This mouthwatering Lemon Chicken Salad makes a substantial meal or terrific for sharing at gatherings! A bright lemon dressing with a touch of honey does double duty as a quick marinade for the chicken. Nutritious, filling and fabulous!
The very first feature I did for Super Food Ideas magazine was called “Double Duty” where I shared recipes where one base mixture was used for two purposes. So for example, I did a Garlic Lime Marinated Prawns (Shrimp) with Green Rice where one lime and garlic mixture was used to marinate the prawns and as the flavour base for a green spinach rice.
Using a salad dressing as a marinade for chicken is Double Duty in its simplest form and this Lemon Chicken Salad is a terrific example where the Lemon Dressing works as a fantastic marinade to infuse chicken with flavour – quickly!
THE LEMON DRESSING
The Lemon Dressing is made with both lemon zest and lemon juice. That way, it actually tastes of lemon. Which might sound strange I know. But actually, lemon juice is just sour. All the lemon flavour is in the skin.
So if you want lemon flavoured anything, you need to use the zest!
CHICKEN BREAST OR THIGH!
If I post a chicken thigh recipe, I absolutely guarantee someone will ask if it can be made with breast. If I post a chicken breast recipe, someone always asks if it can be made with thigh.
So nowadays, I just make sure I cover that off in every single chicken recipe I do.
YES you can make this with chicken breast. YES you can make it with chicken thighs!
I had a bit of a shocker filming and photographing this recipe. I kept forgetting a key ingredient and had to make it over and over again. Which, actually, is not the worst thing in the world because I would scoff it down for lunch within seconds of the last click of the camera.
The last time I filmed it, I was patting myself on the back for remembering everything for the salad – then wailed in frustration when I realised I forgot the bacon.
Hence why some photos have bacon – and some do not.
The video does not. 😤
But in all honesty, it’s an optional extra. Bacon makes everything better. But this Lemon Chicken Salad is terrific even without it! – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.
Lemon Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Dressing/Marinade:
- 2 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 large garlic clove , minced
- 1/2 tsp salt + 1/4 tsp black pepper
Chicken:
- 1 large chicken breast , halved horizontally* OR 2 boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1 tbsp lemon juice , extra
- Salt and pepper
- 1/2 tbsp olive oil
Salad:
- 2 tbsp finely chopped dill
- 8 cups cos/romaine lettuce , chopped (or other lettuce of choice, Note 2)
- 1 cup cherry tomatoes , halved
- 1 medium avocado , quartered and sliced thickly
- 1/2 red onion , small, finely sliced
- 3/4 cup corn kernels , fresh or canned drained
- 120g/ 4 oz bacon , cooked then chopped (optional)
Instructions
Dressing:
- Place Dressing ingredients in a jar. Shake well.
Chicken:
- Place chicken in a bowl. Add 2 tbsp Dressing, 1 tbsp extra lemon juice, plus a pinch of salt and pepper. Mix well. Marinate minimum 20 minutes up to 24 hours.
- Heat oil in a non stick skillet over medium high heat (or use bacon fat if you use bacon in this!). Add chicken and cook. Halved breasts: 2 minutes each side. Thigh: 4 minutes each side.
- Transfer to plate, cover loosely with foil for 3 minutes. Slice.
Salad:
- Add dill into remaining dressing. Shake.
- Place remaining salad ingredients in a bowl. Top with chicken.
- Drizzle dressing all over. Crumble over bacon if using. Serve immediately!
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
MORE CHICKEN SALADS YOU’LL LOVE
-
More giant Salads for Meals
Life of Dozer
If he gets any closer to the heater, we might be having roasted Dozer for dinner tonight….
I made this tonight for the first time it was amazing!! I had some leftover roast pumpkin and added that. Soooo good
I made this for the first time tonight amazing! I had left over roast pumpkin added that to it. Soooo good. Re commented because I forgot the 5 stars
Forgot to give 5 stars!!!
This looks delicious, I’m going to try it tonight.
This salad is amazing!!!
The chicken is tasty, we are having this once a week at the moment, and I don’t think it’s going to change any time soon..
Try it you will love it!!
delicious – and that dressing mmm mmmm
I’ve used the marinade/ dressing multiple times and it’s great! I’ve marinated and cooked a few breasts the instant pot to shred. Your recipes are always great!
What an incredible salad! Yesterday just felt like a giant salad night, and although these rural Qld nights can be unforgiving, I’m so glad I rugged up and made this! Added some diced boiled eggs and roasted pumpkin, absolutely adding this recipe to our meal rotation. Thanks Nagi!
Oh this is a keeper! I added some preserved lemon to the marinade because I had it. Didn’t use the bacon. Absolutely wonderful.
Another stunning recipe by Nagi. Delicious and moreish!
Thank you, Nagi 😊
Soooooo tasty!!! My husband isn’t a big fan of salads but he raved about it! Definitely making this next time we have the family over!!!
Stunning salad … So tasty… In the depths of winter here in East Yorkshire… But this salad tasted of summer & sunny days
Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious! One of my fave salads
If I want to use this to marinade more than one breast, or more than two thighs. Do I add 3 tbsp of olive oil per breast or does the amount of olive oil stay the same and I I crease all of the other ingredients?
In this recipe you split the mixture between the salad (for dressing) and the chicken (to marinade). There’s a sliding scale at the top of the recipe so just slide that until you have the correct number of chicken pieces in the ingredient list and the other ingredients will be the correct proportions! N x
Thanks for the help I never noticed that! That is pretty sweet! Love you’re recipes!
Early Semptember and it’s 29c here in Southern England (crazy) and this is just what the doctor ordered,using cold chicken from Sundays roast(yes it was roast weather then!) so i’m giving the dressing 4-5 hrs to do its thing in the fridge and i’ve made some basic tato salad(mayo capers,cabachons,more dill,a little garlic) and there was me thinking salads were on the shelf till spring 2022,it’s gonna be great.
I hope you love it Leeuk – let me know what you think! N x
Confession time… I haven’t made the recipe as written but made the dressing to serve with a fresh salad. It’s brilliant and well balanced in flavour. Next job – marinate the chicken and put it all together!
This tasted amazing.
Silly me accidentally dumped all the marinade in with the chicken, so i made a bit more marinade for the salad dressing and used pearl couscous to soak up the extra liquid from the cooked chicken juices and it turned out incredible.
Hi Nagi. This salad sounds delicious but I don’t have any corn. Do you think I could sub baked pumpkin cubes?
Sure could Noelene, it’s versatile so you can add whatever veggies you have! N x
I am looking for a cold lemon chicken salad for a bridal shower. Any thoughts on how this might taste cold?
It will taste amazing Rochele – enjoy! N x
Hi Nagi and Dozer,
Once again words fail me! That recipe was just fantastic thank you. So easy to make the salad and dressing, thank you so much.
Really nice! I love lemon, I’ll be saving this, the dressing was so nice on my salad, we bbqd the chicken and it had a beautiful flavour
YESS!!! Can’t beat the flavour of BBQed meats 🙂 N x