Grilled Chicken Salad Recipe with Lemon Vinaigrette

For the lemon vinaigrette:

• 2 lemons for zest and juice – use real lemons, not prepackaged juice
• olive oil – I recommend an extra virgin olive oil that doesn’t have too much of its own flavor. You want to add to the texture of the dressing without overpowering the lemon flavor.
• honey
• salt and pepper to taste

For the salad

• Chicken – Use boneless skinless chicken breasts
• Mixed greens – I like to use a combination of baby spinach and romaine, but you can use any greens you want.
• Sweet Corn – I like using corn on the cob and grilling it along with the chicken, but you can use frozen or canned, too.
• Blueberries
• Cherry tomatoes – you could substitute with a large tomato diced, too.
• Cucumber
• Fresh parsley and basil – do not substitute with dried, here! You can garden fresh and flavorful!

Grill the chicken

1. Preheat your grill to medium heat. You can use charcoal or gas, it doesn’t matter.
2. Lightly season your chicken breasts with salt and pepper and clean the corn cobs.
3. Grill the chicken and corn on the cobs. The chicken should reach an internal temperature of 165 F.
4. Allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes while you make the marinade.

Make the marinade

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon zest and juice, olive oil, honey, and salt and pepper.

Assemble the salad

1. Cut the chicken into slices, and cut the corn kernels off the cobs
2. Take two large dinner plates and divide the lettuce in half between them.
3. Divide the grilled chicken slices between the two plates.
4. Top each salad evenly with the corn kernels, blueberries, cherry tomatoes, cucumber, parsley, and basil.
5. Drizzle on the salad dressing.
6. Enjoy!

Tips for grilling chicken breasts:

• Grill the chicken over medium heat. Lower temperatures and lowering cooking mean juicier chicken. A temperature of 400 F is perfect, if you have a temperature gauge on your grill.
• Use a meat thermometer to test doneness of your chicken so you don’t over cook it. You want to reach an internal temperature of 165 F.
• Allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before slicing and serving.

How to serve this to your family

This salad is a great choice for families because its so easy to serve in different ways for all the family members:

• For toddlers – Serve individual piles of all the ingredients cut up into appropriate sizes.
• For younger kids – Serve the salad portion (lettuce tossed with some dressing) in one pile, and then serve the chicken, blueberries, corn, and tomatoes in their own individual piles.
• For older kids – Serve the lettuce tossed with the dressing, but allow the child to choose which toppings they want on top of their salad and which items they want on the side.

For more tips on creating a family that loves salad, read “How to make kid friendly salad“.