This Avocado Chicken Salad Recipe has so much flavor and the perfect texture! We swap mayonnaise for fresh avocado, so it’s creamy but light and satisfying. I know, I know classic chicken salad recipes usually have mayo, but you will never miss it!
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Helpful Reader Review
“This salad is always on rotation, my son asks for it and he loves the leftovers for lunch the next day. It really is hearty and yummy!“ – Eva ★★★★★
Easy Avocado Chicken Salad Recipe
This avocado chicken salad recipe is a winner, and it is well-loved by adults and children. Since I first posted the video, it went viral with over 50 million views, making it one of the most popular recipes on my blog. Funny enough, this recipe came about from a craving I had driving home from my night shift back when I worked as a Registered Nurse!
It’s quite a bit different than our classic Chicken Salad, but everything about this is good, from the tender bites of chicken, creamy avocado, sweet corn, and crunchy bacon. Plus, you’ll want that fresh lemon dressing on all of your salads.
My son is particularly smitten with this chicken avocado salad and requests it for his birthday. It was in his top 3 requests, so you can imagine I made it for his birthday and as often as I can throughout the year. By the way, his other two were this Shrimp Dip and Caesar Salad. I love this kid.
Avocado Chicken Salad Video
You’ll love my lighter chicken salad with avocado. It’s just as creamy, flavorful, and filling as using mayo, but this is a dish you’ll feel great about eating often! If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers, this chicken salad tastes just as good the next day – perfect for a to-go lunch. You all are always requesting work and school lunch ideas, and I hope you love this one!
Ingredients for Avocado Chicken Salad
This Avocado Chicken Salad has such simple ingredients, and you may already have everything you need to make it (I just love it when that happens)!
- Chicken – shredded or cubed. I use rotisserie or Roast Chicken to make prep easier, but you can also use well-drained canned chicken or Bake Chicken Breasts before shredding or cutting them into bite-sized pieces.
- Avocados – I use two avocados. You’ll want nearly ripe or perfectly ripe avocado for this salad.
- Corn – You’ll need 1 cup, or 1 ear of corn. You can rinse canned corn, cook frozen corn, use Grilled Corn or Boiled Corn. You can also microwave unshucked corn for 3-4 minutes. If you want to keep this salad Paleo, just omit the corn.
- Bacon – I prefer lean cuts of bacon (see how to cook bacon without a mess). If you’re looking to cut fat, I use turkey bacon instead.
- Herbs – Dill and Chives – If you prefer you can swap the dill with cilantro or the chives for green onions
- Dressing ingredients – lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper
- Hard-boiled eggs – Optional, but these add great protein to the salad. Peel, cut, or quarter, and then add to the salad ingredients.
Substitutions/ Variations
We love this just as it is, but you can use these easy substitutions to make it your own.
- Protein – omit the chicken or swap with hard-boiled eggs, leftover shrimp, or chickpeas
- Veggies – swap the corn or add other seasonal veggies like tomatoes, cucumbers, or red peppers
- Pasta – Try mixing in a cup of bowtie pasta or any small-shaped pasta.
- Add heat – chop jalapeno or add a shake of red pepper flakes to the dressing.
Helpful Reader Review
“Stellar recipe!! Used turkey bacon for the first time ever and could NOT tell a difference, thanks for the tip! Also used a cup of frozen corn and just heated It up in pan until it got a little char to it. D-E-L-I-S-H😋” – Sam ★★★★★
How to Make Avocado Chicken Salad
- Dice or shred two chicken breasts or 2 cups of rotisserie chicken into a mixing bowl.
- Peel and dice avocado into bite-sized pieces. Careful! I’ve met too many people with avocado-cutting injuries. Add the pieces to the bowl.
- Add the corn, onion, bacon, and dill to the bowl.
- Mix the dressing ingredients in a small bowl and then pour over the salad ingredients. Toss to combine. Add the hard-boiled egg if using, but don’t stir too vigorously after adding them.
How to Serve Avocado Chicken Salad
This avocado chicken salad is deliciously versatile. It is a protein-packed salad so it’s perfect for work lunch or meal prep and the lemon keeps it fresh and vibrant. Serve this chicken salad:
- As a main course salad alongside crusty Sourdough Bread
- In Croissants, Pita Bread, Hamburger Buns, Tortillas, or Sourdough Dinner Rolls
- Or scooped up with Pita Chips or Sourdough Crackers
- In lettuce cups for chicken salad lettuce wraps
Make-Ahead and Storage Tips
This is a great salad to Make-Ahead because it tastes even better once the flavors meld the next day.
- Make-Ahead: If you know you won’t be serving it immediately, wait to cut and add the avocado until right before serving. Mix the salad and cover. Refrigerate overnight or until ready to serve.
- To Refrigerate: Cover leftovers with plastic wrap directly over the surface of the salad. This will help to slow the browning of the avocados. Refrigerate for up to 3-4 days.
This Avocado Chicken Salad recipe is one of my (and my son’s) very favorite salad recipes; seriously tasty and easy, hearty but feel-good food at the same time. It’s a win-win-win! Try this easy chicken salad today.
Avocado Chicken Salad
Ingredients
Avocado Chicken Salad Ingredients:
- 2 large cooked chicken breasts, shredded or chopped
- 2 large avocados
- 1 cup corn, from 1 cooked cob
- 6 oz lean bacon, cooked and chopped
- 1/4 cup Chives , (or green onion), chopped
- 2 Tbsp Dill, chopped, or to taste
- 2 hard-boiled eggs, Optional, halved or quartered
Lemon Dressing:
- 3 Tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 tsp sea salt, or to taste
- 1/8 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Dice or shred the 2 large cooked chicken breasts and place them into a large mixing bowl.
- Peel and pit 2 large avocados, slice into bite-sized pieces and add to the mixing bowl.
- Add 1 cup of cooked corn (freshly cooked corn is best), toss in chopped green onion, chopped bacon, and fresh Dill.
- Make the dressing – add the ingredients in a small bowl and stir to combine. Drizzle the dressing over your salad and toss to combine. Serve with slices of hard-boiled egg if desired.
Notes
**For a healthier salad, you can use uncured turkey bacon which tastes amazing but has less fat. Make-ahead – Mix all the ingredients except the avocado and hard-boiled egg. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Add the avocado and egg just before serving. Storage – To store leftovers, cover the dish with plastic wrap, ensuring the wrap is touching to top of the salad to slow the browning of the avocado pieces. Store in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Easy Salad Recipes
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- Taco Salad
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- Caesar Salad
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
Thanks for sharing can’t wait to try it!
My pleasure!
This was delicious!!!! Easy and so refreshing at 100 degrees outside!!
That’s when we love it also!
I made this last night, and it was fantastic. I made extra dressing and marinated some boneless chicken thighs in the extra before grilling them. I served the thighs on the side instead of adding the chicken into the salad, and it really tied the meal together nicely! I also grilled some store-bought naan for a little carb extra, and it turned into an amazing meal.
That sounds like a great meal! Thank you for sharing that with us Morgan!
My absolute new FAVORITE ! This time of year is perfect – One nite I added cherry tomatoes – tonight I seeded a zucchini from my garden and chopped it up. Delish! Fresh corn from my friend’s garden, dill from my herb garden and the zucchini because – there’s always an abudance. Got eggs from my lay-dees. Have yet to find a more perfect recipe to ‘summerize’ life on my farm. THANKS !
I love that you are using all garden fresh ingredients! Thank you for sharing your version with us, DeAnna!
I made this recipe last night for my fiance and I….we basically tried to hold back on not eating the entire thing! This is such a great recipe that involves all of my absolute favorite things: lemon, dill, corn, avocado! We even did the extra protein by adding hard boiled eggs and it was such a delight! The dress is absolutely perfect because it’s refreshing and tasty. Will be making it again this weekend. Thank you Natasha!
What an amazing review! Thanks for following and taking the time to leave such a thoughtful comment, Kimberly!
I made this salad and added a couple of cups of cooked wild rice (not the instant wild rice) and it was AMAZING! Thanks for the recipe.
That’s a great addition! Thank you for sharing that with us, Chansenco!
Can this be frozen
Hi Noel, I haven’t tried freezing it, but I don’t think it would freeze well. Everything would be mushy and discolored after defrosting.
Tried a different recipe you posted and it was awesome. I do have a question, the chicken, do you think this salad would do well with piached chicken breast?
Hi Gloria, that would work fine 😀. Thank you for making our recipes.
what does the “6 oz bacon” make in measurements-1/2 cup, 3/4? Is that precooked weight? Thanks
Hi Janet, I would say it’s about 1/2 cup of chopped cooked bacon. The 6 oz of bacon is the weight of the bacon before it is cooked (about half of a package of bacon).
Made this last night but I added some chopped romaine lettuce, its a very heavy & rich salad otherwise. Roasted the corn under the broiler to bring out the sweetness of the corn. Very good salad. There was plenty and James and I ate all of it!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
My husband and I loved this! I left the egg out for him but added some fresh tomatoes. Will make this again and again. Thank you for sharing this amazing recipe.
My pleasure! I’m happy you were able to make this you own versions and still love it!
I saw this on a friend’s Facebook page this morning, and decided to make it for supper, since the weather is so hot. Didn’t have dill, but added finely chopped tomato and red onion, and it’s SOOO GOOD! Definitely going into my summer line up of quick light meals!
Hi Trish, thank you so much for the amazing review!! I love the idea of adding tomato and onion. yum!!
This was an awesome recipe. I added 2 cups of fresh spinach. Also, I didn’t have bacon, so I substituted 2 small smoked breakfast chops. Yum!
That’s so great Lynette! Thank you for sharing that with us!
I made this last night and it was incredible! There was so much flavor, and the creaminess of the avacado and blend of lemon with the dill makes a perfectly light dressing. I will mark this as a favorite!
I’m so happy you found a favorite, Wendy! Thank you for sharing that with us!
When I first saw the pics of this, I thought it was crab and not chicken, and for some reason, I couldn’t get that out of my mind. Tonight, I made this with krab (imitation crab meat) and it was AMAZING. The sweetness of the krab offset the tartness of the dressing and it was delicious. I’ll be making this again.
That’s so awesome, Mary! Sounds like I’ll need to try this with crab. Thank you so much for sharing that with us!
Such a yummy recipe! My family loved it! I did add a cup of canned chickpeas and finely chopped tomato too-they were great add-ins. I served the whole thing over some fresh spinach (could also used chopped romaine or bibb lettuce). Such a nice, easy summer meal! Thanks for sharing this recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it. & thank you for sharing your great review! 🙂
Wow this is an awesome recipe! I deleted the egg and added a chopped mango for a little sweet addition. So good thank you Natasha!
What a great review! Thank you for sharing your version with us, Melanie!
Great love watching u
Thank you so much for following our blog!
Can we replace with pesto for the dressing?
I haven’t tried but I bet that would be amazing as a pesto chicken salad!
The picture shows hard-boiled eggs but there aren’t any listed in the recipe itself. How many eggs did you use for this recipe?
Hi Pam, Yes, the boiled eggs are optional and sometimes I make the salad with eggs for extra protein and sometimes I leave them out. I do have that note in the recipe card: “Optional: For even more protein, we add 2 hard boiled eggs, halved or quartered.” It only improves the salad to add them. I hope this helps.