Grilled Chicken Salad Recipe

5 from 10 votes

Published on May 31, 2022

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Grilled Chicken Salad is flavorful, marinated chicken that is topped on green, crisp lettuce. This salad is hearty, delicious and easy to add your favorite salad ingredients.

Grilled Chicken Salad Recipe:

Grilled Chicken Salad is what we love to make, especially during the warmer months. The fresh green lettuce served with marinated chicken breast and our favorite salad topping, makes this one of our favorite meals.

This simple, but hearty recipe is light and delicious and easy to make. We add vegetables, fruit, avocado and anything else that sounds satisfying. Then we mix together with an easy olive oil and vinegar base dressing.

This recipe is perfect to make to use leftover grilled chicken. We love cooking once and eating twice with our recipes. It saves my family time and money. Grilled Chicken makes a delicious salad.

Check out these side dishes to complete your meal.

How to make a Grilled Chicken Salad?

Classic Grilled Chicken Salad is easy to make. We love making this light and refreshing salad. You start by preparing the chicken breast with a light marinate.

You can marinate the chicken overnight or drizzle the chicken with olive oil and seasoning and place on the grill. Once grilled to perfection, then slice and prepare your salad.

We love preparing this light salad dressing made of simple ingredients, including olive and red wine vinegar. Then place the green lettuce in a bowl, top with tomatoes, onions, roasted corn or anything you prefer.

Ingredients:

For the Chicken:

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Olive Oil

For the Dressing:

Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar
Salt
Black Pepper
Dried Oregano

For the Salad:

Romaine Lettuce
Cherry Tomatoes
Red Onion
Avocado
Corn on the Cob (grilled)

How to make Grilled Chicken Salad:

Prepare the Grill – Preheat your grill over medium high heat (approximately 400 degrees F).
Mix together Chicken Seasoning – Combine the chicken seasonings together in a small bowl.
Season Chicken – Brush the chicken breasts with olive oil and sprinkle the seasonings on each chicken breast.
Grill Chicken – Place the chicken directly on the grill grates and grill the chicken for 3-5 minutes on each side until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.
Rest Chicken – Move the chicken to a separate plate to rest for at least 5 minutes.
Combine Dressing Ingredients – In a small mixing bowl whisk together the dressing ingredients.

Close up image of salad dressing a clear bowl with a side of green leaf lettuce.

Slice Chicken – Then in time to prepare the salads. Remove the corn kernels off of the cobs and slice the chicken.
Make Salads – Place the chopped romaine lettuce in 4 individual serving bowls or one large salad bowl. Top each bowl with the chicken, tomatoes, corn, red onions and avocado. Drizzle the dressing on top of each salad.
Serve and Enjoy – Serve immediately and enjoy. You can easily make this salad with your favorite salad toppings or salad dressing.

How long to Grill Chicken?

The cook times will vary based on the size of the chicken. Make sure to use a meat thermometer to ensure that the chicken is cooked to the correct temperature.

When preparing your chicken for grilling, you want to make sure that each chicken breast about the same size. You may have need to filet you chicken or pound it to thin it out.

Grilled Chicken Salad Tips:

Marinate the Chicken – If you prefer you can marinate your chicken overnight or up to 8 hours.
Make this Salad Year Round – You can easily make this salad year round especially if you have an indoor grill.
Make Chicken in Advance – If you are planning on making this meal during the week, plan ahead and make grill the chicken up to 2 days in advance. This makes this recipe even easier.
Hot Grill – Make sure your grill is hot. Cooking chicken on a hot grill helps to keep them juicy.
Same Size Chicken – When preparing your chicken, make sure that they are all even thickness. This makes sure they are evenly cooked.
Allow Chicken to rest – After chicken is done cooking, make sure you allow chicken to rest. This locks in the juices and the flavoring.

What do you put in Grilled Chicken Salad?

There are so many different ways to prepare this salad. Here are some of our favorite toppings:

Cucumbers
Cherry Tomatoes
Avocado
Red Onion
Cheese
Black Olives
Mushrooms
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Boiled Eggs

Chicken Salad Variation Ideas:

Change the Protein – We like using chicken breast, but you can use chicken thighs, chicken tenders, grilled steak, salmon or shrimp.
Change the Dressing – I like to set out different dressing for my family. Ranch, thousand island, Italian Dressing are a few of my family’s favorite. You can also squeeze lemon juice over the salad.
Corn Variation – You can use fresh corn, can or frozen corn. We love the way grilled corn taste and it doesn’t take long to heat up.
Add other Vegetables – Grill other vegetables and dice them up and put in your salad. We love grilled bell peppers, asparagus, zucchini, or broccoli.
Change the greens – Add in some spinach or kale to make this salad even better. We love having options when making this salad.
Add some Cheese – You can add in Shredded Colby Monterrey Jack Cheese or Blue Cheese Crumbles to the salad.

How do you keep Chicken from Drying out?

The best option I have found to keep the chicken from drying out is to brine the chicken. Brining the chicken is a simple process of submerging your chicken in a bowl of salt water before grilling.

It is also the key in getting great grill marks.

How to Store Leftovers:

We recommend storing the Grilled Salad Ingredients separately. Store in the refrigerator in an air tight container. The Grilled Chicken will last about 4 to 5 days.