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Grilled Chicken Salad with Lemon Basil Vinaigrette

This Grilled Chicken Salad recipe is summer in a bowl! It’s a hypnotic, healthy, satisfying, light lunch or dinner that you will CRAVE plus it’s super easy to prep ahead so you can serve dinner in no time at all. The grilled lemon basil chicken is crazy juicy, bursting with bright, citrus, and earthy basil – one of my favorite chicken marinades to date! The salad itself is sweet and salty, creamy and crunchy loaded with apples, blueberries, fresh corn, red onion, avocado, bacon, almonds and feta! Of course, you can customize this grilled chicken salad recipe by swapping in your favorite ingredients or whatever you have on hand because it is all about the grilled chicken and that dressing! Add a side of cornbread and watermelon and you have the perfect summer dinner!
Course Main Dish
Cuisine American
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 6 8 servings

Ingredients

Chicken

  • 1 pound chicken breasts pounded to an even thickness

Marinade/Dressing

  • 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 cup loosely packed basil minced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced or 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp EACH onion powder, dried parsley, salt
  • 1/2 tsp EACH dried oregano, ground mustard, pepper
  • 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Add LATER to dressing

  • 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Salad ingredients

  • 8 cups spring lettuce mix
  • 1 cup cherry tomatoes halved
  • corn from 1 ear sweet corn grilled or raw
  • 1 cup fresh blueberries
  • 1 sweet apple (like Fuji) chopped
  • 1/4 red onion diced
  • 1 large avocado sliced or chopped
  • 6 slices bacon cooked and crumbled
  • 1/2 cup sliced almonds
  • 1/2 cup feta cheese

Instructions

  • Whisk marinade/dressing ingredients together in a freezer bag. Remove half to a jar/bowl and whisk in ¼ cup olive oil (for the dressing); refrigerate. Add chicken to the freezer bag, seal and turn to coat. Marinate in the refrigerator for 4-12 hours.
  • When ready to grill, remove chicken from the refrigerator and let rest 15-30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat grill to 400 degrees, clean and grease.
  • Grill chicken undisturbed for 5-7 minutes per side, or until chicken is cooked through. (An inserted thermometer should read 165 degrees F.) Remove chicken from grill and let rest 5 minutes before slicing.
  • Grill corn alongside chicken by brushing corn all over with olive oil. Place corn directly on the grill for about 12 minutes, rotating until all the sides are charred. When it’s cool enough to handle, slice the kernels off the cob.
  • Add lettuce to a large salad bowl followed by all remaining salad ingredients (hold bacon and avocados if expecting leftovers and add to individual servings). Top with sliced or chopped chicken. You can either drizzle with dressing and toss OR if expecting leftovers, drizzle dressing over individual servings. Serve immediately.

Notes

HOW TO STORE

If you plan on storing grilled chicken salad, do not toss the salad with the dressing or the lettuce will become soggy and wilted.  Instead, store the salad and dressing in separate airtight containers. The avocados and bacon should also be removed from the salad or better yet, not tossed with the salad initially and instead added to individual servings.
The grilled chicken salad without dressing will stay nice and fresh for about 2 to 3 days in the refrigerator.

How to Prep Ahead 

This grilled chicken salad recipe is simple to make but does require some chopping. The good news is you can prep your ingredients while your chicken is marinating. To prep ahead:
  • Chicken:  can be marinated 12 hours in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.   You can also cook the chicken completely ahead of time.
  • Chop vegetables:  can be chopped 24 hours in advance except the avocados and stored in separate airtight containers in the refrigerator.  I will add the vegetables to separate paper towels, fold up the paper towels around the contents and place in sandwich bags – this keeps excess moisture away from the veggies to keep them fresh.
  • Chop apples: the apples can be chopped up to 24 hours ahead of time and soaked in a mixture of apple juice with a splash of lemon juice. This way they retain their apple flavor and they don’t become tart like soaking in lemon juice.  Another great alternative is pineapple juice.
  • Cook bacon:  can be cooked up to 3 days in advance, crumbled and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
  • Corn:  the corn cooks at same time as the chicken so it doesn’t make too much sense to prep ahead but you are still welcome to grill, cool and slice off of the cob; store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.