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This restaurant-quality Strawberry Chicken Salad with poppy seed dressing comes together in just 15 minutes! You’ll love the combination of flavors and textures from the spinach, Romaine, rotisserie chicken, toasted almonds, celery, avocado, crumbled feta cheese, and plenty of sweet, fresh strawberries. Serve the salad with croissants, biscuits, sour cream muffins, cornbread, or a loaf of crusty French bread for a quick lunch or easy weeknight dinner — no cooking required!
Strawberry Spinach Salad with Chicken
When the temperatures rise during the late spring and summer months, we love light, refreshing entrée salads for simple and satisfying meals. The boys and I picked strawberries at our neighbor’s farm last week, which ultimately inspired this delicious Strawberry Chicken Salad for a quick weeknight meal.
I made a couple of batches of strawberry freezer jam and still had some fruit leftover, so I decided to serve a homemade version of the popular spinach strawberry chicken salad dishes that you find in restaurants like Panera Bread, Wendy’s and Applebee’s. I must say — this version is far better than anything from a fast food establishment — and it’s ready in just 15 minutes!
Ingredients
This is a quick overview of the ingredients that you’ll need for a spinach strawberry chicken salad. As always, specific measurements and complete instructions are included in the printable recipe box at the bottom of the post.
- Baby spinach and Romaine lettuce: I like the combination of the two different types of greens. The delicate spinach is a classic pairing with strawberries, while the Romaine offers crisp, satisfying crunch. You can use any lettuce that you like, though!
- Strawberries: fresh, in-season berries are always best! When they’re available, try blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or peaches, too.
- Celery: adds great crunch and savory flavor to the dish.
- Avocado: for a buttery, satisfying touch.
- Feta cheese: adds tangy, rich, and slightly-salty flavor. You can substitute with blue cheese, Parmesan cheese, goat cheese or fresh mozzarella.
- Almonds: give the salad that necessary warm, rich, toasty crunch!
- Rotisserie chicken: the white and dark meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken turns this light salad into a delicious and easy main course. See my suggestions below for other types of chicken that will also work well in this salad.
- Poppy seed dressing: the sweet and savory flavor in this dressing pairs beautifully with the strawberries. I prefer Brianna’s Poppy Seed Dressing for a delicious store-bought solution, or you can make your own with this recipe.
How to Cook Chicken for Salad
You can use just about any chicken that you like in this salad. I’ve taken the easy, no-cook shortcut and purchased a store-bought rotisserie chicken. They’re affordable, flavorful, and fast! Here are a few other ways that you can cook chicken for this salad:
- Grilled chicken;
- Baked chicken breast;
- Roasted chicken thighs;
- Boiled chicken: cook about 2 lbs. of boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs in boiling water until cooked through (about 15 minutes);
- Fried chicken: crispy fried chicken nuggets or chicken tenders are also delicious on top of this salad! You can use store-bought nuggets or tenders, or prepare these homemade chicken nuggets or these homemade chicken tenders.
How to Toast the Almonds
Whether you use almonds, pecans or walnuts, toasting the nuts will make them crunchier and will add a warm, toasted flavor to the salad. You can quickly toast almonds (or other nuts) by stirring them in a dry skillet over low heat until fragrant. For an even easier method, I place the almonds on a microwave-safe plate and cook on HIGH for a total of about 1 ½ – 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. You’ll know they’re done when they’re browned and fragrant. No matter which toasting method you use, keep a close eye on them because nuts can burn very quickly!
While they’re still warm, season the almonds with a little bit of kosher salt. Let them cool, and then add them to your salad!
How to Make Strawberry Chicken Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
This meal is about as easy as it gets! With a couple of store-bought shortcuts (like a rotisserie chicken and a bottle of dressing), you can assemble the salad in about 15 minutes.
- Toast the almonds, season them with salt, and let them cool.
- Shred or slice the meat from the rotisserie chicken, then slice the strawberries, avocado and celery.
- Arrange the spinach and Romaine in a big bowl, on a serving platter, or on individual plates.
- Top the lettuce with strawberries, celery, avocado, feta, almonds and chicken.
- Drizzle with dressing, to taste.
What to Eat with a Strawberry Chicken Salad
To round out the meal, serve the salad with any of these delicious sides:
- Croissants or crescent rolls
- Buttermilk Biscuits, Cheese Biscuits or Drop Biscuits
- Skillet Cornbread, Honey Cornbread or Corn Muffins
- 3-Ingredient Sour Cream Muffins
- No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread
- Easy French Baguette
- Soft dinner rolls
- Garlic breadsticks
Storage Tips
- Serve the salad warm or at room temperature. You can prep the ingredients in advance and serve the chicken at room temperature on top of your salad. Alternatively, pair warm chicken with the crisp, cool lettuce for a nice contrast.
- Leftover salad will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 day; however, it’s not ideal. The lettuce and veggies get soggy as they sit in the dressing.
- If cutting the avocado in advance, toss it with some fresh lemon juice. The acid in the lemon juice will help to prevent the avocado from oxidizing and turning brown.
Recipe Variations
- Instead of a rotisserie chicken, try boiled chicken, roasted chicken or grilled chicken.
- Just about any lettuce or greens will work, so feel free to substitute with your favorites.
- Use blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or peaches in lieu of the strawberries.
- I like Brianna’s Poppy Seed Dressing for a delicious shortcut, but you can also make your own poppy seed dressing with this recipe.
- Pick your favorite dressing. If you don’t care for poppy seed dressing, a homemade buttermilk ranch or balsamic vinaigrette would be delicious, or try a pepper jelly vinaigrette for a little bit of heat. Green goddess is also a great choice!
- Instead of almonds, try walnuts or pecans.
- Add sweet green peas instead of the celery.
- Swap out the feta cheese and use blue cheese, goat cheese, Parmesan cheese, or fresh mozzarella cheese.
- Add onion — finely diced red onion, sliced green onion, chives, or even pickled red onions would all be great.
Tips for the Best Strawberry Chicken Salad Recipe
- Use fresh, sweet and juicy strawberries for the best flavor and texture. If local strawberries aren’t in season, try other berries like blueberries, raspberries, blackberries or even peaches.
- Toast and salt the almonds for the best flavor.
- Wait until the last minute to dress the salad. If it sits for too long, the dressing will make the spinach soggy.
More Salad Recipes to Try
- Spinach Salad with Bacon and Hardboiled Eggs
- Doritos Taco Salad
- House Salad with Candied Pecans
- Classic Caesar Salad
- Waldorf Salad
- Tuna Nicoise Salad
- The Best Chicken Salad
- Easy Pasta Salad
Strawberry Chicken Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing
Ingredients
- 3 cups fresh baby spinach
- 3 cups chopped Romaine lettuce
- 2 cups sliced strawberries
- 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
- 1 avocado, diced
- ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ½ cup slivered almonds, toasted and salted
- 3-4 cups cooked, shredded or sliced chicken (such as the meat from a store-bought rotisserie chicken)
- ½ cup Brianna's Poppy Seed dressing, or more or less to taste (or use this recipe for homemade dressing)
Instructions
- In a large bowl or platter, or on individual plates, arrange spinach and Romaine.
- Top with strawberries, celery, feta, almonds and chicken.
- Drizzle with poppy seed dressing, to taste. Serve immediately.
Notes
- You can quickly toast almonds (or other nuts) by stirring them in a dry skillet over low heat until fragrant. For an even easier method, I place the almonds on a microwave-safe plate and cook on HIGH for a total of about 1 ½ – 2 minutes, stirring every 30 seconds. You’ll know they’re done when they’re browned and fragrant. No matter which toasting method you use, keep a close eye on them because nuts can burn very quickly! Season the warm almonds with a little bit of salt.
- Instead of a rotisserie chicken, try boiled chicken, roasted chicken or grilled chicken.
- Just about any lettuce or greens will work, so feel free to substitute with your favorites.
- Use blueberries, blackberries, raspberries or peaches in lieu of the strawberries.
- I like Brianna’s Poppy Seed Dressing for a delicious shortcut, but you can also make your own poppy seed dressing with this recipe.
- Pick your favorite dressing. If you don’t care for poppy seed dressing, a homemade buttermilk ranch or balsamic vinaigrette would be delicious, or try a pepper jelly vinaigrette for a little bit of heat. Green goddess is also a great choice!
- Instead of almonds, try walnuts or pecans.
- Add sweet green peas instead of the celery.
- Swap out the feta cheese and use blue cheese, goat cheese, Parmesan cheese, or fresh mozzarella cheese.
- Add onion — finely diced red onion, sliced green onion, chives, or even pickled red onions would all be great.
