Strawberry Walnut Chicken with Spinach for SIBO Diets

When Spring has you craving spinach salad with strawberries, walnuts, and chicken, but those pesky SIBO issues prevent you from eating salad, all you have to do is ask, “what if?”

What if you sautéed the strawberries and walnuts, added chicken, and served it over a bed of steamed spinach? That’s how this bizarre (but quite tasty) dinner idea was born.

With its surprising balance of tart, sweet, and toasty flavors, all melded together by the natural pectin in strawberries into a light, velvety sauce, I’m definitely making this again…

Ingredients:

3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, flattened with a mallet
1 TBL walnut oil
6-7 large strawberries, diced
Dash of kosher salt
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 TBL + 1 tsp honey
2 TBL walnuts, toasted* and chopped
1 large plastic “clamshell” container of spinach leaves (or a bunch of greens of your choosing)
1/4 cup water

Instructions:

Heat walnut oil over medium heat in a heavy non-stick pan, and sauté the chicken thighs until golden, about 4-5 minutes per side. Remove chicken and reserve.

Add strawberries, salt, vinegar, honey, and walnuts to the same pan, and cook over medium heat until strawberries begin to soften, and the sauce bubbles and looks glossy.

Cut chicken thighs in half (or thirds if large) and add back to the pan, turning each piece to coat and warming the chicken for about 2-3 minutes.

Remove the chicken and sauce from the pan and keep warm. Add the spinach leaves and water to the same pan, stirring, and turning until the leaves are soft and bright green… roughly 3-4 minutes.

Divide the sautéed spinach onto two plates, top with the sauced chicken, and serve.

*To toast walnuts, toss them in a non-stick pan over medium-low heat until they’re fragrant and lightly browned.