The salad has lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes, onions, chicken, egg, and spicy mayo dressing, making it extra delicious!
If you love chicken salads, you need to try my Easy Chopped Chicken Salad, my Greek Chicken Salad Bowls and Chimichurri Chicken Chopped Salad.
We all love a good chicken salad sandwich. But this Chicken Salad With Mayo recipe will make you love this new version even more. Delicious even without the bread, because who needs the bad carbs when you have a bowl full of goodies like this one, right?
This easy chicken salad recipe is perfect for busy weekdays or weekend potlucks and picnics. And you can use leftover chicken to make your life even easier.
Chicken Salad Ingredients:
- Lettuce – Boston lettuces, romaine lettuces, kale, spinach or arugula (whatever is your jam)
- Cucumber
- Cherry tomatoes or any other kind of tomatoes you prefer.
- Red onions
- Green onions for garnish
- Roasted chicken breast – I used boneless skinless chicken breast.
- Boiled egg
- Homemade mayo, hot sauce (my secret ingredient) and lime juice for the sauce (Yum!!!). If you don’t want to use mayo, you can replace it with Greek yogurt.
How to make This Chicken Salad Recipe
This recipe is so simple to make and in less than 20 minutes all will be ready for you to dig in.
- If you don’t have any leftover chicken, you can season chicken breast with spices.
- Then, bake it at 425˚F for 18-20 minutes.
- Use an instant read thermometer to check if the chicken is fully cooked. The internal temperature should be at 165F.
- Remove the chicken from the oven. Let it rest for 5 minutes and then slice it.
- Second, in a saucepot bring water to a boil and add egg. It should be fine in 5 minutes or so. It’ll depend on how hard you want the yolk to be.
- Chop/slice all the veggies (cucumber, cherry tomatoes, red onions) and set aside.
- In a small bowl, add mayo, Sriracha, lime juice, and salt/pepper and mix well to combine. This dressing is fantastic and adds so much creaminess to the salad. Optional: a 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard to this dressing for an extra flavor.
- In a large salad bowl, add lettuces and all the veggies. Top with chicken and egg. Pour the dressing all over the salad and enjoy!
If you have some fresh herbs such as fresh dill on hand, chop some and garnish your salad with them.
Expect Tips
- This chicken salad recipe is flexible! You can choose any type of greens for this recipe. Some options include red leaf, romaine, iceberg lettuce, butter lettuce, bok choy, spinach, kale, and arugula.
- Simple ingredients such as red onion, cucumber and cherry tomatoes are my go-to veggies for this salad. Feel free to add or substitute vegetables as you please. Try broccoli, brussels sprouts, carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms, radishes, cauliflower and more!
- If desired, you can use light sour cream or Greek yogurt for your dressing (rather than mayonnaise).
How to cook chicken for chicken salad?
Often I use leftover rotisserie chicken or baked chicken in this Chicken Salad recipe. When I want to make something new, I bake two chicken breasts with spices. I set the oven to 425˚F and cook them for 18 minutes to add flavor.
Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the breast. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the breast. This Garlic Butter Baked Chicken Breast recipe has all the instructions you need to make the juiciest chicken breast ever.
How To Store Leftovers
- To store: Place leftover chicken salad recipe in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Be sure and store the dressing separately to avoid sogginess.
- To freeze: Chicken salad recipes aren’t good for freezing. You can, however, separate and freeze leftover chicken for up to 3 months!
What To Serve With this chicken salad
Avocado: Slice or mash avocado to serve alongside chicken salad for a creamy and nutritious addition.
Soup: Pair chicken salad with a light soup, such as a butternut squash soup, beet soup, carrot soup or a broth-based soup.
Bread or Crackers: Serve chicken salad on a bed of dinner rolls.
Extras: Chopped nuts such as almonds, pecans, walnuts, celery and even grapes.
Recipe Variations
Protein: You can swap chicken breast for steak bites, seafood like garlic butter shrimp, baked cod, halibut, or ground beef or turkey.
Dressing: If you don’t like mayo dressing, you can use only lemon juice and olive oil to season your salad.
Mix-up the veggies: Add your favourite green, veggies such as broccoli, green beans and asparagus.
More Chicken Salad Recipes
Frequently Asked Questions:
But chicken salad is incredibly versatile and you can absolutely use any dressing you prefer. Feel free to experiment and try different options at your discretion.
Absolutely! Pretty much any alternate protein will work. You can use salmon, tilapia, shrimp, bacon, bacon bits, steak, shredded beef or even pulled pork. I love making this salad after we barbecue because it’s a great way to use up extra meat.
Add fresh herbs, season well with your favorite spices, salt and pepper to taste and add lots of the spicy Mayo dressing. You can also add some dried cranberries for extra flavor.
More Salads Recipes to Try
Want another easy dinner recipe? Try my Asparagus Stuffed Chicken Breast or Ground Turkey Sweet Potato Lettuce Wraps. They’re so quick and easy to make!
Watch the Chicken Salad Web Stories.
Chicken Salad with Spicy Mayo Dressing
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I’ll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Primavera Kitchen.
Video
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 4 cups lettuce chopped
- 1 cup cucumber sliced
- 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes sliced
- ½ cup red onions sliced
- 1 medium baked chicken breast
- 1 boiled egg
For the dressing
- 1/2 cup mayonnaise I used homemade mayo
- 2 tablespoon Sriracha hot sauce or any other hot sauce you prefer
- 1 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
- Salt and black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Put lettuce in a big bowl. Add cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and red onions. Place cooked chicken breast and boiled egg on top.
- In a small bowl, mix mayo, Sriracha, lemon juice, and salt/pepper. Then, taste to check the seasoning and pour over the salad. Enjoy!
Tips
- The nutrition information was calculated using only 1/4 cup of the spicy mayo sauce.
- You can use any type of lettuce such as Boston lettuces, romaine lettuces, kale, spinach, or even arugula.
- Make sure to cut everything into bite-sized pieces so you can have a bit of everything in one bite.
- Use Greek yogurt as a substitute for mayonnaise, if desired.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.
Eliza says
Such dishes really are all-time hit in the Indian region as they are indigenous to spicy food. Good recipe!
sheenam @ thetwincookingproject says
YUM!! So happy to have subscribed to your blog. can not wait for more amazing recipes 🙂
Olivia says
Happy to hear that 😉
Stacy says
Hello
Your recipe. Ingredients list says lemon juice but Instructions say lime. Which juice is correct? TY!
Olivia says
Sorry it was a typo. It’s lemon juice. Thanks for pointing it out! I just fixed it on the recipe box to avoid further confusion.
Netty says
This salad was really good, never thought of making a spicy mayonnaise, will definitely making this again and again, Netty
Olivia says
Happy to hear that!!!
Karen Marquette says
Love this !! Next time I will set the timer when I boil the eggs, I ended up getting busy and burned the, not the first time 😂
Olivia says
hahahahah that’s a good idea.