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
- Asian Chopped Salad
- Maroulosalata – Greek Lettuce Salad
- Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad
- Taco Salad
- Classic Tuna Salad
- Caesar Salad
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
I love all of your simple and perfect recipes. I made banana raisin, walnut bread and it came out exactly like yours. You are so good..
Hello Juliet, I’m happy to hear that you are enjoying my recipes. I hope you’ll love all the recipes that you will try!
This salad is so bomb! It is a family favorite in our household. We even whip out this recipe when we have company because we know it’s THAT GOOD! If you’re debating between salad recipes to try for dinner, don’t hesitate on this one!
Love the recommendation, thanks a lot, Laura!
HI Nastasha – Love love love this recipe!! Are the nutritonal facts for the entire recipe or just a serving? And what is the serving size?
Thank you again for all the wonderful recipes.
Hi Marca, 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!
I am interested in making this for lunch for work. How long can this be refrigerated?
Hi Hannah, avocado starts to brown quickly so it’s probably best to eat this within 2days. To store, cover the chicken avocado salad with plastic wrap directly over the surface of the salad (keeping the air out will prevent the browning of the avocados) and refrigerate.
Thanks for sharing this recipe, during harvest time we have lots of rotten avocado because we don’t know anymore what to do with excess avocado. Thanks
You’re welcome and this is perfect since you have a lot of avocados handy.
For several years I threw out over ripe avocados too. Then I learned that you can freeze them if you have too many to use up before they spoil.
Hi Natasha,
Just made your avocado chicken salad and it is AMAZING. I didn’t have dill so I used cilantro and it worked perfect. I ate it for supper, late-night snack, and planning to have some for breakfast too🙌🏼 Thanks for the amazing recipe!
Sounds great, Kate! Good to know that cilantro worked so well in this recipe. Thank you for sharing!
Made it tonight, Clean Plate Club. We added chopped red onion to the dish
This dish is AMAZING !! Whether it is a salad or a main course, it is delicious. Thanks Natasha.
Hi Ken, thanks for the great feedback. I’m happy that you enjoyed it!
Hey, your avocado chicken salad is amazing, wow wow wow!!!!, 100 percent from me darling.
I made this for a family get together and was told I must always make it! It was delicious!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new family favorite! That’s so great, Nancy!
Excellent must be so delicious, I will try definitely. Thanks again Natasha.
You’re welcome! I’m so happy you enjoyed it!
I have made most of these recipes over and over again .we enjoy them so much.thank you
I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
Sounds delicious. Will make tomorrow! I guess we could make this without the chicken, too.
hope you love it, Carolyn!
Natasha, thank you for yet another wonderful recipe! We had to skip the eggs due to an allergy, and a few of us added a dash of True Lime powder to our bowls for extra brightness. Otherwise, we followed your recipe exactly.
Before I found your YouTube channel, I had never cooked more than a few recipes from a single source. I’ve probably made about ten of your recipes so far, and every single one has been a success!
Thank you so much for sharing that with me, Kira!
I have returned to this recipe many times – just perfect and everyone loves it.
That’s so great! Thank you so much for sharing that with me, R!
This is my daughter’s (now 17) favorite salad, and she has it for her birthday every year. Her friends come over and exclaim, “Is this THE salad??!!? I LOVE this salad!!!” I quadruple this recipe and it is GONE! Thank you for such a great dish!!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your excellent review, April!!
This recipe looks and sounds good to me. I have not made it yet, found the recipe just now and I will most definitely try this.
Next time you will hear from me is my verdict. I will try to make it this weekend.
I’m looking forward to your feedback, Rosie!
Best tasting Avocado chicken salad
Thank you!
Hello!
This looks so good. I know the recipe calls for chicken breasts but would thighs work?
Hi Kathleen, we prefer it with chicken breast, but thighs may work also. I hope you love this recipe!
OMG..this Avacado salad recipe was AWESOME! My husband couldn’t stop eating. It was very light and the many options available from this this one meal is amazing.
This is a keeper.
I’m so glad this was a hit, Penny! We love it too! It’s totally a keeper!
Hi Natasha! I can’t wait to try this recipe! I just got married and your blog has been our daily menu! Is there a different dressing which is creamier that you recommend for this salad? Thanks!
Aww, that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that with me. Congratulations on your wedding! I think anything light would work. Some of our readers added mayo to their dressing to make it more creamy. If you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe.