a nice refreshing salad that uses all the best produce from the summer season? The result – a fresh sweet and spicy salad like you’ve (probably)never had before.

What Ingredients Do I Need to Make This Salad?

• 1 lb of raw chicken tenders — cubed
• 1 teaspoon salt 
• 2 tablespoons mild jerk seasoning (the most authentic brands offer a seasoning in paste form. A couple of the best brands from experience/recommendations from Jamaican cooks that are easiest to find are “Grace” and “Walkerswood”)
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil (divided)
• 1 cup corn kernels (it’s best if you can use corn kernels that have been freshly cut off the cob) 
• 1 ½ cups of grape tomatoes 
• 1 large mango (cubed) 
• ¾ cup of canned black beans (lightly salted)
• ¼ cup of scallions
• ¼ cup of cilantro
• 1 lime (juiced) 
• ½ teaspoon black pepper

How to Make Jerk Chicken and Mango Chopped Salad

1. Prepare the chicken. Place chicken in a medium-sized bowl, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon of the salt, stirring for even distribution, then, do the same with the jerk seasoning. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in pan on medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan and cover with a lid. Cook chicken on first side for 2-3 mins, then stir occasionally until fully cooked (about 6-7 mins), replacing the lid after each stir. Once fully cooked, remove from pan and set aside to cool.
2. Prep produce. Slice grape tomatoes in half, peel and cube mango into ½ inch by ½ inch pieces, thinly slice scallions and chopped cilantro. If using corn from the cob, cut kernels off and set aside. If using frozen corn, toast on a pan (can be the same pan that you used to cook the chicken) until thawed.
3. Combine Salad Ingredients. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients and gently toss.

Cooking with Jerk Seasoning

Selecting The Right Jerk Seasoning

Many brands make jerk chicken seasoning, but they are not all created equal. Additionally, jerk seasoning can come in a dry rub form, or a wet paste form. Personally, I prefer to stick to Jamaican brands when making my jerk chicken for the most authentic flavor, and these tend to come in the paste form. A couple of the most authentic brands (per a Jamaican friend I made on a recent trip to the country) are Grace and Walkerswood. Heads up, though, they will be spicy, so be sure to stick to the amount listed in the recipe if you’re sensitive to spice. Usually, you can find jerk seasoning in the “international foods” isle of your grocery store. If you can’t find these brands in your local grocery store, you can either take a gamble on the brand your store carried (no promises on flavor though!) or you can order some from Target or Amazon.

Handling the Chicken

Especially if working with the paste version of Jerk seasoning from authentic brands, you’re going to want to avoid contact with the seasoning because of its spice. Trust me, I’ve gotten jerk seasoning under my fingernails before and let me tell you – it can burn under your nails the same way that it burns your mouth – no fun. When stirring the chicken or transferring it to the pan or a bowl, be sure to always use a utensil or food-safe gloves.

Cooking the Jerk Chicken

Similarly, when cooking jerk chicken, like anything spicy, you’ll want to make sure you keep the lid on as much as possible. Don’t want those peppers to get all in your nose or I guarantee that you WILL need tissues. You’re welcome.

How to Select the Best Produce for the Salad

The major theme here, as with any salad, is to make sure that you’re using fresh produce to avoid a gross, soggy salad-eating experience.

Mangos

As an exclusively self-proclaimed mango connoisseur (I have no qualifications other than loving mangos) I recommend that the best kind of mangos to use in this salad are (surprise!) Caribbean mangos. They’re perfectly firm but also get perfectly ripe to use in in any salad, unlike other types of mangos that can get either ripe and too mushy to hold their shape, or never quite get soft and ripe enough for easy chewing. To choose the perfect mango, you’re looking for one that’s mostly red or red and orange in color and is firm to the touch, but has a slight give when gently pressed with the pads of your fingers. If it’s too squishy, it’s likely no longer good, if it’s hard as a rock, it’s not ready to eat yet.

Tomatoes

While this recipe calls specifically for grape tomatoes because they’re they perfect size considering all the other ingredients in this salad, it is totally okay to use whatever red tomatoes you have on hand. If using other tomatoes like cherry or any other larger tomatoes, you’ll just want to make sure to cut them into smaller pieces, no longer than 1 inch and no wider than half an inch.

Corn

I get it, one of the best things about salad is how easy it is to throw together, so why complicate it with the extra steps of slicing corn kernels off the cob when, *Ina Garten voice*, frozen is fine? While, yes, thawed frozen corn really is fine for this recipe (as long as it’s crisp and not overcooked), I prefer the crispness and texture of corn straight off the cob and think it adds and element of fresh crunch to the salad that I’d be missing otherwise. Up to you though!

Limes

You’ll want to make sure to choose limes that will give you as much juice as possible. That means that they have to ripe. Good limes have a more ‘limey’ smell (I know, but test it out) than unripe limes. Also, like mangos, they also have a slight give when squeezed vs. being rock hard. To prep your limes for squeezing, my Food Network homegirl (in my head), Giada De Laurentiis, taught me to roll the limes on the counter back and for a couple of times before cutting into and squeezing them, and I must say, that trick really works!