This Healthy Chicken Salad is made with an easy avocado dressing and no mayo! It’s gluten free, dairy free, paleo and incredibly tasty. There’s plenty of crunchy celery and sweet juicy red grapes paired with buttery walnuts. I love to grill the chicken for this recipe because there’s less cleanup and it adds a different flavor. But you can also roast the chicken in the oven.
This chicken salad was inspired by my Healthy Broccoli Salad, where I replaced the usual mayonnaise with a creamy avocado dressing. I’ve always been a fan of good quality homemade mayonnaise.
But homemade mayo only keeps a couple of days in the fridge. And the smallest batch you can make still yields 1 1/2 cups! Since I rarely go through that much mayonnaise, I started looking for an alternative. Enter the avocado – my new all around favorite!
So… I’ve made a few changes to this classic to make it not only healthier, but easier as well. I grilled the chicken for easier cleanup and another layer of flavor – less dishes means everyone wins! While the chicken is grilling, the rest of the salad comes together relatively quickly.
Now let’s make this Healthy Chicken Salad step by step!
A couple of tips for the preparation:
1. Leave the grapes whole if you’re short on time, cutting them in half is the most time consuming part of this recipe.
2. Let the chicken cool completely if you want to store the chicken salad for a day or two. It’s really good if it’s mixed together while the chicken is still warm, but it can cause the avocado dressing to brown if you have leftovers.
3. Avocados vary in size, so if your chicken salad seems a bit dry, mix in a couple tablespoons of water to help combine everything.
Taste points:
Grilled chicken, crisp sweet grapes, crunchy celery, and buttery walnuts bound together with a supremely creamy avocado dressing!
I served this the first time as a light lunch on a bed of lettuce, and the second time we used it as a filling for lettuce wraps. It’s also awesome for a packed lunch the next day, (so awesome that I couldn’t keep Tyler out of it)! I know this salad keeps at least 2 days, but only because I hid some to see if it would keep! So… don’t worry too much about leftovers, because you probably won’t have any.
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Healthy Chicken Salad
- Total Time: 35 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This Healthy Chicken Salad is made with an easy avocado dressing and no mayo! It’s gluten free, dairy free, paleo and incredibly tasty. There’s plenty of crunchy celery and sweet juicy red grapes paired with buttery walnuts. I love to grill the chicken for this recipe because there’s less cleanup and it adds a different flavor. But you can also roast the chicken in the oven.
Ingredients
1 pkg boneless skinless chicken thighs, (1lb 6oz)
3 ribs of celery, thinly sliced yielding 1 1/2 cups
2 cups of red grapes, halved (11 oz)
1/2 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
Dressing:
1 ripe avocado, peeled and pitted
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 Teaspoon sea salt
Instructions
Preheat the grill on high.
Place the chicken on the grill and immediately lower the heat to medium high. Cook approximately 6-8 minutes per side (the time will vary depending on the size). Remove the chicken from the grill when it’s no longer pink, and set aside to cool.
While the chicken is cooking, prepare the rest of the salad ingredients.
Blend the avocado, lemon juice, and sea salt together until smooth. I made my dressing in the blender and I needed to scrape down the sides a couple of times.
Chop the cooled chicken into bite sized pieces and combine it with the rest of the salad ingredients.
Add the dressing and mix to thoroughly combine. Add a little water (2-4 Tablespoons) if the mixture looks a bit dry.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Lunch
- Method: Grilling
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Healthy Chicken Salad No Mayo, Healthy Chicken Salad with Avocado, Healthy Chicken Salad with Grapes
I love to add dried cranberries to my chicken salad but grapes sounds like a great add-on as as well. Gonna have to try this really soon!
I like adding cranberries and granny smith apples in the winter!
Did you like it without some kind of binding to keep it together? (I know you wouldn’t use sour cream, necessarily). I’ve never thought of making this with such a light dressing. Did it change the texture or anything?
It’s really similar in texture to traditional chicken salad, and the avocado dressing binds it together really well! The dressing is really creamy, and I like it better than the usual mayonnaise dressing, but I’m also pretty partial to avocado! Since avocado sizes vary a lot, I add a few tablespoons of water to the mixture sometimes if it looks dry, (I like my salads well dressed).