Crispy Chicken Salad

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

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!

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!

The shortcut? Store-bought chicken tenders

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!

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. 

More salad recipes

• Quinoa Salad with avocado
• Italian Salad with an herb dressing
• Chickpea Salad Mediterranean inspired
• Panzanella Salad with a balsamic dressing
• Orzo Pasta Salad with a lemon dressing

FOLLOW ALONG! Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates, recipes and content.

Crispy Chicken Salad

5 from 6 votes

- Review this recipe

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!

SAVE TO RECIPE BOX

Print Recipe

Crispy Chicken Salad

5 from 6 votes

- Review this recipe

SAVE TO RECIPE BOX

Print Recipe

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!

Course Main Course, Salad

Cuisine American

Keyword crispy chicken salad

Prep Time 7 minutes minutes

Cook Time 18 minutes minutes

Total Time 25 minutes minutes

Servings 3 -4 servings (as a meal)

Calories 600kcal

Author Chelsea Lords

Cost $6.87

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

US - Metric

USMetric

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 Tyson® 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. 

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 Facts

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

We do our best to provide accurate nutritional analysis for our recipes. Our nutritional data is calculated using a third-party algorithm and may vary, based on individual cooking styles, measurements, and ingredient sizes. Please use this information for comparison purposes and consult a health professional for nutrition guidance as needed.

DID YOU MAKE THIS RECIPE?

I love hearing from you when you've made one of my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @ChelseasMessyApron or leave me a comment below.