Strawberry Chicken Salad Recipe

It really is no secret at all that I love a good salad. It has helped me to keep a healthy diet and maintain the goals that I made at the beginning of the year. This salad checks all of the boxes. It’s healthy, delicious, and filled with fruits, veggies, and protein! I decided to top it off with a sweet strawberry balsamic dressing. It was the perfect finishing touch to this salad.

Not only does this salad knock it out of the park with its deliciousness, but it also is so easy to make!! I like to prepare my chicken ahead of time (try making it in your instant pot with this recipe) and then I can keep that in my fridge for a few recipes throughout the week!

Ingredients in Strawberry Chicken Salad

These ingredients are simple and easy! The best part about a salad is that you can change up the ingredients every time and make it different. My kids don’t like everything that I put into it so this is a great way to help them pick and choose what they like. Check out the recipe card at the bottom of the post for exact measurements.

Salad

Cooked Chicken: I like to use grilled chicken or buy a rotisserie chicken from Costco to make this part super easy!

Romaine: I like using this as the base of the salad but spinach nor arugula work great too.

Strawberries: Always use fresh strawberries in a salad!

Dried Cranberries: These add in such a delightful taste and texture.

Red Onion: I like to use red onion because it’s the onion that tastes the best when it’s raw.

Goat Cheese: If you don’t like goat cheese then you can use feta cheese for this strawberry chicken salad instead.

Almonds: I used sliced or slivered almonds for this salad.

Strawberry Balsamic Dressing

Strawberries: You can use fresh or frozen strawberries for this recipe.

Balsamic Vinegar: This brings in a fantastic savory flavor to the dressing.

Extra-Virgin Olive Oil: This is a must!

Dijon Mustard: I know, this sounds interesting but trust me, you don’t want to leave it out!

Garlic: You can mince up fresh garlic cloves or use the minced garlic from your fridge!

Salt and Pepper: These will enhance all of the flavors in the dressing for this strawberry chicken salad.

Let’s Make a Strawberry Chicken Salad!

This strawberry chicken salad is so delicious that you will want to serve it for every meal! It’s a great one to prepare all of your ingredients ahead of time and then toss them together when you are ready to eat!

Blend: In a food processor or blender, pulse the strawberries, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, garlic, salt and pepper until smooth. Set aside.

Toss and Drizzle: In a large bowl toss the chicken, romaine, strawberries, dried cranberries, red onion, goat cheese, and sliced almonds. Then, toss with dressing or drizzle on top of served portions.

2 pictures showing how to make the dressing and 2 pictures showing all of the ingredients for the salad in glass bowls.

Variations

Change up this strawberry chicken salad and make it perfect just for you! Here are some tips on what you can substitute and how you can change things up.

Nuts: You don’t have to use almonds for this recipe! Try using pecans or walnuts instead. They will give off that same great crunch with a slightly different taste.
Dressing: You can easily change this up by using a lemon vinaigrette or a delicious poppyseed dressing.
Mix-Ins: Try adding some raisins, and some mandarin oranges. Different berries are delicious too! Try adding some raspberries, blackberries or blueberries to the mix!

Strawberry vinaigrette being drizzled over the top of a salad.

Make it Ahead of Time

This strawberry chicken salad tastes best when you add the dressing to it right before you serve it (so the ingredients don’t get soggy). However, I like to chop everything up beforehand and store them in my fridge in separate containers. Then, I can toss everything together and drizzle the dressing on whenever I am ready to eat!