Looking for the perfect recipe for grilled chicken salad? This is it. A simple marinade and quick grilling makes this boneless chicken breast ideal for topping any type of salad.
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Why you'll love this Grilled Chicken Salad
Whether you are looking to top a Caesar salad, taco or any other type, the addition of a lean protein turns your salad into a healthy meal. This recipe was formulated especially to be versatile for complementing any salad variety beautifully.
This chicken recipe is also great on it's own with Gorgonzola Cream Sauce or Yogurt Sauce made specifically for chicken.
Just a few ingredients that most of us have in our pantry and fridges are needed for the marinade. If you want to marinade and cook the chicken a day or two ahead of making your salad that's fine! Then, whenever you're ready, lunch or dinner can be ready in a snap.
In fact, we frequently cook some chicken when we've got reverse seared steaks or grilled shrimp going. Then, we put it in the fridge to have salad toppings all week.
Ingredients for Grilled Chicken Salad
- Boneless, skinless chicken breast - you could make this recipe with chicken thighs, but just keep in mind they take longer to cook than breasts
- Soy sauce - the low sodium type is fine if that's what you prefer
- Worcestershire sauce - our preferred brand is Lea & Perrins
- Vegetable oil - our standard is canola, but any kind is fine
- White wine vinegar
- Brown sugar - either light or dark is good. The light sweetness it brings to the chicken is the main way this recipe differs from our other favorite - Preacher Chicken.
- Black pepper - freshly ground is always best
- Lemon Juice - For most recipes like Mini Lemon Tarts or Cajun Cream Sauce we recommend freshly squeezed lemon juice, but in this case bottled juice is just fine.
- Salt
How to make Grilled Chicken for Salad
This recipe is super easy y'all!
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- Stir the marinade ingredients until the brown sugar is dissolved.
- Pound the chicken to a uniform ½ inch (approximately) thickness with a meat mallet. (First put it in a plastic bag or between two pieces of plastic wrap).
- Marinate the chicken for 4-12 hours in refrigerator. We like to do this in a plastic bag too. That way the meat is totally covered.
- Grill over medium high heat about 4 minutes per side, checking for doneness at 3 minutes on the second side.
Expert Tips
The uniform thickness of the chicken breasts are the most important tip for consistently cooked meat. We use this same method in our spicier recipe - Grilled Blackened Chicken.
You can check for doneness with a digital meat thermometer set for 165 degrees. This is the one we have and use all the time! You can also check by piercing the chicken and checking the color of the juices that run. If it's pink you're not quite there. If the juices run clear it should be perfect!
Storing Tips
Refrigerator
Store it tightly wrapped in the fridge 5-6 days with no diminishing of flavor.
Freezer
You can freeze cooked chicken up to 6 months if it has been well sealed like with a Food Saver. If you don't have one of these you should definitely consider it. So many foods freeze better when vacuum sealed.
Salad suggestions for topping with grilled chicken
Whatever your favorite salads are will be perfect. A few specific salad recipe ideas:
- Summer Salad with Peaches and Blackberries
- Fall Salad with Apple Cider Vinaigrette
- Salad with Grapefruit and Champagne Vinaigrette
- Mediterranean Cucumber Salad
- Pasta Salad with Asparagus
- Clementine Salad with Tangy Vinaigrette
- Barbecue Salad Dressing is especially good on salads with grilled chicken
Heck, you could even use this chicken to make Chicken Salad with Apples and Pecans. That would be awesome!
Recipe FAQs
No. Chicken thighs will take a little longer to cook, so be sure to use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.
We recommend 4-12 hours.
Tightly sealed, cooked chicken should be good for 5-6 days.
Up to 6 months!
Pound the chicken to an equal thickness with a mallet in a plastic bag before marinating. Then, use a meat thermometer to check for doneness as it grills.
📖 Recipe
Grilled Chicken for Salad
Ingredients
- 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
- ½ cup soy sauce
- 3 Tablespoons worcestershire sauce
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- ⅓ cup white wine vinegar
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper or, to taste
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
Instructions
- Pound washed and dried chicken to approximately ½ inch thickeness.
- Mix all remaining ingredients until brown sugar dissolves.
- Place chicken in a plastic bag and pour marinade over, sealing tightly and marinating in refrigerator for 4-12 hours.
- Cook over medium high grilled about 3 minutes one one side and then turn.
- Check for doneness after 3 minutes on second side. If needed cook an additional 1-2 minutes or until juices run clear or meat thermometer inserted in thickest portion registers 165 degrees.
- Let cool slightly before slicing and topping salads with chicken.
Notes
- Nutrititional information has been estimated based on an estimate of the amount of marinade that will be absorbed by each serving of chicken.
- Regular or low sodium soy sauce are acceptable.
- Light or dark brown sugar work fine with this recipe.
- Cooking time is estimated based on ½ inch thick pieces of chicken. Variation in thickness will change cooking time accordingly.
Nutrition
Dee Florence says
I don't see brown sugar in the recipe. How much should I use?
Pam says
Oops, so sorry about that Dee! You just need about 2 Tablespoons of brown sugar. Thanks for the heads up on the omission. We've corrected the recipe now.
Jess says
This is so smart!! Love that I can grill the chicken to meal prep my lunches throughout the week.
Toni says
Everyone at my house enjoyed this salad!! Thanks so much for the recipe! I'll definitely make it again this weekend!
Andrea says
This is one fabulous chicken marinade. It is perfect for chicken on a salad. Can't wait to try it this summer.
Tayler says
I eat salads all summer long, so I’m very glad to have found this recipe! I’ll be making it often!