Summer Grilled Chicken Power Salad with sweet blueberries, crumbled bacon and a lemon vinaigrette is the salad of summer!
Table of Contents
Why I Love This Recipe
I've been on a seasonal power salad kick for the past couple of years! and after binge eating this salad below, it's official that it's this seasons honorary power salad. Summer Grilled Chicken Power Salad here we come.
Where do we even start? Bacon. Duh. This salad is many things but most importantly it's LOADED with flavor. That all starts with some crisped bacon. If you're not feeling the bacon, just omit that step and use some olive oil to cook the chicken. However if you're digging the bacon, you not only use the crispy bacon IN the salad, you use a little bit of the rendered fat to cook the herb crusted chicken. Talk about something being loaded with flavor. You can even use other leftover grilled chicken for this salad, like the yogurt marinated chicken skewers will add so much flavor.
Once those 2 proteins are taking care of, you can get into all the farmers market veggies. The bed of this salad is some gorgeous baby romaine lettuce I snagged from my farmers market, topped with raw corn (you guys know how I roll), plenty of blueberries, goat cheese and avocado. Done and done.
Everything gets tossed with a lemon champagne vinaigrette and you've pretty much sealed the deal.
Ingredients & Substitutions
For the Salad
- Thick Cut Bacon
- Blueberries
- Goat/Feta Cheese
- Basil Leaves
- Lettuce
- Corn on the Cob
- Avocados
For the Chicken
- Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts
- Kosher Salt
- Black Pepper freshly cracked
- Olive Oil
- Fresh Rosemary
- Fresh Thyme
- Dried Oregano
For the Lemon Champagne vinaigrette
- Garlic
- Dijon Mustard
- Champagne Vinegar
- Lemon Juice
- Honey
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Salt
- Black Pepper freshly cracked
- Extra Virgin Olive Oil
*For a full list of ingredients and instructions please see recipe card below.
How to Make Grilled Chicken Power Salad
Step 1: Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook until crispy and the fat is rendered.
Step 2: Remove the bacon and transfer it on a paper towel lined plate. Drain off most of the bacon grease, leaving just about 2 teaspoons.
Step 3: Season the chicken with salt and pepper and coat with the fresh and dried herbs.
Step 4: In the same skillet, over medium-high heat, add the chicken to bacon grease and cook until golden and crisp on both sides, about 5 to 6 minutes per side.
Step 5: Remove the chicken and let rest. Slice into pieces when ready to serve.
Step 6: In a large bowl, assemble the salad. Start with the bed of lettuce, add the chicken, blueberries, cheese, basil leaves, torn up bacon, avocado and corn.
Step 8: Combine all the ingredients and whisk together. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Drizzle the vinaigrette on the salad. Serve immediately.
How to Store Grilled Chicken Power Salad
You can store the grilled chicken thighs and bacon in the fridge in an airtight container for 3-4 days. You can store the vinaigrette for a week. I recommend storing all the components ready to go and assembling everything fresh when it is time to eat.
How to Freeze Grilled Chicken Power Salad
This vinaigrette freezes well and is great to have on hand. You can also freeze chicken breasts for 3 months packed well in freezer bags and dated.
Tips & Tricks
What is a power salad? It has all the protein and fiber you need to keep powering through your day! Swap out the vinaigrette depending on what you have on hand.
FAQs
Can I use frozen corn?
By all means! I just like to use fresh corn on the cob kernels when they are in season, but you can absolutely use frozen corn instead.
Can I use chicken breast instead?
Yes, you can substitute the thighs for chicken breast. The cooking time may vary.
Similar Recipes
If you tried this recipe, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it goes in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting today
Summer Grilled Chicken Power Salad
Ingredients
For the Salad
- 4 slices thick cut bacon
- 1 pint blueberries
- ¼ cup crumbled goat or feta cheese
- 1 handful small basil leaves
- 4 cups farmers market lettuce
- 2 corn on the cob kernels removed
- 1-2 avocados
For the Chicken
- ½ pound boneless skinless chicken breasts
- Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
- 1 tablespoons dried oregano
For the Lemon Champagne vinaigrette
- 2 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- ¼ cup champagne vinegar
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium heat and add the bacon. Cook until crispy and the fat is rendered. Remove the bacon and transfer it on a paper towel lined plate. Drain off most of the bacon grease, leaving just about 2 teaspoons.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper and coat with the fresh and dried herbs. In the same skillet, over medium-high heat, add the chicken to bacon grease and cook until golden and crisp on both sides, about 5 to 6 minutes per side. Remove the chicken and let rest. Slice into pieces when ready to serve.
- In a large bowl, assemble the salad. Start with the bed of lettuce, add the chicken, blueberries, cheese, basil leaves, torn up bacon, avocado and corn. Drizzle with the vinaigrette. Serve immediately.
For the vinaigrette
- Combine all the ingredients and whisk together. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Photo by Matt Armendariz / Food Styling by Adam Pearson / Recipe by What’s Gaby Cooking
This is one of my all time favorite salads!!!! I've invited my girlfriends over this week and this salad is going to be the main course!!! Thank you for always coming up with such great recipes Gaby!!!
This looks so good. I absolutely love the idea of using bacon with feta on this. Thank you!
This was delicious! It was my second time making it and my husband said, you can make this anytime! We aren’t excited about fruit in our salad so didn’t add the blueberries. The dressing is so flavorful!
LOVE this salad....I've renamed it "Everything we love"
Made it twice this week and everyone loved it!
It was great except it. Even though the recipe says for 2, it made enough for 3 servings.
Tasty salad.
My husband says this is the best salad I have ever made.
This salad is so incredibly delicious!!
Thank you for all your wonderful recipes!!
This is an absolutely wonderful salad! It’s a meal in itself. The ingredients mesh well and the dressing is tangy and fabulous.
This is, without doubt, my new favorite salad. My son made it for me while visiting him back East. His wife and I agreed we’d like it again very soon. He made it four days later. I just returned from Safeway, who, by the way, refuses to require facial coverings of its customers, and am making it for the THIRD time in ONE week! Absolutely LOVE!❤️
Blueberries make everything perfect!!
Dressing is so yummy!
Holy smokes! Made this last night for dinner! I forgot to get bacon but nonetheless, it was fantastic. I can’t wait to try it next time with the bacon! So so so good.
This was amazing. We ate it so fast I forgot to take a picture!!