Check out our favorite Crispy Chicken Salad with an easy (five-ingredient) honey BBQ dressing. This salad recipe can be made in 25 minutes or less with a few shortcuts!

This salad is packed with great flavors and amazing textures; you won’t be disappointed!

Crispy chicken salad in a bowl, dressed and ready to eat, offering a delicious and satisfying meal.

Crispy Chicken Salad

This salad has it all: crispy, succulent chicken bites, creamy avocado, crunchy cucumbers, pungent red onion, and juicy tomatoes– all loaded on a bed of romaine lettuce. But for a salad to be a showstopper in my book, it needs more. The key to a delicious salad is the dressing and this Honey BBQ Dressing is exactly that. It’s creamy, tangy, slightly sweet, and is the perfect complement to every component of this salad. 

Now at this point, you might be wondering how much work this delicious salad is going to take to prepare. And here’s the great news: this is one of the quickest salad recipes on my website. And that is coming from a website that aims to deliver relatively quick prep times!

Crispy chicken being added and sauce being poured over salad for the crispy chicken salad recipe.

This Salad Has A Fast Prep Time!

So how is that possible? Well, first off, the dressing requires only five ingredients. It’s a whisk-everything-in-a-bowl kind of dressing that requires hardly any effort. The veggie prep isn’t anything too crazy, either: halving cherry tomatoes, slicing cucumbers and avocado, and cutting up a red onion. But the real secret is the chicken.

Instead of spending upwards of 30 minutes to an hour to make crispy chicken from scratch, I’m using store bought crispy chicken. We warm it through in the oven, slice it up thinly for the salad, and…voila!

Told you this crispy chicken salad is easy!

Shortcuts

While I’m no expert at prepared crispy chicken tenders (I don’t buy them all that often, truthfully), Taste of Home® shares the best chicken to use for this recipe. I personally use Tyson’s® crispy chicken strips for this salad (not sponsored). I recommend baking the chicken tenders, not microwaving them, for this salad. Let them cool to a warm temperature and then thinly slice and add to the salad.

Quick Tip

Save time on clean up: before baking the chicken strips, line the baking pan with foil or parchment paper. You’ll have minimal washing to do. Just crumble up the liner and toss!

Tomatoes being added and mixed together with other ingredients. Crispy Chicken Salad Make-Ahead Tips

While Crispy Chicken Salad doesn’t sit well once it’s dressed, a lot of the components can be prepared ahead of time, stored separately, and assembled right before eating. Here’s what I do:

  • Whisk the dressing ingredients together and transfer to a covered jar. The dressing stores well in the fridge for 5-7 days. Whisk with a fork to recombine as needed.
    • You can tell if the dressing is bad by the smell; as soon as it starts to smell “off” it’s best to toss it. But with this one, I don’t think leftovers are going to be a problem!
  • Prep the veggies: The romaine, cucumber, tomatoes, and red onion can all be cut and stored in plastic containers or bags in the fridge. While you can store the ingredients together, I like to keep them separated until serving time (especially the red onion).
  • Then, when it’s time to assemble the salad, all you need to do is bake the chicken and slice the avocado. Then toss everything together and drizzle with dressing.

Taking Away The Red Onion “Bite”

Not a fan of how pungent red onions can be? You can take away the bite in a few easy steps: peel and slice the red onion according to the recipe and then submerge the onion pieces in a bowl of cold or ice water. Let them sit for at least ten minutes, stirring once or twice, before draining and using in this Crispy Chicken Salad.

Prepared crispy chicken salad, generously dressed and ready to serve as a delicious side dish for any meal.

More Salad Recipes

5 from 6 votes

Crispy Chicken Salad

Check out our favorite Crispy Chicken Salad with an easy (five-ingredient) honey BBQ dressing. You can make this salad in 25 minutes or less with a few shortcuts!
Prep Time: 7 minutes
Cook Time: 18 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes
Servings: 3 -4 servings (as a meal)

Ingredients 
 

Chicken

  • 2 cups store-bought crispy chicken strips, sliced (Note 1)

Salad

  • 8 cups (~2 hearts) chopped romaine (chopped into bite-sized pieces)
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
  • 1 cup Persian or English cucumber, thinly sliced (Note 2)
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion (Note 3)
  • 1 large (or 2 medium) ripe avocados, thinly sliced or chopped
  • Optional: 1/3 cup honey-roasted or plain toasted almonds (Note 4)

Honey BBQ Dressing

  • 2 tablespoons of EACH good-quality BBQ sauce and honey
  • 1/4 cup regular full-fat mayo
  • 1 tablespoon of EACH Dijon mustard and apple cider vinegar
  • Fine sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

Instructions 

  • CHICKEN: Start by preparing chicken tenders according to package directions. Let cool to warm and then thinly slice.
  • SALAD: Wash the romaine, chop, and make sure it is thoroughly dried before adding to a large bowl (dressing won't adhere to wet lettuce). Add halved cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced cucumbers, sliced red onions, and sliced avocado to the bowl or place on individual plates. Add the sliced chicken on top. Drizzle with the dressing (see next step to prepare), toss to combine, and serve immediately.
  • DRESSING: Whisk the ingredients for the dressing, along with a big pinch of salt and black pepper. Whisk until smooth. If not using immediately, transfer to a covered jar and refrigerate. (Leftovers stay good for 5-7 days).
  • STORAGE: Dressed salad doesn't sit well, so if you want to have leftovers or make ahead, store the dressing separately from the salad.

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: I use Tysonยฎ Crispy Chicken Strips (not sponsored) which cook up in about 18 minutes. Make sure to cook them in the oven, not the microwave. Use whatever chicken tenders you like; you can even do homemade chicken strips. Unless they're little, you'll want to slice the chicken pieces so they can be evenly distributed throughout the salad.
Note 2: I like English or Persian cucumbers; if the cucumber you get is extra wide you'll want to cut them into half moons.
Note 3: You can take away the bite of the red onions by submerging the pieces in a bowl of cold or ice water. Let them sit for at least ten minutes, stirring once or twice, before draining and using in this crispy chicken salad.ย 
Note 4: Though not pictured or in the video, but we've been adding these almonds (<click on almonds) the last few times we've eaten this salad and they're so good!

Nutrition

Serving: 4servings (as a meal) | Calories: 600kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 33g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 9g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 114mg | Sodium: 2022mg | Potassium: 1832mg | Fiber: 15g | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 55820IU | Vitamin C: 42mg | Calcium: 240mg | Iron: 8mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Meet Chelsea


Hi there! Iโ€™m Chelseaโ€“the recipe developer, photographer, writer, and taste tester behind Chelseaโ€™s Messy Apron (although my little ones help me out quite a bit with the taste testing part!). I LOVE getting creative in the kitchen and then posting my creations here for you to enjoy.

Thanks again for stopping by!

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5 from 6 votes (2 ratings without comment)

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11 Comments

  1. Sheri Reader says:

    5 stars
    Our new favourite weekend meal. Takes chicken nuggets to the next level ๐Ÿ™Œ

    1. Chelsea says:

      Yay! So happy you guys enjoyed! Thanks Sheri! ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Angela says:

    5 stars
    I Made this last night for my family and wow it was SO good. The dressing was perfect and so delicious!

    1. Chelsea says:

      Thanks so much Angela! ๐Ÿ™‚

  3. Zoe says:

    5 stars
    This was easily the best homemade salad Iโ€™ve ever prepared. The dressing is so yummy! And I loved that itโ€™s so easy to prepare.

    1. Chelsea Lords says:

      I am so thrilled to hear this! Thanks Zoe! ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Sue Casey says:

    Was searching for a chicken tender salad and came upon this recipe. Upon seeing it was Chelsea’s I was pretty confident it would be great – it did not disappoint! We both loved it! Airfryed a couple of Tyson panko crusted chicken tenderloins for 20 minutes at 400 for the chicken. Perfect! My husband and I loved it. And we hadd ALL the ingredients – bonus!

    1. Chelsea Lords says:

      Awe thank you Sue! So glad it was a hit ๐Ÿ™‚ Thanks for the comment!

  5. Andrea says:

    Hi! I would love to make this salad and the dressing sounds delicious. Can you recommend a substitute for the mustard. We have a mustard allergy in our family. We can’t use eggs for the same reason and I’ve read they can be substituted as an emulsifier but I’m guessing the mustard in this one is more about the flavor it adds?
    Thanks for any suggestions

  6. Eva says:

    5 stars
    Excellent. Totally enjoyed this salad, it’s all in the dressing which is very good.

    1. Chelsea Lords says:

      So happy to hear it! Thanks Eva! ๐Ÿ™‚