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
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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….
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
I have a question Nagi. Could you use one of your poached chicken breasts and then just quickly pan crisp it so it’s still juicy on the inside? I would rather use thighs but chicken breasts are pretty awesome in salads. What do you think? Have you tried that?
I can’t wait to make this as the weather here in California warms up in a couple of months. I live in the Sierras by Yosemite Ntl Park. Cheers!!
Yes definitely Jana!! Enjoy! N x
Hi love your recipes
Thanks so much Rena!
Love your recipes
Friend in Auz recommended your corn tomato and avo salad and I haven’t looked back. Thanks! Good healthy tucker 😀
That’s awesome to hear Donna! ❤️
hi Nagi, i am from welsh wales, and love your cooking, but i am having a problem finding the right noodle to buy, i want crispy deep fried like you get in Chow main, not the round ones,i want the wide flat ones, that you deep fry thank you Ginny
Oh yum!!!!
Made this for dinner tonight didn’t change a thing! The dressing! was perfect!! thanks for sharing Nagi 🙂
Awesome Sue – thanks for letting me know – N x
Hi Nagi,
Just curious if steak might work as well? Have you tried it?
OMG I made this recipe tonight and it was absolutely amazing. Thank you so much for the recipe. I will now go and check out your other receipes.
Thanks so much Joan, I hope you find other recipes you enjoy!
I Cannot believe how good this was. I even licked the plate (no shame). The dressing is perfectly balanced, I doubled the recipe and Only had half the required amount of honey, we subbed agave and it worked out. I meal planned off your website this week, so excited to see what other delicious treats you have in store.
Hi Nagi, l made this awesome lemon chicken salad last night. Oh WOW !!! The dressing is to die for & the chicken so tender & moist. Thankyou, you have renewed my cooking desire.
That’s so great to hear Bonnie ❤️
Hi Nagi, I love this recipe!The dressing is amazing!want to have this on my weekday rotation 🙂 thanks for the meal prep tip as well!I am trying at least one recipe every week!
Apart from putting butter on bread, I think this is the easiest recipe I have ever made. And so yummy and healthy! Thx Nagi.
I’m so glad you love it John!
I made this on Saturday and it was devoured in silence after a long day of renovating in our house. Made using the BBQ only (kitchen renovations), I can see this being on regular rotation until I get my kitchen back! Super yummy and definitely didn’t feel like I was eating salad for dinner. Thanks Nagi 🙂
Hi Nagi, I absolutely deliciously loved this… thank you for sharing it with us.. will be making this again soon…
This recipe is a keeper! I made it yesterday & again today for our family. My 1st attempt came out great but my chicken breast was too thick (even sliced in half it took about 12min to cook through). Today I tried slicing the chicken into strips first & it was even juicier!
Nagi, I love the double duty recipes. Thank you so much! I’m going to make a jar of the dressing/marinade to keep in the fridge for the week—to make summer meals even quicker. I used some dressing on a rotini salad with spinach, tomato, red onion & broc to compliment the chicken salad. I forsee endless uses for this delicious dressing/marinade.😀
I used bottled lemon juice (gasp!) the 2nd time around as I was all out of lemons. I like fresh lemon & zest but It did still came out delicious w/ bottled lemon.
Glad you enjoyed it Liz! Thanks for letting me know! N x PS We all use bottled when we need to!
I only made the dressing and tossed with shredded kale.
It was delicious!
Next time, I definitely try for the chicken too.
Thank you so much, Nagi.
That’s so great to hear Junchan! I’m so pleased you enjoyed this, thank you for letting me know! N x
Hi Nagi, yum yum yum! What more can I say, delicious 😆
That’s so great to hear Carol! I’m so pleased you enjoyed this, thank you for letting me know! N x