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!

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.

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

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5 from 5 votes

Crispy Chicken Salad

By Chelsea Lords

This Crispy Chicken Salad comes together in 25 minutes or less, topped with an easy five-ingredient honey BBQ dressing. Simple, delicious, and packed with flavor!

Prep Time: 7 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 18 minutes minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes minutes

Servings: 3 servings (as a meal)

Equipment

• Large bowl

Ingredients

1x2x3x

USMetric

Chicken

• ▢ 2 cups store-bought crispy chicken strips sliced, see note 1

Salad

• ▢ 8 cups chopped romaine 2 hearts, chopped into bite-size pieces
• ▢ 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
• ▢ 1 cup Persian/English cucumber thinly sliced, see note 2
• ▢ 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion see note 3
• ▢ 1 large (or 2 medium) ripe avocados thinly sliced or chopped
• ▢ 1/3 cup honey-roasted almonds or plain toasted almonds, optional, see note 4

Honey BBQ Dressing

• ▢ 2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
• ▢ 2 tablespoons honey
• ▢ 1/4 cup mayo full-fat
• ▢ 1 tablespoon Dijon-style mustard
• ▢ 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• ▢ Salt and pepper

Instructions 

• Prepare chicken tenders according to package directions. Let cool to warm, then thinly slice.
• 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. Dressed salad doesn’t sit well, so only dress what will be eaten immediately. Drizzle with the dressing (see next step), toss to combine, and serve immediately.
• Dressing: Whisk the ingredients for the dressing, along with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Whisk until smooth. If not using immediately, transfer to a covered jar and refrigerate. (Leftovers stay good for 5–7 days).

Video

Recipe Notes

Note 1: I use Tyson® Crispy Chicken Strips (not sponsored), which cook 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 small, 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 red onions by submerging the pieces in a bowl of cold or ice water. Let them sit for at least 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, before draining and using in this salad.

Note 4: Though not pictured or in the video, I’ve been adding these almonds the last few times I’ve eaten this salad—so good!

Storage: Dressed salad doesn’t sit well, so if you want to have leftovers or make ahead, store the dressing separately from the salad.

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving | 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.

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