Grilled Chicken Salad Recipe, with light creamy yogurt dressing a filling wholesome healthy salad that will keep you full longer. This chicken salad is packed with carrots, bell peppers, corn, tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese drizzled with garlic yogurt dressing makes it super delicious.
Grilled Chicken Salad with Creamy Dressing
I love salads, whenever I feel like not having a meal. All I prefer is having a bowl of salad. You can make salad whatever way you like. This one is my favorite since it has yogurt garlic dressing which makes it a healthier option that mayonnaise.
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About Grilled Chicken Salad (Yogurt Dressing)
My go to salad of choice is this grilled chicken salad. Somedays I feel that I am not putting enough vegetables into my diet, then my go to salad is this chicken salad. Because you can load it with lots of vegetables.
In this salad, I packed as much colourful vegetables like carrots, red green and yellow bell peppers, boiled sweet corn, cucumbers and tomatoes. I would also add avocado, purple cabbage into it for more colours.
They say "eat the rainbow" meaning we should include fruits and vegetables of different colours in our everyday meal. Because each colour provides different nutrients to our health. This salad is a perfect example of that. I added leafy greens like lettuce, bright red tomatoes, orange carrots, yellow, green and red peppers, yellow corn.
Not only the variety of colours makes the salad so beautiful but it ensures my body gets vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants.
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For any salads, the dressing plays an important role. High fat dressing can make any salad heavy and high in calories. That why I created this yogurt creamy dressing.
This salad dressing is an updated version of my regular mayo creamy dressing. I used yogurt instead of mayonnaise which made it hundred times healthier. Also added honey, mustard and garlic to make the dressing more delicious.
Also I found out that using greek yogurt makes the salad dressing more creamy. I used a blender to make the dressing which made my life so much easier. All I need is to add all ingredients into the blender and within few minutes you have a creamy no mayonnaise salad dressing.
Also the feta cheese added in the salad when combined with the dressing and vegetables creates a creamy texture.
Juicy Grilled chicken breast everytime!
One of the question which I get often is, how do you keep your chicken breast so juicy without drying it out. Cooking chicken breast can be tricky sometimes, not any more.
With these tips, you get juicy chicken breast everytime. I don't use whole chicken breast anymore. Because chicken breast can be uneven, so it over cooks easily.
You can either flatten the chicken breast so it gets even thickness. Or you can butterfly the chicken breast which makes it even and thinner. Even thickness means it will cook evenly and in faster time so it doesn't dries out.
Don't over cook chicken. Cook at high temp for shorter time so it doesn't dries out. Now the most important is marination. Marinate the chicken with yogurt overnight or at least 2 hours for best flavour. Yogurt helps tenderise the chicken breast.
Salad Dressing Ingredients
- Greek Yogurt - You have to use greek yogurt for thicker more creamy dressing. For rich taste, use mayonnaise along with yogurt.
- Olive Oil - extra virgin olive oil adds a fruity taste to the dressing. Also helps emulsify the dressing.
- Garlic - adds a mild taste and flavour to the dressing.
- Mustard - use dijon or whole grain mustard. yellow mustard powder can be used as well.
- Honey - depending on how sweet you prefer the dressing, you can add honey or maple syrup too.
- Lemon Juice - lemon juice cuts the sweetness and makes the dressing refreshing.
- Salt & Pepper - taste and adjust to your taste.
- Milk - a small amount of milk helps thin out the dressing.
Step by Step Pictures
Salad Dressing
1)Take peeled garlic cloves in a blender. Depending on how garlicky you prefer your dressing, you can add more or less garlic.
2)Crush the garlic first before adding all other ingredients.
3)Now add in honey, mustard, salt, lemon juice, olive oil, black pepper powder and yogurt into the blender. I would hold on the milk at this point. If the salad dressing is too thick, you can add in the milk.
4)Pulse few times to create this creamy dressing.
5)The consistency should be creamy like single cream. Transfer this to a jar and store in fridge upto a week.
Grilling Chicken
6)Take couple of boneless skinless chicken breast. Butterfly chicken and cut into two portions. You will get 2 chicken pieces from a single breast.
7)Now add in all the marination ingredients. I am using yogurt, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper powder, Italian seasoning, lemon juice, yogurt and olive oil.
8)Mix this really well into the chicken. Allow this to marinate for 15 minutes or leave it overnight in fridge.
9)Heat a grill pan on medium high heat. Grease lightly with olive oil. Let it heat up. Once the grill pan is hot enough, place the chicken breast on the pan and cook on high heat for 3 minutes. Don't touch the chicken at this point, so you get grill marks on the chicken.
10)Once it is cooked for 3 minutes, flip over and cook on other side for 2 more minutes. Since the chicken breast is sliced in half, it will cook faster and more evenly. Once chicken is grilled, remove it to a cutting board and allow them to rest for 5 minutes before slicing it.
Grilled Chicken Salad Ingredients
11)Now take all your salad ingredients. I am using lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, sweet corn and cucumbers. Along with that you will be needing the salad dressing which we made earlier, grilled chicken, feta cheese. You can add toasted nuts too.
Assembling Salad
12)Take a serving plate. I am using iceberg lettuce for the salad. You can chop the lettuce roughly.
13)Arrange cucumbers, carrots, boiled sweetcorn, feta cheese, tomatoes and bell peppers over the lettuce.
14)Place the sliced chicken breast on top.
15)Drizzle the salad dressing over the vegetables and chicken. You can add as much dressing as you prefer. Enjoy immediately.
Expert Tips
Salad Dressing - Use greek yogurt for the dressing, if you have only regular yogurt, strain it first before using. You can make the dressing in advance and store in fridge. Dressing stays good for over a week in fridge when stored in an air tight container.
Chicken - you can marinate the chicken overnight for best taste. The grilled chicken can be cooked and stored in fridge upto 2 days. You can use a regular skillet to cook the chicken as well.
Customize - you can add any vegetables that you prefer. Romaine lettuce, baby spinach, avocado can be added in the salad. Croutons add a crunch the the salad. Any toasted nuts like pecan, walnuts, cashews, almonds can be added to the salad.
Serving & Storage - This salad stays fresh assembled in the fridge upto 2 days. Add dressing only a the time of serving.
📖 Get Recipe
Grilled Chicken Salad with Light Creamy Yogurt Dressing (No Mayo)
Equipment
Ingredients
For Yogurt Salad Dressing
- ½ cup Greek Yogurt
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 3 tablespoon Honey
- 1 tablespoon Dijon Mustard
- 3 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 cloves Garlic peeled and left whole
- 1 teaspoon Salt or to taste
- ¼ teaspoon Black Pepper Powder or to taste
- 1 tablespoon Milk optional
For Grilled Chicken
- 2 large Boneless Chicken Breast
- 1 teaspoon Paprika
- 2 teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon Black Pepper Powder
- 1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
- 2 tablespoon Yogurt (Curd)
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 1 tablespoon Olive Oil
For Salad
- 4 cups Iceberg Lettuce roughly chopped
- 1 medium Carrot Chopped
- 1 medium Bell Pepper (Capsicum) sliced
- 1 medium Tomato deseeded, chopped
- 1 cup Sweetcorn cooked
- 1 medium Salad Cucumber chopped
- ½ cup Feta Cheese crumbled
Instructions
- Salad Dressing - Start by making salad dressing. Take peeled garlic cloves in a blender. Pulse it few times to crush it roughly. Now add all the ingredients except milk and pulse few times to combine. If your salad dressing is too thick, add in some milk and mix. Taste and adjust seasoning. You can store this in fridge until needed.
- Marinating Chicken - Take chicken breast on a cutting board. Use a sharp knife to slice in the middle to butterfly the chicken breast and open like a book. Now slice it so you get 2 chicken breast from one. Add all ingredients given for marination and mix well. Leave to marinate for 15 minutes or overnight in fridge.
- Grilling Chicken - Heat a grill pan on medium high heat. Grease lightly with olive oil. Let it heat up. Once the grill pan is hot enough, place the chicken breast on the pan and cook on high heat for 3 minutes. Don't touch the chicken at this point, so you get grill marks on the chicken.
- Once it is cooked for 3 minutes, flip over and cook on other side for 2 more minutes. Since the chicken breast is sliced in half, it will cook faster and more evenly. Once chicken is grilled, remove it to a cutting board and allow them to rest for 5 minutes before slicing it.
- Assembling Salad - Take a serving plate. I am using iceberg lettuce for the salad. You can chop the lettuce roughly. Arrange cucumbers, carrots, boiled sweetcorn, feta cheese, tomatoes and bell peppers over the lettuce. Place the sliced chicken breast on top and drizzle as much dressing as needed. Serve immediately.
Giftbasketworldwide
Thank you for sharing this delightful recipe. I can hardly wait to try it.
Kashish Bagga
this is a very healthy and tasty meal