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Strawberry Chicken Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette is the perfect summer meal. It’s fresh and light with tangy feta cheese, creamy avocado, strawberries, and walnuts tossed in a citrusy dressing. It’s an easy and filling chicken salad recipe that the whole family will love.
If you aren’t a salad eater, this Strawberry Chicken Salad will change your mind. Seems like salads have really gotten a makeover the past 10 years or so. I remember when your choices were basically Ranch or Italian, but now there are so many options and giant meal salads that it’s hard to choose! You could eat a different salad every day for a month and not get bored. Like Chicken Fajita Salad, Teriyaki Chicken Salad (Red Robin Copycat), and Shrimp Avocado Salad.
Strawberry Chicken Salad Recipe
This Strawberry Chicken Salad recipe fits all of my requirements for the best salad. It’s got sweet strawberries, crunchy walnuts, tangy Feta, creamy avocado, and a slightly sweet Citrus Vinaigrette. Plus it’s topped with this ultra flavorful and juicy Citrus Grilled Chicken.
The salad ingredients are customizable to what you love and what you have on hand. Baked Lemon Chicken would be delicious on top, and the cheese could be swapped out if you’re not a Feta fan. Raspberries or blackberries would be an excellent addition to the strawberries.
If you don’t want to make your own vinaigrette (though it’s really easy, I promise) you could use your favorite bottled vinegar-based dressing.
How to Make Strawberry Chicken Salad
Salad Ingredients
Lettuce – You need about 6 cups chopped lettuce, and can use your favorite. I love the crunchiness of Romaine but little gems has really been a favorite lately. A spring mix also works.
Strawberries – You can find the best strawberries in the spring and summer, but depending on where you live you might be able to find them year round. Blackberries and raspberries are a fine substitution.
Toasted walnuts – I absolutely love walnuts, especially when they’ve been toasted. Spread them out on a sheet pan and toast them in a 400 degree F oven for about 5 minutes. Or, toast them in a skillet over medium-high heat for 5-10 minutes.
Feta cheese – Creamy and tangy are the best adjectives for feta. It’s in the top 3 of my favorite cheeses.
Avocado – Grab yourself a nice, ripe avocado and slice it up into chunks for your salad.
Chicken – You can’t have a chicken salad without chicken! Grilled chicken, baked chicken, or even shredded from a rotisserie will work. But this Citrus chicken is really the best with all of the flavors in this salad.
Citrus Vinaigrette
The Citrus Vinaigrette might be my very favorite part of this strawberry chicken salad. It’s similar to the marinade for the chicken, with a few extras added in. Three types of citrus – lemon, orange, and lime – plus olive oil, a little honey, and herbs like basil or parsley.
You can pulse the ingredients together in a blender or food processor, or shake them together in a tightly sealed container. I like having the bits of herbs in my salad so I just do a little shake.
Make Ahead and Storage
Salads are great when you need something for dinner that you can prep In advance. Chop all of the veggies and fruits, saving the avocado for just before serving. Store everything in airtight containers until you’re ready to serve. You can prep the citrus vinaigrette in advance too, store it in the fridge and just let it sit out at room temperature for about 20 minutes prior to serving.
If making the chicken in advance, let it cool completely before wrapping it up and storing in the fridge up to 48 hours.
When it’s time to serve, just toss all of the ingredients together in a large and dress your salad with the vinaigrette. I usually use half the dressing first, then add more as needed. There’s no saving an over-dressed chicken salad!
Recipe Notes and Tips
- Double the Citrus Vinaigrette recipe and have plenty leftover for salads later in the week. Or use it as a delicious marinade for chicken, pork, or steak.
- Try to cut everything the same size. It makes your strawberry chicken salad much easier to enjoy.
- Instead of toasted walnuts, try sweetening things up with some candied pecans and adding dried cranberries.
- Feel free to keep it vegetarian and leave out the chicken.
More of our Favorite Salads
- Panzanella Salad
- Fresh Corn Salad
- 7 Layer Salad
- Ground Turkey Taco Salad
- Grilled Salmon Salad
- Caprese Chicken Salad
Strawberry Chicken Salad with Citrus Vinaigrette
Ingredients
Citrus Vinaigrette
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice juiced
- 2 tablespoons orange juiced
- 2 teaspoons lime juice
- 1 tablespoon honey or more to taste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh herbs like basil, chives or parsley
- Salt to taste
Salad
- 6-8 cups Romaine & Spring Mix lettuces
- 1 cup strawberries chopped
- ¼ cup walnuts or pecans toasted
- ¼ cup crumbled Feta cheese
- 1 avocado diced
- 8 ounce Grilled Chicken Breast divided
Instructions
Citrus Vinaigrette
- Combine ingredients in a small bowl or resealable jar and whisk or shake together until emulsified. Taste and add more salt and honey if desired.
Salad
- Combine lettuces with half of the vinaigrette in a large bowl and toss until coated. Add more dressing if desired. Divide into two bowls and top with strawberries, walnuts, Feta and avocado.
- Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Nutritional Disclaimer Kristin Maxwell of "Yellow Bliss Road" is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. For accurate calorie counts and other nutritional values, we recommend running the ingredients through your preferred online nutritional calculator. Calories and other nutritional values can vary depending on which brands were used.
The “print recipe” button isn’t working! Just wanted to give you a heads up.
I copy/pasted into word but I know a lot of folks don’t know how to do that!
Hi Colette, it’s working fine for me. What device and which browser are you using? I’d like to help you troubleshoot.
Fixed this tonight. Really good! Wish there was nutrition information.
Hi Susan, I’ve updated the nutritional information.