This easy strawberry chicken salad has juicy grilled chicken, fresh berries, spinach, creamy avocado, pecans, and goat cheese tossed in a zesty homemade balsamic vinaigrette. It makes the perfect summer salad!
If you’re in the market for light and fresh salads this summer, I recommend my berry spinach salad or my grilled chicken Caesar salad (with homemade croutons!).
Since I have a love affair with salad, you know I can’t go through a summer grilling season without sharing my Greek salad with grilled chicken or honey mustard grilled chicken salad on more than one occasion. This strawberry chicken salad with grilled chicken, spinach, avocado, and balsamic vinaigrette is another one of my quick go-to weeknight recipes. The kids love it, I love it, all the ingredients are things I already have on hand, and the flavor is so good.
Why Make This Strawberry Salad with Grilled Chicken
- The best of summer. Fresh ingredients like strawberries, avocado, and spinach come together with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette and savory grilled chicken. The flavors will blow you away!
- Even kids love it. Maybe it’s the juicy berries? Or the chicken? My kids even look past the spinach to dig into this salad.
- Meal-prep-friendly. Pack it in an airtight container for a quick and easy lunch.
- Quick and easy. Make it in less than 20 minutes!
Ingredients Needed
Here are the ingredients to round up for this strawberry chicken salad recipe. Scroll to the recipe card for the exact amounts for each.
- Spinach – You can substitute spinach with kale, arugula, or another leafy green if needed.
- Berries – I used a combination of fresh strawberries and blueberries, but raspberries or blackberries also work.
- Avocado – Standard in most of my salads. Avocado adds a nice bit of creaminess along with good fats.
- Goat Cheese – I love the tanginess of goat cheese in this salad, plus it melts a little when the grilled chicken hits it. Yum!
- Pecans – If you’d like, you can toast the pecans in a dry skillet for a few minutes over low heat, to bring out their crunch even more. Walnuts or almonds are a good alternative.
- Chicken – I use boneless, skinless chicken breast simply seasoned with salt and pepper then grilled for a nice sear. Learn how to grill chicken.
- Dressing – I chose a my favorite homemade balsamic vinaigrette for this salad because I love the flavor combo with the goat cheese, chicken, strawberries and avocado. You can dress this salad with any of my easy homemade salad dressings.
How to Make Strawberry Chicken Salad
You can grill the chicken for this strawberry salad on the outdoor grill, or on an indoor grill pan.
- Grill the chicken. Pat dry the chicken breast and season it generously with salt and pepper. Then, grill the chicken over medium-high heat (350°-400°F) for 4-6 minutes per side. Chicken is cooked when the internal temperature reaches 165ºF. Afterward, set the chicken aside to rest before you slice it.
- Make the dressing. Meanwhile, whisk balsamic vinegar with olive oil, Dijon mustard, raw honey, dried basil, and garlic, plus salt and pepper to taste.
- Assemble the salad. Add the spinach, berries, avocado, pecans, and crumbled goat cheese to a bowl. Top with your sliced grilled chicken. Toss with the prepared dressing and serve!
Add-ins and Variations
What makes this salad so great is how adaptable it can be. These are some easy ideas to get you started:
- Proteins: Sub the grilled chicken for leftover rotisserie chicken, roasted shrimp, or grilled salmon.
- Cheeses: Crumbled feta cheese, gorgonzola, blue cheese, cubes of aged white cheddar cheese
- Nuts: Candied almonds or pecans, walnuts, sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds
- Other Fruit: Canned mandarin orange segments, raspberries, blackberries, cubed mango, dried cherries or
- Other Vegetables: raw broccoli, thin slices of red onion, carrots, roasted beets or edamame.
- Alternate Dressings: Raspberry vinaigrette, lemon vinaigrette, poblano dressing, honey mustard dressing or a citrus basil vinaigrette.
What to Serve With Strawberry Chicken Salad
Since it already includes a protein, this salad makes an excellent light meal as-is. But you can absolutely add a side of grilled vegetables or steak kabobs for a complete dinner. Serve this salad with grilled asparagus and salmon burgers, or as a side to a big bowl of creamy lemon pasta.
Meal Prep This Salad
This grilled chicken strawberry salad is wonderful for prepping ahead so it’s ready to eat thoughout the week. To meal prep this salad, I recommend the following:
- Grill and cut the chicken.
- Make the dressing.
- Prep and cut all other ingredients.
- Store all of these ingredients in individual containers in the fridge. When it’s time to serve, simply combine everything and enjoy.
If you are storing in a container for a quick grab and go lunch, evenly divide ingredients between 4 Pyrex containers. Be sure to store dressing in a separate container. Do not mix the dressing ahead of time, it will cause the spinach to wilt and become soggy.
More Summer Salad Recipes You’ll Love
Strawberry Chicken Salad
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 4–5 salads or 1 large salad 1x
- Category: Salad
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: American
Description
This easy strawberry chicken salad has juicy grilled chicken, fresh spinach, and creamy avocado tossed in a zesty balsamic vinaigrette. It makes the best summer salad!
Ingredients
- 6 cups of baby spinach
- 2 chicken breasts
- salt & pepper
- 1 1/2 cups of sliced fresh strawberries
- 1/3 cup blueberries
- 1 avocado, sliced
- 1/4 cup pecans
- 1/3 cup crumbled goat cheese
Balsamic Vinaigrette:
- 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
- 1 tablespoon raw honey
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1 garlic clove, minced
Instructions
- Preheat grill to medium high heat, approximately 350°-400°F.
- Pat chicken breast dry with a paper towel and season both sides with salt and pepper.
- Place chicken on a clean grill and grill each side for 4-6 minutes or until there internal temperature reaches 165°F.
- Remove chicken from grill and let rest for 5 minutes before slicing.
- In the mean time, to a small bowl add balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, raw honey, dried basil, garlic, salt and pepper to taste. Whisk together until emulsified and set aside.
- In a large bowl, add spinach, strawberries, blueberries, avocado, pecans, crumbled goat cheese and then top with sliced grilled chicken. Serve with Balsamic Vinaigrette.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 salad
- Calories: 253
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 260 mg
- Fat: 16 g
- Saturated Fat: 3 g
- Carbohydrates: 17 g
- Fiber: 3 g
- Protein: 13 g
- Cholesterol: 9 mg
26 comments on “Best Avocado Strawberry Spinach Salad with Grilled Chicken”
Adored this recipe! So fresh and delicious.
YES! It is perfect for HOT days! It’s so refreshing!
Amazing salad!! So simple to make, yet so elevated! That dressing is amazing (and guilt-free 🥰). Going to make this all the time this summer!
The perfect summer salad! I am so glad you loved this recipe, Ali!
Love everything in the salad; I just substitute sunflowers seeds or walnuts. A big thanks for the balsamic dressing recipe; I’ve been looking for one with just the ‘right’ ingredients, yours fit the bill!
Hurray! so glad you liked it Tazie! I love that dressing, it’s my go to when I’m in a pinch!
The way I deal with anger is to try and focus on something else or exert my anger through exercise. Working out makes me feel so much better anytime I feel down! Hope this helps!
Exercise!!! Yes! Totally agree with that, it’s what I do a lot too! Definitely a great way to clear the mind!
I am definitely making this for the summer! Have you gotten your little man to eat salad yet? Mine like it with out the lettuce- lol! Whatever works!
haha… Cason does the same thing. he loves everything about salad.. but the lettuce .. unless it’s covered in dressing!
Well Krista,
You’ve done it again! I made your strawberry avocado chicken salad tonight and it was terrific!
The ingredients worked so well together and the dressing was easy to make and delicious.
Thanks for consistently providing such yummy and easy to make recipes.
Kathy
Thank you so much Kathy, you are so sweet! This totally made my day!
This is such a perfect salad for summer! Love the combo of creamy avocado with the sweet strawberries. 🙂
Thank you so much Carrie!
I’m sorry that you and your husband are going through this. There is nothing more disappointing when someone you find out that someone you trusted has been deceiving you. I hope it all works out.
On a different note, this salad looks wonderful. The perfect thing for a light meal.
Thanks Dara! That means a lot, and definitely need the encouragement during this season! 🙂 AND so pumped you like my salad girl, this is definitely a ray of sunshine in the storm!
I HATE feeling angry, or mad, or upset, and very often, because I don’t want that burden in my heart, I will turn the other cheek and just walk away. Not sure what this crappy person did to you, but he/she sounds awful! I’m sorry you are dealing with this. 🙁
Hand me a fork, though… I need to dive into this beautiful salad!!
Turning the other cheek is the way to go for sure… that way your hearts not carrying the baggage!
Passing you a fork to this ridiculous salad now! 🙂
What a delicious and pretty looking salad! I would love to have this for lunch any day of the week! Yum!
Thanks Sheena, it’s totally lunch worthy AND dinner worthy! 🙂
I love strawberries on a salad and the avocado is such a great addition!
Thank you so much Erin! It’s definitely one delicious recipe!
This is such a pretty and simple salad! Love the combination of strawberry and avocado! Making this asap!
Get to it girl, its the bomb!
I make almost this exact recipe, and it’s one of my very favorite lunches! Great foodie minds must think alike! Love it!
haha.. yes they do! We are clearly on the same wave length!