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
- Classic Tuna Salad
- Caesar Salad
- Creamy Cucumber Salad
Sounds wonderful! I will try this and will also try substituting the lemon juice and dill with lime juice and cilantro. That should be delicious, as well. Thanks so much for this great recipe!
I do think that would be a great substitution. I hope you love it!
can you use canned corn?
Hi Kat, I would highly recommend freshly cooked corn when it is in season, it adds a truly awesome pop of sweet flavor in the salad that is hard to match with canned. In winter, I use canned or frozen so it will still work 🙂
Tried this for dinner tonight, will totally be making this again, it was very delicious.
I’m so glad you loved it!! 🙂
Lunch tomorrow!! Yum!! Thanks for the recipe!!
My pleasure Missy! Please let me know what you think!
Avocado Chicken salad was easy and great!!!!! Thank you
I’m glad you liked the salad and you are very welcome 😬.
I don’t have full. Do you think cilantro would go well?
Delicious! Be sure to use fresh chicken not canned and use good sweet corn. Great recipe!
I’m glad you like the recipe Janet! Thanks for sharing your review with other readers!
How far ahead can I make this salad, without the avacados turning colour. Want to make this for a family reunion tomorrow…Thanks
Hi Lorna, I think this is the very best when it is served the same day but the avocados will be fine until the next day because the lemon juice in the dressing preserves them. To be safe, I would suggest placing plastic wrap directly over the salad to keep the air out which is what causes the avocados to brown.
I watched the video on Facebook of how to make this. It looks so good. But on the video I done see the amounts for how much olive oil and lemon to use?
Hi Rachel, all of the specific ingredient measurements can always be found here on my blog. Please see the print-friendly version above. The short form videos don’t always allow enough time to add specific details, but we try to in our full video episode (please see full length video above in this post). I hope that helps!
How many calories per serving are in the Avocado Chicken Salad Recipe?
Due to time constraints, I don’t typically include nutritional info, but check out this nutrition analyzer – you can plug in the ingredients from any recipe, select the serving size and it will give you nutritional info, calories, etc. I hope that is helpful to you Jeanine!
Something was very over powering to me. Not sure if it was the lemon or the dill. I also used canned chicken.
Hi Jamie, did you change anything about the proportions in the salad? If you used much less chicken for example, the amount of lemon juice and dill may be overpowering, otherwise, it is balanced. I hope that helps!
I don’t tend to like dill so I never have it on hand. I replaced it with rosemary and it was still FABULOUS. You could try that?
Thank you for sharing!! 🙂
Pretty tasty! I think I prefer it without the chicken and egg though. Maybe add some more veggies instead. The dressing is yummy but I will add a tsp or so of honey next time.
Thanks for the recipe!
You’re welcome! I’m glad to hear you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for sharing 🙂
It was delicious, the family loved it. No left overs.
I’m glad to hear your family enjoys the recipe as much as mine does! Thanks for sharing Gloria!
This is fresh and delicious! Served it as a salad. Will try lettuce wrap or in pita some time. It does not disappoint. I did leave out the boiled eggs. It was still wonderful!
I’m glad you enjoy the recipe Linda! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review!
This dish was awesome and easy to make. Is there any per serving nutrition information? Since adopting a healthy lifestyle I keep a food log to track my eating. I’ve lost 25 of the 50 lbs I want to loose…
I’m glad to hear you enjoy the recipe Matt! Due to time constraints, I don’t typically include nutritional info, but check out this nutrition analyzer – you can plug in the ingredients from any recipe, select the serving size and it will give you nutritional info, calories, etc. I hope that is helpful to you!
Absolutely delicious! Plated on a bed of lettuce and a roll…voila! Dinner!! And just as good the next day for lunch! I will make this again!
I’m glad to hear you enjoy the recipe Paula! Thanks for sharing 😀
This was delicious!!! Does anyone know the macros in it?
I’m glad you like it Kayla! Due to time constraints, I don’t typically include nutritional info, but check out this nutrition analyzer – you can plug in the ingredients from any recipe, select the serving size and it will give you nutritional info, calories, etc. I hope that is helpful to you!
I ate some the day that I made it, and it was very good. The next day, however, after the flavors had melded a bit–it was wonderful! I ate it a second time the next day, but this time served it over a bed of romaine lettuce that I had put a little Ranch dressing on. It was to die for!
Awesome, I’m so glad to hear how much you enjoy the recipe! Thanks for sharing your wonderful review!
What a great summer salad, it’s a great blend of flavors and textures.
I’m glad we agree Ron! It’s popular for good reason!
I use a lot of recipes from blogs but never comment…just HAD to on this one. So, so good. My whole family (ages 11-53) had seconds and thirds. YUM! Thank you!
You’re welcome Katy! I’m happy to hear the whole family enjoys the recipe that much! Thanks for sharing your excellent review!
Oh boy! Natasha, this salad looks incredibly delicious! I can almost taste it in my mouth! 😀 Love the way you captured this Avocado Chicken Salad Recipe! So beautiful!
Thank you! Please let me know what you think of the recipe if you decide to make it!