This avocado chicken salad is irresistible! Perfect for a light, healthy dinner, it’s also delicious for a quick lunch or great for party food. Bonus: it comes together FAST (15 minutes or less)!
Oh my goodness, this simple and delicious avocado chicken salad is the best stuff ever. The perfect light dinner (and/or super quick lunch), it’s also pretty darn amazing to pull out for party food.
As in, if your experience is anything like my experience, it’s going to be the recipe that everyone oohs and aahs over. I’m just telling you now: you’ll want to keep the recipe handy to pass out when people request it.
Unless, of course, you are one of those non-recipe sharers. In which case, we should probably discuss the future of our friendship.
Five salad ingredients, one bowl:
-diced avocados
-juicy bits of corn
-finely chopped red onion (can use green onion or chives!)
-flavorful chopped chicken
-chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
Then, a quick fresh and lemony (or limey, if you use limes) dressing is whisked together and poured over the top.
Toss it all together and you have a somewhat messy but totally irresistible combination. The avocados lend the most delightful creaminess to the crisp corn and tender chicken.
I don’t often love raw onions in my food, but the little morsels of red onion in this salad are super, super tasty in this avocado chicken salad. You can easily sub in chives or green onions for the red onion.
Not enough going on for you? Well, by all means, throw in some tomatoes or bacon or feta cheese or something else! I certainly won’t stop you.
You could pile this salad on a croissant or bun or other bread of some kind. But it’s really tasty served on its own – and that’s how we love it.
I usually serve it alongside tortilla chips or toasted baguette slices. But it is wonderful scooped on a plate and served simply with a side of fresh fruit (cantaloupe or watermelon this time of year – yum!).
The recipe calls for cooked, chopped chicken. So many options! The flavor of the salad is going to be greatly enhanced if you use a marinated, grilled chicken, but it’s also pretty darn delicious with any of the following:
-rotisserie chicken
-canned, drained chicken (if you prefer it)
-grilled chicken, like this amazing lemon garlic grilled chicken (especially awesome if it’s leftovers; minimal work!)
-quickly cooked stovetop shredded chicken
As for the corn, I’ve used both fresh corn (that’s been cooked and then cut off the cob) and frozen corn (thawed). Delicious either way, although this time of year, it’s hard to pass up all the roadside stands of sweet corn popping up everywhere.
This avocado chicken salad is definitely in the solid category of: can’t stop, won’t stop. It is my new favorite!
Because of the avocados, the leftovers don’t keep super well, so try to make only as much as you (and your family/friends) can eat in one sitting. Ahem, if I’m one of your friends/family, that’s a lot.
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Yield:
6 servings
Prep Time:
15 minutes
Total Time:
15 minutes
Ingredients
Dressing:
- 3 tablespoons fresh lime or lemon juice (or a combination of both)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use coarse, kosher salt)
- Pinch black pepper (I use coarsely ground pepper)
Salad:
- 2 cups chopped, cooked chicken (see note)
- 1 cup corn kernels, fresh (cooked) or frozen and thawed
- 2 medium/large ripe avocados, peeled and diced
- 1/4 cup finely chopped red onion
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
Optional Add-ins:
- Halved cherry tomatoes
- Cooked, crumbled bacon
- Feta cheese
Instructions
- In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, combine all the dressing ingredients and mix well.
- Add all the salad ingredients to a large bowl. Drizzle with the dressing and toss to combine. Add optional add-ins if desired. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper, if needed.
- Serve immediately.
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Recipe Source: from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe
