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 my salads with avocado and tuna, always creamy, healthy and delicious. Thanks for the recipe.
You’re welcome! 🙂
Hi natasha,
Is bacon necessary in this salad. Is there any alternative?
Hi, I like the salty bite, but you don’t have to add bacon. You an sub with turkey bacon or just leave it out.
I am passionate about this salad! I crave this salad. I work 12 hr shifts and often make it to take to work dividing the ingredients into three individual containers. Then I pack a whole avocado a hard boiled egg in my bag each day with the dressing in a little container. Assemble and eat. Sometimes I add grape tomatoes, veggies or toasted almonds. But it really is a perfect salad just as it is.
Helo Marga, that’s good to know because this salad is healthy aside from super yum!
I have made in advance with good results. Just add the dressing to the avocado. I actually think it taste better
Thank you so much for sharing that with us!
SO delicious! Such simple ingredients, easy to put together and I’m not surprised this is the most viewed/made/famous recipe! Love the simplicity of lemon & oil only dressing. I am hooked! 🙂 Thanks so much!
Hello Chey, nice to hear from you and thank you for your great comments! We appreciate it.
We love this salad. l live very close to a farm where l can get fresh corn on the cob and l added more corn and since l have fresh thme in my garden l used that instead of dill. The dressing is awesome as well. 👍
That’s perfect! I’m glad you like this salad.
I have made this salad many times and would love to customize it for my next party. Do you think it would be ok if I add bow tie pasta into this salad? Do you think it goes well together?
Hi Jessie, I think it’s okay. We’d love for you to try it and if you can share with us how it goes that would be lovely!
This is so light and delicious yet filling !! Perfect to eat alone or in a pita ! Will definitely make again and again the whole house approves ! Win win !
Happy to know that you love it! Thank you for your good comments and feedback.
I love this recipe, my favorite thing to do is add the Marie’s original coleslaw dressing instead of the dressing in the recipe. It is so good together!
That’s great! So glad to hear that.
I love It Natasha it tastes really good and yummy. Go on with your hard work.
Thank you for your good comments and feedback!
I added cucumber and a few
Roma tomatoes.
My kids like to mix it with lettuce and top with croutons. Sooo good.
Sounds good, great to know that your kids like it too!
I made it as is. The recipe is packed with flavor. I love mayo so I was leery of the lemon vinaigrette but glad I kept mayo out. The whole family gave it 5 stars. Surprisingly, the small leftover avocados didn’t turn brown overnight. Yes, the dressing seemed salty if that is all you eat but keep in mind the dressing goes over the entire dish. My tweak would be adding more corn.
Love it! Thanks a lot for sharing that with us, David. So happy to know that it was a huge hit!
I’ve been making this recipe for a while now and it never disappoints. It’s a great base for whatever other veggies are in season — or on its own. It’s always requested when my daughter comes over for a quick lunch.
For those who nitpick it…gosh, just modify it and don’t criticize.
That is the best when kids love what we moms make. That’s so great!
Beautiful and tasty salad but I’m surprised at how much salt is in the dressing. I love salt, use it all the time, but the amount of salt in the dressing is too much for me.
Hi Lisa, feel free to adjust the salt in this recipe according to your personal preference.
Soooo good! I poached 3 chicken breasts in well seasoned liquid (chicken broth, white wine, garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Cooled and shredded them the night before I made the recipe. Upped the remaining ingredients slightly because I used 3 chicken breasts. Made the salad in the morning and chilled it for 3 hrs before whipping it out at our picnic. It was a hit! Served with slider buns but I ate my serving “as is”. Absolutely delicious! Love your recipes, Natasha!
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing the details with us, good to hear that you enjoyed this recipe a lot!
I made half the recipe after a busy hot work day. Absolutely delicious, I used a little red onion instead and parsley rather than dill. I ate it up! I will make the second half asap!
Thank you for sharing, Silvia. So glad it was enjoyed.
it looks wonderful, the trouble is Avocados taste like soap to me, so I was wondering if something else could be substitute for that I just joined and there are so many wonderful recipes thank you so much!
Hi Eileen! Thank you for joining! I do not have a recommended substitution for the avocado. You could just leave them out but they add to the flavor of this dish quite a bit. I have some other chicken salad recipes HERE that you can look through. I’m sure you’ll find something you’ll love. 🙂
I make this for co workers and myself for lunch. I added artichoke hearts and used some of the oil from that instead of EVOo. We love it and it has become an office favorite.
I’m so glad you found a favorite from my blog, Kacy! That’s so great!
Great recipe and the taste, impeccable!!! Natasha you did an awesome job!! This is in rotation for meal prep for this week!
Thanks so much, we appreciate your great comments and review!
we had left over blackened salmon, used that instead of chicken, was delicious, Thank You for your recipes
Glad to hear that. Thank you, Suzane!
How ripe do you want to the avocados to be for this salad?? Cant wait to try it, it looks amazing!
Hi Danielle, the ready to eat avocados would be good!