Balsamic Chicken Salad

So many wildly different salads, all featuring balsamic glazed chicken breasts - well, one with shrimp - each of them featuring great colour, texture, and BIG flavor!

While this salad in particular is elegant enough to serve at any dinner party or special even, it’s actually a good recipe for a quick weeknight dinner, too!

The base salads can be made ahead of time, and the sliced chicken - featuring a delicious sticky glaze - cooks up in just minutes.

The richness of the chicken is perfectly complemented with the bright flavor and crunch from the grapes. It’s a really elegant salad.

This recipe is dairy free, grain free, gluten-free, AND fits the guidelines for both the paleo diet, and the autoimmune protocol (AIP diet).

Just a really great way to feed everyone!

Anyway, let’s take a look at what you’ll need to make this balsamic chicken salad recipe:

Ingredients

This recipe uses some pretty simple ingredients - for the most part - but you should be able to find almost everything you need in any larger grocery store.

I have some ingredient notes for you, though:

Boneless Chicken Breasts

I use boneless skinless chicken breast for this recipe.

That said, you can use boneless skinless chicken thighs, if you prefer. I’ll usually use 1 big or 2 small thighs per salad.

Balsamic Vinegar

Unlike most of the red of my balsamic glazed chicken salad recipes, you can use a more basic balsamic vinegar for this. No need for any fancy, flavoured varieties.

It gets used both in the homemade balsamic glaze and in the grape vinaigrette dressing, though, so be sure to use a good quality balsamic for it.

Salad Greens

You can really use whatever crisp greens you like: iceberg lettuce, spring mix, romaine lettuce, maybe a bit of peppery arugula.

Sometimes we’ll add a bit of shredded cabbage or radicchio for a little bit of crunch - it’s all good!

Fresh Ingredients

Rounding out the actual base salad, there’s a few different types of produce you’ll need:

Asparagus (We used purple)
Avocado
English Cucumber
Fresh Basil Leaves
Seedless Red Grapes
Red Onions

The only real notes I have here are:

1. It’s important to use seedless grapes, as they’ll be getting blended into the dressing as well as being served on the salad.

2. As with any salad, use the freshest, best produce you can. If your avocado isn’t ripe enough yet, better to skip it than to put an unsatisfying avocado on it, IMHO.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

Avocado Oil or Olive Oil
Red Wine Vinegar
Honey
Dried Basil
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Salt

... I just don’t have anything else to say, as far as these last few ingredients go. Pretty straightforward!

How to Make Balsamic Chicken Salad with Grapes

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is a pictorial walk through with detailed instructions.

Grape Balsamic Vinaigrette

Measure all of the vinaigrette ingredients into a blender or the cup of an immersion blender, blitz until smooth.

Season with salt, to taste, then cover and chill until ready to serve.

Balsamic Glazed Chicken

Trim chicken breasts if necessary, use a sharp knife to cut into ½” slices - definitely aim to keep an even thickness for all of your chicken slices.

Toss chicken slices with basil, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.

Place chicken breasts in the pan, cook - stirring frequently - until browned all over.

Cook until chicken is cooked through, and covered with a thick glaze.

Remove pan from the heat, allow to cool slightly as you prepare the salads.

Salad Base and Assembly

Divide your salad ingredients between 4 large serving bowls or plates, arranging as desired.

Leftovers or Meal Prep

If serving fewer than 4 salads when you make it, I like to assemble all 4 salad bases - without the chicken - and wrap each of the unused ones with plastic wrap.

Then - after cooling to room temperature - I store the leftover chicken separately, to be heated just before serving. It will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

The balsamic vinaigrette should also be stored separately in the fridge, I usually keep it in a small mason jar.

More Gluten Free Main Dish Salad Recipes

Looking for more healthy salad recipes that are substantial enough to serve as a meal and gluten free? Look no further!

Asian Chicken Salad with Lychee Vinaigrette
Balsamic Chicken & Peach Salad
Balsamic Salad with Chicken & Berries
Big Mac Salad
Buffalo Chicken Salad
Chicken Bacon Ranch Salad
Cobb Salad
Cranberry & Pear Balsamic Chicken Salad
Curried Chicken Vietnamese Noodle Salad
Grilled Halloumi & Peach Salad
Harvest Chicken Salad
Hazelnut Crusted Chicken Salad
Honey Calamansi Mango Shrimp Salad
Honey Ginger Shrimp Salad
Italian Sub Salad
Keto Taco Salad
Mandarin Glazed Chicken Christmas Salad
Mediterranean Chicken Salad
Salad Meal Prep
Seafood Cobb Salad
Seared Tuna Salad
Sesame Ginger Chicken Salad
Shawarma Chicken Salad
Steak Salad with Creamy Wasabi Dressing
Teriyaki Chicken Salad
Thai Pesto Salmon Salad