Crispy Chicken Salad

This Crispy Chicken Salad recipe is my riff on a salad that is served at one of my favorite local restaurants. It’s a delicious crispy chicken cobb salad with a mix of oven baked chicken tenders, Romaine lettuce, turkey bacon, hardboiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, avocado and Parmesan cheese all tossed with our homemade Thousand Island Dressing. 

Our Crispy Chicken Cobb Salad is easy to pull together any night of the week. It’s great to pack for lunch or serve it as a light but satisfying dinner.

This crispy chicken cobb salad is a great meal prep recipe to make ahead of time. Just whisk together the dressing, bake the chicken tenders, fry the bacon, hard boil the eggs, grate the cheese and chop the lettuce. Store everything separately in the refrigerator. Then all you have left to do is slice a few veggies, toss with dressing and enjoy!

Crispy Chicken Salad Recipe

• Greens.  We use crispy Romaine lettuce for this salad.
• Chicken. We use Oven Baked Chicken Tenders for this recipe.
• Hardboiled Eggs. Hardboiled eggs are a traditional ingredient in Cobb salads.
• Turkey Bacon. We use turkey bacon for this recipe rather than pork bacon.
• Cheese. We toss in grated Parmesan cheese to the mix.
• Tomatoes. We use cherry tomatoes, but Roma tomatoes or vine rip work for this salad as well.
• Avocado. Avocado adds a nice buttery texture to the mix.
• Dressing. We use our homemade Thousand Island Dressing to toss this salad with.

Find printable recipe with the measurements below.

Variations

• Cheese.  Use Goat Cheese, Feta or Gorgonzola instead of Parmesan.
• Lettuce.  Use mixed greens, red or green leaf lettuce, a Tuscan blend, curly kale or even arugula instead of Romaine.
• Red Onion. Add red or green onion.
• Nuts. Add nuts like sliced or Marcona almonds, pistachios or walnuts.
• Croutons.  Toss in simple homemade croutons like these Herbed Croutons and Parmesan Croutons make any salad extra special.
• Dressing. You can also toss this salad with Buttermilk Ranch Dressing, Chipotle Ranch Dressing, BBQ Ranch Dressing, Creamy Gorgonzola, Parmesan Vinaigrette or check out any of our other homemade salad dressing recipes. We have over 40 of them.

How To Make Crispy Chicken Salad

is is an easy fried chicken recipe so this salad comes together pretty quickly.  If you don’t want to fry the chicken, then just marinate it, coat it and pop it in the oven to bake.  This crispy fried chicken recipe comes together in about 40 minutes start-to-finish

1. Make Dressing. Whisk together the ingredients for the Thousand Island Dressing.
2. Make Hardboiled Eggs. Boil the eggs in a pot of water. Once cooled, peel the eggs and slice them in half to add to the salad.
3. Fry Bacon. Add a little oil to a skillet and fry the bacon until its a little crispy. Turkey bacon doesn’t get quite as crispy as pork bacon, but we prefer to use turkey bacon over pork bacon.
4. Chop Vegetables. Just before serving, slice the avocado and cut the cherry tomatoes in half and add them to the salad.
5. Toss Salad. Add the salad ingredients to a large bowl and toss salad with homemade Thousand Island Dressing.  

Tips For Making Crispy Cobb Salad

• Store the salad and dressing separately in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve. 
• The salad keeps in the refrigerator best for up to 3 days if it has not been tossed with dressing.  If you toss the salad with dressing, leftovers in the refrigerator will only be appetizing for about 1 day

How To Cook Hardboiled Eggs

1. Fill a large pot with cool water and add eggs.  The water should cover them by an inch or more.
2. Boil eggs for 8-10 minutes.
3. Drain the pot and refill with cold water. Let eggs sit in cold water for another 2-3 minutes.

How To Fry Turkey Bacon

Heat 3-4 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil or avocado oil in a skillet over medium high heat and add 4 slices to the pan. Turn once or twice until it is browned on both sides and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. As the bacon cools, it will become more crispy. It won’t be as crispy as pork bacon, but it tastes just as good and you’ll be able to crumble, chop or tear it into bigger pieces to add to this salad.

Homemade Thousand Island Dressing

This homemade Thousand Island Dressing recipe is seriously the best thousand island dressing you’ll try. It’s been a family favorite for years. We think it has the perfect combo of ingredients.

• Mayonnaise. Use a good quality mayonnaise like Best Foods or Hellman’s.
• Chili Sauce. Be sure to use a good chili sauce (that you would use to make cocktail sauce) not an Asian chili sauce.
• Dijon Mustard. Dijon adds a nice balance of flavor to this dressing.
• Relish. Dill pickle relish is a classic ingredient when making 1000 Island Dressing.
• Green Onion. We like to add minced green onion to this dressing (rather than yellow onion). It adds a nice of flavor. 
• Seasoning. Season with a little freshly ground black pepper. Add salt to taste if you like, but we don’t add salt because the chili sauce and pickle relish are salty enough

Looking For More Salad Recipes?

• Chicken Avocado Tomato Salad
• Chicken Avocado Chopped Salad
• Greek Chopped Salad
• Fried Chicken Salad
• Lemon Arugula Salad
• Romaine Salad
• Lemon Kale Salad
• Berry Arugula Salad
• Spring Mix Salad
• Chopped Kale Salad
• BLT Salad

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Yield: 4 Servings

Crispy Chicken Salad

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Total Time 35 minutes

This Crispy Chicken Salad recipe is my riff on a salad that is served at one of my favorite local restaurants. It's a delicious crispy chicken cobb salad with a mix of oven baked chicken tenders, Romaine lettuce, turkey bacon, hardboiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, avocado and Parmesan cheese all tossed with our homemade Thousand Island Dressing. 

Ingredients

For the Chicken Tenders

• 1 pound of chicken tenderloins
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups panko crumbs
• 1-1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated

For the Salad

• 2 heads Romaine lettuce
• 2 cups oven baked chicken tenders
• 4 slices turkey bacon, fried
• 4 hardboiled eggs
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
• 2 avocados, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
• Dressing

Instructions

Dressing

1. In a mixing bowl, whisk together 1-1/2 cup real mayonnaise, 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard, 1/4 cup chili sauce, 1/4 cup dill pickle relish, 2 green onions, finely minced and 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2. Transfer to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator.

Baked Chicken Tenders

If you don't have a wire cooling rack to bake the tenders on, then brush 2 tablespoons olive oil on cookie sheets and place the coated chicken tenders right on the cookies sheets then bake in the oven. Line the cookie sheet first with foil if you want less clean-up

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place a wire cooling rack on a rimmed cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray.
3. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Add the smashed garlic and swirl so the butter is aromatic. Remove from heat and remove the garlic.
4. Transfer melted butter to shallow bowl. Stir in the salt and pepper.
5. Mix the panko and Parmesan cheese in a separate shallow dish.
6. Dip the chicken tenders in the melted butter and then in the panko mixture (pressing firmly so the panko sticks to the chicken). Arrange the coated chicken tenders in a single layer on the wire rack which is on the baking sheet.
7. Bake in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the tenders are golden and cooked through

Hard boil eggs

1. Fill a large pot with cool water and add eggs.  The water should cover them by an inch or more. Boil eggs for 8-10 minutes. Drain the pot and refill with cold water. Let eggs sit in cold water for another 2-3 minutes.

Fry Bacon

1. Heat 3-4 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil or avocado oil in a skillet over medium high heat and add 4 slices to the pan. Turn once or twice until it is browned on both sides and transfer to a plate lined with paper towels. As the bacon cools, it will become more crispy. It won’t be as crispy as pork bacon, but it tastes just as good and you’ll be able to crumble, chop or tear it into bigger pieces to add to this salad.

Toss Salad

1. Add the chopped Romaine lettuce, chopped baked chicken tenders, chopped bacon, hardboiled eggs, tomato halves, grated cheese to a large bowl and toss.
2. Just before serving add the chopped avocado to the salad, and toss with Thousand Island Dressing.
3. Season with freshly cracked black pepper.

Notes

Variations

• Cheese.  Use Goat Cheese, Feta or Gorgonzola instead of Parmesan.
• Lettuce.  Use mixed greens, red or green leaf lettuce, a Tuscan blend, curly kale or even arugula instead of Romaine.
• Red Onion. Add red or green onion.
• Nuts. Add nuts like sliced or Marcona almonds, pistachios or walnuts.
• Croutons.  Toss in simple homemade croutons like these Herbed Croutons and Parmesan Croutons make any salad extra special.
• Dressing. You can also toss this salad with Buttermilk Ranch Dressing, Chipotle Ranch Dressing, BBQ Ranch Dressing, Creamy Gorgonzola, Parmesan Vinaigrette or check out any of our other homemade salad dressing recipes. We have over 40 of them.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

4

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 1781Total Fat: 107gSaturated Fat: 42gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 53gCholesterol: 507mgSodium: 4061mgCarbohydrates: 98gFiber: 17gSugar: 10gProtein: 111g

theharvestkitchen.com attempts to provide accurate information, however, this nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. The nutritional information provided comes from online sources and calculations. See full disclaimer on About page.