Lighten things up for spring with this stovetop Grilled Chicken & Avocado Salad. An easy and flavoursome salad made from lightly marinaded grilled chicken, ripe avocado slices, cherry tomatoes, parmesan shavings and a honey mustard dressing!
Originally posted January 19th, 2016. Updated on April 24th, 2023 to include new photos, recipes tips, frequently asked questions and more relevant information.
What’s This Salad Like
- Difficulty – This salad is relatively easy to put together. It comes together in under half and hour and that includes the marinading and cooking the chicken. You can prep ingredients in advance to make the salad come together quicker.
- Taste – A wonderful salad to have as a light meal all on it’s own. The chicken is lightly marinaded and very tender (make sure not to overcook it!), the salad crisp and the dressing a little tart and sweet.
- Serving – It will serve two servings. In the recipe card at the end of the post you can easily adjust servings to make a bigger salad.
Ingredients
This Salad is made up of three components: The chicken marinade, the salad vinaigrette and the salad itself.
- The chicken marinade – I used chicken tenders and made an easy marinade from olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper.
- The vinaigrette dressing – This was made of olive oil, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, honey, Dijon mustard, fresh chopped parsley, salt and pepper.
- The salad ingredients – I used a large avocado, cherry tomatoes, mixed salad leaves (your choice) and parmesan cheese shavings.
NOTE – The full recipe and instructions can be found at the end of the post in the recipe card.
Instructions
- Marinade chicken – First marinade the chicken by adding all the ingredients to a medium bowl and rub it over the chicken. Set aside.
- Make vinaigrette – Next, make the vinaigrette by combining all the ingredients in a small jar and shake to combine. Put this into the fridge while you prepare the salad.
- Cook chicken – Heat a medium skillet over medium to high heat and add a little olive oil and the seasoned chicken strips. Cook each side for about 3-4 minutes. When cooked, remove from the heat. Cut into smaller pieces and set aside.
- Arrange salad – Arrange the salad. Place the salad leaves in a large bowl, toss in chopped chicken, sliced tomatoes, parmesan shavings and avocado slices. Pour over vinaigrette and lightly toss.
- Serve – Serve immediately.
Recipe Tips
- Make ahead chicken – This chicken can be cooked and stored in the fridge up to two days before adding to the salad.
- Make ahead dressing –
- Cooking chicken on a grill – I cooked this chicken on the stove top. But, with summer just around the corner, you could just as easily cook it on the barbecue. It would probably take about 4 minutes per side.
What To Serve With This Salad
- Garlic Knots
- Fluffy White Dinner Rolls
- Cheesy Garlic Fingers
- Stove Top Nann Bread
- Flatbread Pizza Dough Recipe
Frequently Asked Questions
Chicken in chicken salad can be served both warm and cold. For mayonnaise based salads I’d recommend cold chicken. However, for light vinaigrette with greens, you can easily serve the chicken warm.
You can safely store cooked chicken in the fridge up to about 3 – 4 days. Just make sure to keep it stored in an airtight container.
You can slow the browning process of an avocado by squeezing lemon or lime juice over the avocado. Then wrap it in plastic wrap and put it in the refrigerator. This will slow but not completely stop the process of browning.
Roasted Chicken Salad
Grilled Cajun Chicken Salad
Chicken & Avocado Salad Cups
Grilled Chicken and Avocado Salad
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 8 oz chicken tenders
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 /2 tsp black pepper
Vinaigrette
- 2 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoon vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- small bunch of fresh chopped parsley
Salad
- 1 large avocado cut into slices
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
- 6 Cups mixed your choice of variety
- 1/4 cup parmesan cheese roughly sliced into shavings
Instructions
- First marinade the chicken by adding all the ingredients to a medium bowl and rub it over the chicken. Set aside.
- Next, make the vinaigrette by combining all the ingredients in a small jar and shake to combine. Put this into the fridge while you prepare the salad.
- Heat a medium skillet over medium to high heat and add a little olive oil and the seasoned chicken strips. Cook each side for about 3-4 minutes. When cooked, remove from the heat. Cut into smaller pieces and set aside.
- Arrange the salad. Place the salad leaves in a large bowl, toss in chopped chicken, sliced tomatoes, parmesan shavings and avocado slices. Pour over vinaigrette and lightly toss.
- Serve immediately.
*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.