Avocado Chicken Salad with a refreshing lemon-herb vinaigrette is loaded with fresh veggies, roasted chicken, and creamy Avocado. It has a bite and crunch, is creamy, and is a really filling salad.
This Avocado Chicken salad is anything but boring when it is crunchy, creamy, and full of fresh ingredients. The zippy Lemon herb dressing brings the salad together.
This chicken salad with avocado has both your share of healthy protein in chicken and a variety of fruit and greens providing fiber and nutrition that keeps you satiated. This salad works very well as a side and also as a meal in itself.
Fresh seasonal tomatoes, onion, greens, creamy avocado, fresh cilantro, and grilled chicken, make this salad really filling and healthy.
On the lookout for chicken salads? You may look at - Chinese Chicken Salad With Sesame Dressing, Za'atar Spiced Chicken Salad and Chicken Pasta Salad.
2 in 1 Lemon-Herb Dressing
If one thing brings life to a salad, then it is the dressing. A well-balanced dressing is something that binds all the components of the salad.
I call this a 2-in-1 dressing since we can use it to marinate the chicken and as a salad dressing. The dressing is very easy to make with a handful of ingredients. It is tangy with a refreshing note to it.
For the dressing you need
- Olive Oil
- Red wine vinegar
- Lemon Juice
- Minced Garlic
- Oregano
- Salt and pepper
- Sugar
This vinaigrette works both as a dressing and to marinate the chicken.
Ingredients for Salad
Apart from the lemon-herb dressing mentioned above, you need
- Chicken Breast - chicken breast as a soft meat texture is ideal for salads like this.
- Assorted Salad greens - Get as wide a variety of greens as you possibly can.
- Chopped Onions - Chop the onions into thin slices.
- Cherry Tomatoes - Bright red tomatoes give a nice bite and complete this salad.
- Cilantro leaves - Cilantro leaves give a beautiful flavor to most salads.
- Smoked Paprika - this is for the spicy and flavorful rub on the chicken pieces.
How to make
Avocado and chicken salad are very easy and fast to cook and make. Apart from cooking the chicken, which happens fairly fast, since it is breast slice, the rest of the steps involve mixing and tossing.
- Prep the dressing - Sqeeze the required lemon juice. Mince the garlic. Mix all the ingredients for the dressing.
- Rub the chicken - Rub the smoked paprika on the chicken and let it rest for 20 minutes.
- Grill chicken - On a pan, grill the chicken on either side until it turns white indicating it is cooked. You will see the grill lines appearing on the chicken on a grill pan. Let it rest and then cut it into pieces as shown in the image.
- Prep salad and mix - Chop and tear all the other ingredients like tomatoes, avocado, onions, and greens and add the chicken pieces. Mix them well with the vinaigrette.
Tips To Make a Good Chicken Avocado Salad
Salads actually taste amazing when it is done the right way. Keep in mind a few things when you are making a chicken salad with avocado next time and you will see the difference.
- Salad Dressing - This herbed vinaigrette is really good and refreshing.
- Salad greens - Greens give body to a salad.
- If you have been adding iceberg lettuce to the salad and blaming the salad to be tasteless, then it is not. The last thing you want is your salad to taste watery.
- Use a variety of greens like Romanian, lollo rosso, Batavia, Oak lettuce, Spinach, and arugula. A mix of greens adds more texture and taste to a salad. Tear them into bite-size pieces.
- If you are washing your greens before use, make sure you drain all the water, else the salad would turn watery. I rinse the greens under the running tap and then spread them on a clean kitchen towel for air drying.
- Veggies - Always garden-fresh crunchy veggies for a salad, else your salad is going to be lifeless.
Advance Prep and Store
The good thing about salads is they can be prep ahead. This Avocado with chicken Salad is no different.
I store the components in separate containers. Prep all the veggies and cut. In an airtight container place a kitchen towel at the bottom and keep the greens, cilantro, and tomatoes. Chop the onions and avocado just before servings. Store cooked chicken and dressing in different containers as well.
Once you add the dressing this chicken and avocado salad stays well for 30-45 minutes max, then the greens will start to wilt and gets soggy.
More Salad Recipes
Lemon Dill Potato Salad( No Mayo)
Ramen Noodles Salad With Peanut Dressing
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 cups Assorted salad greens
- 2 medium Boneless chicken breast
- 250 grams Cherry Tomatoes
- 1 medium Onion chopped
- â…“ cup Cilantro leaves chopped
- 2 Avocado
- 1 teaspoon Smoked paprika
For Salad Dressing
- â…“ cup olive oil
- 2 tablespoon Red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon dried basil
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoon Sugar
- 1 clove garlic minced ( about 1 teaspoon of minced garlic)
Instructions
Make the salad dressing
- In a jar add all the ingredients mentioned under dressing. Close the lid and shake well.
Grill Chicken
- Add 2 tablespoon of dressing, smoked paprika to the chicken. Let it rest for 10-15 minutes.
- Then heat a cast-iron skillet, cook chicken until done. It should take 4-5 minutes on each side depending on the thickness.
- Take out the chicken when done, keep it on a plate and cover with a foil. Let it rest while you do the rest of the steps.
Assembling Salad
- In a big salad bowl add the chopped greens, halved cherry tomatoes, Onion, sliced avocado, and cilantro.
- Cut chicken add it to the salad. Drizzle the dressing and toss everything well.
- Serve.
Notes
- You can also add veggies like cucumber, red bell pepper to the salad.Â
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