Healthy Chicken Salad with Tomatoes and Avocado.This chicken salad with tomatoes and avocado is so light, flavorful, and easy to make. If you love grilled chicken and avocado, you’ll go crazy for this healthy combo lightened up with a zesty lime juice dressing. This healthy chicken salad is perfect for your next meal
Ingredients list for the avocado chicken salad
Blackened Chicken
- 1/2 lb (225g) chicken breast, boneless, skinless
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 1/2 teaspoon salt and fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1/8 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/8 teaspoon oregano
- Juice of 1/2 lime
Lime Juice Dressing
- 3 tablespoons lime juice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin
- 1/4 teaspoon salt and fresh cracked black pepper, to taste
- Crushed red pepper flakes, optional
Salad
- 1 English cucumber, diced
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced
- Cilantro or parsley
- 1 medium avocado, pitted, peeled, diced
Directions
Chicken:
1. Combine all chicken seasonings and 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a mixing bowl (or Ziploc bag). Add the chicken breast and toss to coat.
2. In the meantime, heat a nonstick griddle pan over medium heat brushed with 1 tablespoon of olive oil.
3. Once the grill pan is heated, add chicken breast and cook on each side approximately 3-4 minutes. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of chicken breast. Remove from the pan to a plate and allow to cool.
Lime Juice Dressing:
1. While chicken is cooking, combine all ingredients for the lime dressing into a small mixing bowl. Whisk well to combine.
Salad:
1. Once the chicken breast has cooled, cut into small cubes. Combine in a large bowl with the ingredients for the salad (cucumber, tomatoes, red onion, and avocado).
2. Drizzle the lime juice dressing over the top and toss well to combine. Serve the chicken avocado salad immediately or keep a few hours in the refrigerator, enjoy!
Chicken Salad with Tomatoes and Avocado recipe tips
This chicken avocado salad is healthy, perfect for busy nights, and makes a big enough batch so you can meal prep for work or school lunches. Since there’s no mayo involved, it’s great for potlucks, picnics, and parties.
- To keep the avocado from turning brown, coat the avocado in either lemon juice or lime juice. It will act as an antioxidant.
- If your chicken breasts are too large, slice horizontally to make chicken cutlets. They will cook and cool faster.
- If you are short on time, use rotisserie chicken from your local favorite chicken place or grocery store. You could also use any left over roast chicken you have, it is still delicious!
- Additional add-ins for this healthy chicken salad: asparagus, hardboiled egg slices, corn, olives…
How to grill chicken for the salad?
Make sure to grill chicken breasts or pan-sear on medium-low heat, so chicken doesn’t burn and ends up undercooked in the inside. As already said above, pounding or slicing the chicken breasts horizontally will make them thinner and easier to cook. Internal temperature of the cooked chicken should reach 165ºF (74ºC).
How to choose avocado for the chicken salad?
The best way to tell if an avocado is ripe and ready for use is to gently squeeze the fruit in the palm of your hand. Ripe, ready-to-eat avocado will be firm but will yield to a gentle pressure. Another tip is to check under the stem of the avocado: If the skin under it is green, it’s ready to eat. If the skin under it is brown, it’s past its prime. But note that when doing that, air enters the fruit and can spoil it pretty quickly. So please, don’t do this at the grocery store. Stock up on firm avocados and let them ripen at home to prepare your delicious chicken avocado salad.
How long to store the chicken avocado salad?
This chicken avocado salad doesn’t keep very long due to avocados browning very fast. Keep the leftovers stored in an air-tight container until the day after, but no more. You may have to toss up the chicken avocado salad leftovers to redistribute the dressing before serving. If you want to make it ahead of time, just don’t add the avocado yet, you’ll add it at the very last minute.
