Best Chopped Chicken Salad Recipe
When you’re in need of a great tasting salad with juicy chicken, fresh tomatoes, crunchy cucumbers, crisp bell peppers, and creamy avocado over a bed of mixed greens, this chopped salad recipe is just what you need. The oven-baked chicken is so tender, juicy, and ready in 15 minutes. I love grilled chicken and you can make the chicken on the grill, but for those of you without one or who don’t want to grill, it’s perfect in the oven. While the chicken bakes, chop your veggies, and if you want to incorporate my one-minute-shake-together honey apple cider vinaigrette, go for it. It’s light but packs a ton of sweet-and-sour flavor. Otherwise your favorite store-bought dressing is just fine.
Ingredients in Chopped Chicken Salad
It should go without saying, but salad recipes are inherently super flexible and you should incorporate what you have on hand and enjoy.
For the Chicken:
Chicken breasts Olive oil Salt and pepper Brown sugar Chili powder Paprika Cumin Garlic powder Cayenne pepper, optional but recommended
For the Salad:
Mixed greens Tomatoes Cucumbers Yellow bell peppers Avocado
For the Dressing:
Olive oil Honey Apple cider vinegar Mustard (either dijon or honey mustard) Salt and pepper
What’s the Best Way to Cook Chicken for Salad?
The star of this recipe is the juicy baked chicken for the salad! This easy oven-baked chicken is adapted from my 20-Minute Oven-Baked Chicken Breasts recipe. I made 1 1/2 pounds of chicken in this chopped salad recipe versus 3 pounds in the other recipe, so the dry rub ingredients are roughly halved. There you have it! The best — and easiest! — roasted chicken for any salad.
How to Make Chopped Chicken Salad
Once the chicken has been sliced, you can assemble the chopped chicken salad and pour over the dressing. The reason for pounding is that chicken breasts are thicker in the middle and thinner on the edges and if you don’t pound them, the edges will become dry and can burn before the center is cooked through. Additionally, the pounding helps to tenderize the protein. This chopped salad dressing is one of my favorites, adapted from this Apple White Cheddar Spinach Salad, which is a fall favorite. Simply combine all the vinaigrette ingredients in a small jar or container with a lid (a canning jar works great here) and shake it up until combined. It’s such a versatile vinaigrette for a wide variety of salads and you can use is as a chicken marinade.
Tips for the Best Chopped Salad Dressing
The chopped salad dressing is optional, and you can always use whatever vinaigrette or salad dressing you have on hand. But if you want to be extra about things, definitely make it. And it’s not even really extra because you shake this up in one singular minute. Because vinaigrettes and salad dressings are so personal based on personal taste preferences, don’t be afraid to add more or less oil, vinegar, honey, salt, etc. than I did. Taste it and if it tastes at all flat, you likely need more salt. And from there, it will come down to if you want it sweeter, add more honey or a pinch of sugar. If you want it more acidic with more bite, add more vinegar.
More Chicken Salad Recipes:
Apple, White Cheddar, and Grilled Chicken Salad — All the flavors just POP in this fast, easy, and healthy salad!! The Honey-Apple Cider Vinaigrette doubles as marinade + salad dressing to save time!! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes! Pecan Strawberry Chicken Salad — The grilled chicken is so JUICY and moist thanks to a homemade pecan butter marinade!! Sweet strawberries and crunchy pecans add extra texture and FLAVOR!! Sunflower Chicken Salad – LOADED with juicy chicken, veggies galore, sunflower seeds, and a sunflower seed butter dressing!! EASY, healthy, ready in 15 minutes! A HEARTY and satisfying salad!! Balsamic Chicken Caprese Salad — Juicy chicken coated in balsamic along with plump tomatoes, creamy mozzarella, and basil!! Easy, healthy, ready in 15 minutes! Crunchy Peanut Salad with Chicken — Crispy fried chicken with crunchy cabbage, carrots, peanuts, cilantro and the EASIEST and BEST homemade peanut sauce that coats every bite!! Chicken Gyro Salad with Tzatziki Sauce — Chicken gyros transformed into a HEALTHY salad with an EASY homemade tzatziki sauce that’s loaded with tangy dill FLAVOR!! Ready in 20 minutes!! 15-Minute Teriyaki Chicken and Mango Salad — Fast, EASY, healthy, and sweet mango is the perfect complement to the savory teriyaki chicken!! Save this recipe for when you need a FRESH and TASTY spin on chicken salad!!
