A simple golden balsamic vinaigrette does double duty as both a marinade for the chicken and the dressing for this light and fresh strawberry salad. It’s the perfect main dish salad that celebrates the flavors of summer.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
“I just made this last night. It was so good! My husband said it tasted like it was from a restaurant! Haha! I think this is our new favorite meal! The chicken tasted so good with the marinade, that could be a meal in itself!” ~Lisa, FoodieCrush reader
My Favorite Main Dish Summer Salad
The best recipes are made from muscle memory. These are the recipes you’ve made time and time again, with so much repetition you really don’t even think about what you’re doing when you make it, you just do.
These recipes aren’t really even recipes at all. They’re just the wonderful result of what happens when you take the basics and then add a twist here and a switcheroo there, all depending on what’s fresh and seasonal and hanging out in the fridge. This strawberry grilled chicken salad is exactly one of those recipes and finds itself as my lucky lunch at least once a week.
It’s loaded with baby spinach, sliced sweet strawberries, creamy avocado, and a simple balsamic dressing that does double duty as the chicken marinade. Cook the chicken on the stove top or on the grill and you have a salad made for filling lunches or easy dinners.
Heidi’s Tips for Making This Salad
- I like to cook a few chicken breasts on Sunday or Monday to eat during the week in salads like this. I’ve shared how to cook them on the stove top using grill pan in the recipe card below, but if you’re ready to grill, this technique is always a grilled chicken success.
- This balsamic tarragon dressing is my standard, go-to-all-the-time salad dressings. I use white balsamic dressing because it’s a bit mellower and doesn’t dominate the flavor of the salad, instead letting all of the other flavors shine through. You can also make a classic balsamic vinaigrette, however.
- The dressing does double duty as a chicken marinade too. Remember to discard the marinade after marinating the chicken. You do NOT want to use it for the dressing after soaking in raw chicken. Ew.
Let’s Make the Strawberry Chicken Salad!
The full recipe, with amounts, can be found in the recipe card below.
Step 1: Make the Balsamic Dressing / Marinade
Whisk together the balsamic dressing, or shake it up in a jar. It’s a simple combination of:
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Golden balsamic vinegar
- Sugar
- Fresh tarragon
- Kosher salt and pepper
Step 2: Marinate the Chicken
Pour HALF of the dressing over the chicken. Set the chicken aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Step 3: Grill the Chicken
Once the chicken has had time to soak up some flavor, grill until done. Then, it’s just a matter of assembling the salad and digging in! The rest of the salad comes together with:
- Fresh spinach
- Strawberries
- Avocado
- Red onion
- Feta cheese
- Sliced almonds
Heidi’s Tip: You can also make this salad with leftover grilled balsamic chicken, Greek chicken, or lemon chicken.
If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below, leave a comment to tell us what you think, and tag me on Instagram @foodiecrush.
Balsamic Strawberry Chicken Salad Recipe
Ingredients
Dressing:
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tablespoon golden balsamic vinegar
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon roughly chopped fresh tarragon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salad:
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
- 6 cups loosely packed fresh spinach
- 6-8 large strawberries , hulled and quartered
- 1 avocado , peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
- 3-4 thinly sliced rings of red onion
- ¼ cup feta cheese
- 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
Instructions
- Whisk the extra virgin olive oil with the balsamic vinegar, sugar, tarragon, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper in a small bowl until blended.
- Place the chicken breasts in a shallow bowl and cover with half of the dressing, cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- Spray a grill pan or 12-inch non-stick pan with cooking spray and heat to medium high. Place the chicken breasts on the hot grill pan. Cook for 3 minutes then flip the chicken breasts. Cook for another 3 minutes, and turn. Reduce the cooking temperature to medium low and cook the chicken for 20-25 minutes more, turning every 5 minutes or so. Cooking time will depend on the thickness of the chicken, but it will be done when it hits 165ºF internal temperature. Let the chicken rest for 5 minutes then slice into ¼ inch slices.
- Arrange the spinach, strawberries and red onion in a bowl. Lightly toss with the remaining dressing. Add the avocado, sliced chicken and top with feta and almond slices. Serve immediately.
Nutrition
Ingredient Swaps
I always have fresh spinach in the fridge, but if you have kale, arugula, romaine, butter lettuce, or even spring mix mingling in the crisper, by all means, use it up!
The ying and yang of sweet strawberries with red onion and avocado is one of my favorite combos ever. However, you can always swap out raspberries or blueberries for the strawberries, and instead of feta, give goat cheese a try. I have and likely will again.
More Salad Recipes Using Strawberries
- Strawberry Burrata Salad
- Strawberry Balsamic Pasta Salad
- Strawberry and Tuna Salad
- Strawberry Arugula Salad
We send good emails. Subscribe to FoodieCrush and have each post plus exclusive content only for our subscribers delivered straight to your e-mail box.
Follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest for more FoodieCrush inspiration.
As always, thank you for reading and supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. There are affiliate links in this post of which I receive a small commission. All opinions are always my own.
Sharon Gudka-Befort
This is so good! We live in Arizona & need recipes like this in the summer time. I toasted the almonds & used Ken’s Simply Balsamic Vinaigrette.
Happy to hear you put your own spin on it Sharon!
M McElderry
amazing flavor! I sub italian seasoning for tarragon and parma for feta and it was very delicous.
Sounds great! I’m glad you enjoyed!
PAT
I WILL BE MAKING THIS SALAD. THANK YOU PAT
Krystal
Where do you find golden balsamic vinegar?
I but it from Delallo.com you can find here.
Ginny
Made this for dinner tonight. It was so good! My husband and son loved it, too! Thank you foodiecrush for such a great salad recipe!
So glad you liked it Ginny!
Merri
Crazy good…..flavors worked perfectly together. Used regular balsamic.
So glad you liked it Merri!