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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- Caesar Salad
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Love this salad made it tonight I’m so glad. My new favorite!!!
That’s just awesome!! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Donna!
I tried this recipe with my family tonight. It was a huge hit and my teenagers and husband are picky eaters! My husband smoked the chicken breasts on the grill and it complimented this recipe well. We served it over Romaine lettuce as a dinner salad. I wasn’t sure how the dressing would go over with my crew, but combined with the avacado and dill, it was perfect. Thank you for a great recipe!
You’re so welcome, Holly! Sounds like you found a new family favorite! I’m happy to hear you all enjoyed that!
Amazing salad! I used cucumber instead of corn and added 2 hard boiled eggs per your suggestion. It was so refreshing! With the heat of the summer, who wants to turn on the oven or stove? Thank you for such a great recipe.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Karen!
Made this for dinner last evening my picky husband loved it. A winner for sure
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
What a fantastic salad, love it. I’ve changed my tossing style lately. Instead of ‘tossing’, now I put the ingredients into my large cake box, put on the lid and just turn it over until well mixed.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review!
hey girl- this looks so yummy! love the video!
Thank you for watching! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
My sister told me about this recipe. So happy she did!! This was a last minute dinner idea so I didn’t have time to use bacon. I used fresh spinach and a lime, no 🍋 lemon –
Usually I add honey 🍯 mustard dressing but no NEED. I’ll NEVER use honey mustard.
This salad was fresh and VERY light.
Can’t wait to make it again 😋
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite Sherri!
This is a fantastic dish! I had corn on the cob left over from the previous night. I used a rotisserie chicken. Cooked the bacon up earlier in the afternoon. Prep time with all that given was about 20 mins. This is great as a stand alone dish, side dish, or you can throw it into a wrap for a portable wrap sammie. Will be making again for sure!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I’m so happy you enjoyed that.
This was great, but 30 minutes is disingenuous. Took me 90 mins with cleanup included.
You gotta peel and mash the avocados, debone the chicken and run it through a food processor, wash, cook and chop the bacon, etc., etc.
This takes a LONG time and creates an exceptional mess to deal with.
So, it’s really good, but please be more honest about the time commitments.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me Aden!
Aden, I think you can make this simpler for yourself.
1. Don’t mash the avocado. Find a good youtube video on how to cube an avocado.
2. Just pull the chicken off the bone and chop it coarsely. No need for a food processor.
3. Wash bacon? No. Just fry it and coarsely chop it.
The entire prep took me about 25 minutes. It can be done! Give it another try.
Oh, this is fabulous! The only thing I changed was to add some halved cherry tomatoes, simply because I had them and I love tomatoes. My husband and I agree, this recipe is a keeper! It’s a perfect cool meal on a hot summer night. Thank you!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
How much is a serving? 1 cup? 1/2 cup? Etc. Thnx! Love this recipe and trying to calculate weight watcher points!
Hi Denise, I didn’t measure it that way but I would say each serving is about 1 cup – maybe 1 1/4 cups.
I made this tonight, after looking at the recipe for months, and it IS delicious!! Taking some to work tomorrow for my friend! Btw, I added some shallots to mine, I love onions!
Hi Suzy! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! I’m so happy you enjoyed that!
OMG! this is SO delicious. I finished making this 5 minutes ago and My mom and I are eating it as I type. It is soooo good! The bacon really works and using Rotisserie Chicken was the Best choice.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Elaine!
I made this for supper tonight & my husband & I loved it! I will be adding this to our meals as long as we can get avocados at a decent price!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that. Thank you for sharing that with us!
What would be a good substitute for the lemon dressing?
Hi Crystal, we always make it with the dressing in the recipe but I suppose you could use your favorite Italian dressing.
Absolutely delicious!!!!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that, Wendy!
I make chicken salad a lot, always with mayo, so I was sceptical if I would like this. But OMG! It is delicious! Its so flavorful. If you haven’t made this yet, make it now! It’s my new favorite.
I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for sharing your great review, Lindsay!
Hi Natasha!
Will it make a difference (taste wise) if I skip the bacon bits? I’d like to serve this at my party but a lot of them don’t eat pork.
Thanks!
Hi Christine, we love the bacon in it but several of our readers have omitted that and enjoyed it.
You could always use turkey bacon.
You could always serve the bacon bits on the side.
I love this receipe, I’ve made it several times. I’m trying to track my food can you tell what a serving size is? The nutrition facts tell you the calories, fat, fiber, protein of a serving but I couldn’t find what a serving was. I’ve been assuming 1 cup. Thanks, Linda
Hi Linda, I wish I had measured it that way. This recipe makes 6 as a side dish. The serving size can be found at the beginning of the print-friendly recipe card (located at the bottom of the recipe post). The nutrition label shows counts “per serving.” Hope that helps!
Mad the avocado salad two or three time now and the family love it. Jane from the UK
That’s so awesome Jane! Sounds like you have a new favorite!
A great twist on the usual egg salad, this recipe has so much vibrant flavor!
I’m so happy you enjoyed that, Bee! Thank you for the awesome review!