This Strawberry Chicken Salad is a refreshing and flavorful chicken salad featuring fresh juicy strawberries, tender grilled chicken, fresh basil and crunchy almond slivers all tossed in a tangy poppy seed dressing. Perfect for a spring or summer meal or picnic.
With a creamy and a little sweet and tangy dressing made from mayonnaise and homemade poppy seed dressing, this chicken salad is a nice change up from the norm. Mixed in some beautiful, diced ripe strawberries and this salad is appropriately dressed for spring. Some slivered almonds add a nice crunch and a little fresh basil is a prelude to summer.
Grilled Chicken
Made with grilled chicken for extra flavor, this is one of my favorite chicken salad recipes. You can either grill the chicken in a grill pan or on a gas grill. First season it with salt and pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil and lemon juice. Cook it until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
Variations and Substitutions
- Add some crumbled goat cheese or blue cheese crumbles.
- Use pecans or walnuts in place of almonds.
- Blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries can be used in place of strawberries.
Storage
Leftovers will keep for 4 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If you don’t plan on eating it all right away, don’t sprinkle the almonds on it until just before eating. They will get soggy in the refrigerator.
Whether you serve it on top of a bed of lettuce as a salad or between two hearty slices of wheat bread as a sandwich, you are sure to find it berry pleasing!
More Chicken Salad Recipes
- Jalapeno Popper Chicken Salad
- Mango Chutney Chicken Salad
- Tropical Chicken Salad
- Golden Chicken Salad
Strawberry Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Poppy Seed Dressing
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons minced sweet onion
- ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ teaspoon poppy seeds
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup vegetable oil or canola oil.
Chicken Salad
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- olive oil
- ½ lemon
- salt and pepper
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- ¼ cup Poppy Seed Dressing
- ¼ cup diced red onion
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
- 1 cup fresh diced strawberries
- ¼ cup slivered almonds
Instructions
- First make the poppy seed dressing. Add all ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk until combined. Set aside.
- Drizzle chicken with olive oil and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper on both sides.
- Heat grill pan over medium-high heat (or use a gas grill). Cook chicken for about 4 minutes per side or until cooked through.Let chicken cool and then dice it.
- Place chicken in a large bowl and add mayonnaise, poppy seed dressing (you will onlu use ¼ cup of it. Save the rest to use on a garden salad.), amd red onion.
- Gently fold in strawberries and basil. Sprinkle with almonds and serve.Note: If you have time, refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Originally posted May 4, 2013.
More Strawberry Recipes
This would make a beautiful dish to serve a a Mother’s Day brunch.
Chicken and strawberries sounds like interesting but delicious combination!
This looks delicious and I don’t even like mayo!