This quick & easy Strawberry Chicken Salad is the perfect summer salad! Full of fresh berries, oranges, avocado, and red onion on a bed of crisp romaine lettuce. Drizzle on the homemade poppyseed dressing, serve with a side of grilled bread, and you have a delicious weeknight dinner!
The Best Strawberry Chicken Salad
Table of Contents
Every summer, this salad is a dinner tradition! Our family makes it several times on those hot days when you only want to cook on the grill plus craving all the fresh foods. We love that the kids can build theirs any way they want and the whole meal can come together in under 30 minutes with minimal cooking.
Looking for More Summer Dinner Recipes?
If you love them as much as we do, you definitely need to try our Summer Salmon Rice Bowl!
What You Will Need
- boneless, skinless chicken breasts – we love using chicken breasts for topping a salad but you could also use chicken thighs.
- kosher salt & pepper – the perfect simple seasoning for cooking any meat.
- romaine lettuce – the base for this delicious salad.
- mandarin oranges, fresh strawberries, & blueberries – a combination of fresh fruit that’s perfect for summer!
- avocado – everything is better with a little avocado on top!
- red onion – adds a nice mild onion flavor, plus a pop of color.
- poppyseed dressing – our homemade poppyseed dressing is so good or you can pickup your favorite from your local grocery store.
How To Make A Strawberry Chicken Salad
You can begin by mixing together the homemade poppyseed dressing. Grill up the chicken breasts (option to a chicken marinade for a bit before grilling).
Substitutions
- Chicken: option to mix up our chicken marinade to make the grilled chicken breasts even more flavorful and juicy.
- Other Protein: instead of chicken, feel free to learn how to grill salmon or how to grill shrimp. Either would also be delicious in this fresh salad.
Prepare all of your fresh ingredients. Toss some slices of bread on the grill for the perfect side!
Assemble your salad with ALL of the toppings plus a drizzle of homemade poppyseed dressing.
Best Ways To Serve A Strawberry Chicken Salad
We absolutely love serving this mouthwatering salad with a side of grilled bread! Especially since we already have the grill going to make the chicken, it is so easy to just toss on a few slices of bread on too and who doesn’t love grilled bread!?
Storage & Freezer
Leftovers can easily be stored in the fridge to enjoy another day. Just make sure you keep some things in separate containers. You will want a container for the chicken, another one for the fresh fruit, one for lettuce, and one more for the dressing. This will help keep things fresh and then when you are ready for another yummy salad just toss all the pieces together again.
Can I Prep This Salad Ahead of Time?
Absolutely! You can easily do a lot of the prep ahead of time. The chicken can be cooked, chopped and stored in the fridge. The fresh fruit and veggies can also be rinsed, pat dried, and cut-up (if needed) ahead of time and then stored in the fridge until needed. Plus, the poppyseed dressing can be mixed up and stored in the fridge. You will have all of the pieces ready to go so when it is time to eat all you have to do is warm the chicken and toss it all together!
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Other Summer Salad Recipes You Might Like
Ultimate Southwest Salad (Santa Fe Salad)
Grilled Salmon Salad
Easy Steak Salad
Chopped Rotisserie Chicken Salad
Strawberry Chicken Salad
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2 salads 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Counter Top
- Cuisine: American
Description
A light and refreshing Strawberry Chicken Salad recipe + homemade poppyseed dressing! Serve with grilled bread!
Ingredients
Poppyseed Dressing:
- 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 teaspoons honey
- 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon poppyseeds
- 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons orange juice concentrate
- 3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt OR plain/unsweetened dairy-free yogurt
Chicken:
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- kosher salt and ground black pepper
- optional: use this chicken marinade for even more flavor!
Salad:
- 4 cups romaine lettuce
- 1 cup mandarin oranges, drained
- 1 avocado, cubed
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, quartered
- 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
- 1/4 cup red onion, sliced
Instructions
- Make Dressing: Add the Poppyseed Dressing ingredients to a mason jar. Place cover on tightly and shake – alternatively you can whisk ingredients together in a small bowl. Taste and adjust any flavors, as-needed.
- Grill Chicken: Heat grill to medium heat (approximately 400 degrees F) and ensure grill grates are clean. Season chicken with salt and pepper and/or remove from the marinade (if using). Place chicken on direct heat (direct flame) and cook at medium heat for 4-5 minutes per side. Move chicken away from the direct heat (direct flame) so that it is cooking on indirect heat (maintaining the same grill temp) and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes or until the internal temperature of the thickest part of the chicken reads 160 degrees F on a meat thermometer.
- Rest + Cut: Remove from grill and let rest at least 5 minutes (the chicken will continue to cook during this time and the internal temp will continue to rise by about 10 additional degrees). Dice the chicken into 1-inch cubes.
- Assemble Salads: Divide the salad ingredients and cubed chicken between two large salad bowls.
- Serve: Drizzle each salad with poppyseed dressing and enjoy with grilled bread to complete the meal!
Notes
- Dairy-Free: simply use the dairy-free version of the poppyseed dressing.
- Gluten-Free: serve with a gluten-free grilled bread or omit the bread.
- Meatless: feel free to omit the chicken for a meatless meal!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6oz
- Calories: 276
- Sugar: 10.2 g
- Sodium: 90.9 mg
- Fat: 15.8 g
- Carbohydrates: 16.1 g
- Protein: 19.5 g
- Cholesterol: 56.3 mg
Kalee says
I’m looking forward to trying this! FYI in the instructions under Chicken, it says to divide the romaine, croutons and Parmesan cheese between the bowls, but I didn’t see croutons and Parmesan in the recipe.
Erin says
Ah thanks for catching that, Karlee!!