Crispy Chicken Salad
This Crispy Chicken Salad is just like a big restaurant salad with a recipe designed to be easily made at home.
So you want to make one of those big restaurant-style salads topped with fried chicken at home? Well, look no further because this is your salad! With crunchy iceberg lettuce, carrots, tomatoes, nuts, a delicious dressing, and crispy chicken, it’s a go-to in my house and will be in yours too. I’m excited for you! What makes this salad so easy is that you have the option of using chicken tenders from the grocery store or of making your own chicken. It’s a perfect main dish salad that that you can simply assemble and eat.
Scroll down to read more about how it all comes together or click here to jump straight down to the recipe.
Ingredients
This crispy chicken salad recipe incorporates all of the good stuff you find in a restaurant salad, like fried chicken, fresh veggies, cheese, and candied nuts, all mixed together with a tasty dressing.
For this salad, I’ve used iceberg lettuce because I love how hydrating and refreshing it is, but you can substitute Romaine lettuce, kale, or your favorite lettuce blend.
The same goes for the vegetables. If you’re not a fan of carrots but want to double up on the cucumbers, go for it. If you like radishes but not tomatoes, go ahead and swap those out. Anything goes when it comes to the fresh vegetables. If you’ve got a fresh avocado, maybe slice that up and add it too.
I also like to quarter hard-boiled eggs for mine. Grocery stores often have eggs already hard-boiled and peeled available but if you’re prepping them yourself, Instant Pot Hard Boiled Eggs are amazing. They peel so easily!
The pecans add a nice crunch, and can be found in the grocery store aisle where the nuts are sold, or sometimes with the salad dressings and toppings. You can use regular pecans or candied ones for a little sweetness.
What Kind Of Chicken To Use?
Now, what about the chicken for the salad? I like using chicken breasts or tenderloins since it’s convenient to slice the boneless chicken to top the salad. But really any kind of chicken with a crunchy coating or crispy skin works. And there are plenty of great options on how to prepare it.
Classic fried chicken is always a hit, and we really love this Panko Fried Chicken recipe, but it can be a bit of effort to deal with deep frying at home so you don’t have to go that route.
If you prefer to bake your chicken, you can try our Shake and Bake Chicken with a great crispy coating.
Or keep things simple with the air fryer with Air Fryer Chicken Tenders which are always a hit with kids. We also have options for Air Fryer Fried Chicken and Breaded Chicken Thighs.
Now, if you don’t want breading on your chicken, doing something with nice crispy skin is another option. This Air Fryer Chicken Leg Quarters recipe is a super popular choice or you can bake chicken legs or drumsticks with crispy skin. These are skin-on, bone-in chicken cuts, so you will have to deal with the bone when slicing.
But truly, if you really want an easy way to make this kind of crispy chicken restaurant salad at home, get some crispy chicken tenders from the store. You can get the ones sold hot at the deli, or buy frozen ones that you bake up nice and crisp. In addition to being delicious, this is a great way to make kid-pleasing chicken fingers into a dinner that includes more veggies. It’s best to buy the hot fried chicken the day you’ll be using it so it retains some of the crunch, but it’s just as delicious if stored in the fridge and used the next day.
Making The Best Fried Chicken Salad
To make the chicken salad, grab the largest bowl you have. The bigger the better, which helps when it comes time to toss everything together.
Add the chopped lettuce to the bowl, along with the carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, and cheese. Then using tongs or a large spoon and fork, toss everything together.
Add the hard-boiled eggs and crispy chicken strips on top, and then sprinkle the green onion and pecans over everything.
This crispy chicken salad is full of great flavors that you can enjoy all summer long.
What About The Salad Dressing?
For the salad dressing, anything goes. If you use sweet, candied pecans, a sweeter dressing, like my Honey Tahini or a honey mustard dressing, can be nice. But Ranch Dressing is always a classic, mine is made with Greek yogurt. Other dressings that are great on this salad are this Green Goddess dressing made with cottage cheese, or this easy Lemon-Hummus Dressing.
If serving the salad right away, and if everyone agrees on the dressing, I like to add it directly to the salad before adding the chicken, eggs, and nuts. Toss everything together again to make sure there’s dressing on every bite. Then distribute it among plates and add on those last ingredients.
If packing the salad for a lunch or picnic, serve the dressing on the side so the vegetables and chicken stay crisp. I think half a cup of dressing is perfect for the whole large bowl of salad, but you may want to have additional available on the side for those who prefer more.
More Amazing Salad Ideas
- Sweet Potato Salad Recipe
- Greek Chicken Salad
- Cucumber Mint Salad
- Kale Taco Salad Recipe
- Asian Broccoli Salad
Podcast Episode: Making Crispy Chicken Salad
Listen to me explain briefly about how to make this recipe, with some great tips along the way, by clicking the play button below:
Listen to more Recipe of the Day episodes here.
Print
Crispy Chicken Salad Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Entrée
- Method: Mix
- Cuisine: American
DESCRIPTION
This Crispy Chicken Salad is just like a big restaurant salad with a recipe designed to be easily made at home. Fry, bake, or air fry the chicken, or save time by picking it up from the grocery deli counter.
Ingredients
- 1 small head iceberg lettuce, chopped
- 2 carrots, peeled and shredded
- 1 cucumber, chopped
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1/2 cup sliced red onion*
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
- 4 hard-boiled eggs, quartered
- 12 fried chicken tenders, chopped
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans**
- 1/2 cup ranch dressing***
Instructions
- To a large bowl add the lettuce, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, onion, and cheese. Add the dressing and toss to combine.
- Distribute salad among plates. Divide the egg, chicken, and pecans among the servings.
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Notes
*If you prefer, you can use 1/2 cup of sliced green onion instead. I love both kinds and so I actually usually use both. But just one is good too.
**Candied pecans are nice in here especially if using a dressing with a bit of sweetness.
***You can use store-bought or homemade ranch dressing.
Christine is the founder of TheCookful and also of her blog COOKtheSTORY. Her passion is explaining the WHY behind cooking – Why should you cook things a certain way; Will they turn out if you do it differently; What are the pros and cons of the method? Learn more about Christine, her cookbooks, and her podcast.