Grilled chicken salad recipe ideas (2024)

When it comes to a healthy green salad, adding grilled chicken can make your meal more filling with very few extra calories. Here are 9 different healthy recipe ideas for your next easy meal.

While I’m no expert in grilling chicken, I can definitely assemble a colorful and delicious green salad. I’ve been working on my grilling though, and I think I’ve getting much better!

Secrets to juicy grilled chicken

The problem with grilled chicken, especially when you are using chicken breasts, is that it can often get dry. No one wants a dry chicken breast!

I’ve read a few things that can prevent this, and it totally works for me. To get juicy grilled chicken, I’ve summed it up in 4 steps:

1. Tenderize (pound the chicken slightly with a mallet)
2. Marinate (use marinade in similar flavors as your dressing)
3. Cook (Fire up the grill and cook it)
4. Wrap in foil (Once cooked, wrap in foil to hold those juices in)

These 4 steps should get you closer to having juicier grilled chicken. For more detailed ideas and tips, check out A Sweet Pea Chef here.

Once your grilled chicken is prepped and ready for your green salads, the rest is quick and easy! Simply assemble the ingredients from the options below and you have a filling lunch or dinner in minutes.

What to add to a Grilled Chicken salad

1. Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad – For a southwest salad, I like to season the meat with some taco seasoning. Then, I add avocado, corn, black beans, cheese, tomato, red onions, bacon, green onions, salsa, and ranch dressing.
2. Strawberry Grilled chicken salad – This is a food I order when I go to a local restaurant called Cafe Zupas, and I’m obsessed! They’ll add chicken, strawberries, Fontina cheese, apples, cranberries, and candied pecans! I would top this with a berry flavored vinaigrette.
3. Grilled Chicken Caesar Salad: A classic Caesar salad doesn’t have many ingredients, which is why I love adding grilled chicken to it. A Caesar salad has Parmesan cheese, croutons, and a dressing made from anchovies and egg yolks. I prefer a bottled Caesar, like this low calorie Bolthouse Creamy Caesar dressing.
4. Thai Chicken salad- A peanut/soy sauce flavored dressing gives this salad it’s Thai flavor (this dressing from Pinch of Yum looks good here). You could also marinate the chicken in a peanut sauce before grilling it, in addition to the green salad dressing. Add extra Thai flavor by using other toppings such as cabbage, shredded carrots, bell peppers, green onions, cucumbers, and some wonton strips.
5. BBQ chicken salad: I just made this salad this weekend and posted the recipe here. I used some low calorie BBQ Sauce (G Hughes brand) to marinate the chicken before grilling it. The rest of the salad included red onion, avocado, tomatoes, corn, tortilla strips, and some more Bolthouse Ranch dressing to save a few calories.
6. Cobb Chicken salad. A classic Cobb Salad is going to have hard boiled eggs, bacon, avocado, blue cheese, and a vinegarette. Some other ingredients to add substance to your cobb salad could be olives and croutons. (see my Grilled Chicken Cobb salad recipe here)
7. BLT chicken salad. A bacon lettuce tomato salad can also include grilled chicken! At least that’s how I like to make it. Here’s my recipe for the low calorie BLT salad using turkey bacon instead of regular bacon. Beyond bacon, you would add tomatoes. I also like avocados, croutons, red onions, and Ranch dressing.
8. Greek Avocado salad. You can toss together a Greek salad by adding avocados, tomatoes, bell peppers, feta cheese, grilled chicken and olives. It reminds me of a salad from Olive Garden, which is why I like the light Olive Garden Italian dressing for this. But doesn’t this look AMAZING, especially if you topped it with Grilled chicken.
9. Asian Chicken Salad: You could start by marinating your chicken before grilling in a teriyaki or soy sauce mixture. Then, for an Asian Chicken salad, add greens, cabbage, wonton strips, shredded carrot, mandarin oranges, water chestnuts, chopped celery, sliced almonds, and green onions!

READ NEXT –> COPYCAT HOMEMADE SALAD KITS or 17 Ways to Eat more Veggies

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