This rotisserie chicken salad may be my favorite greens salad ever! Loaded with flavor and crunch and drizzled with hot bacon dressing, it’s a serious dream. Super satisfying and lots of sweet & savory in this bowl!
I’ve got dinner tonight!
Remember a few weeks ago when I told you I made two incredible chicken salads to serve this summer?! The first was my grilled chicken blueberry salad. The second is this one!
It.is.a.dream.
I realize that it may not look like anything special, but it’s the combination of ingredients that makes this one flavor bomb salad. I could eat it every single day.
In fact, I can’t even explain my obsession with this salad. The flavors!
The FLAVORS!
We have crunchy things, sweet things, savory things, creamy things. You can’t go wrong!
A few months ago, one of my friends came over for lunch and we had plans to get take out, but she showed up with this amazing salad that she made. I mean, it was the best salad I had in ages. SO SO GOOD.
And you know how salads in restaurants always tend to taste better than salads you make at home? This here is an exception. It’s phenomenal. It’s restaurant worthy.
Oh, and of course, it has hot bacon dressing. I MEAN. We can probably attribute most of the deliciousness to that.
I’ve loved hot bacon dressing long before I loved salads. Totally makes sense. But as I’ve rambled before, hot bacon dressing was mother lovett’s favorite – and it is my mom’s too – and even as kid, when I loathed vegetables I would order a salad with hot bacon dressing.
YES.
Not saying I would eat entire said salad, but that hot bacon dressing would certainly make me eat a few green leaves. More than I was used to!
Okay let’s get to it.
Here’s what you need!
First up, we have our spring greens. You can use whatever lettuce or greens you like best. I love a good spring mix! Be sure to toss the greens with a big pinch of salt and pepper.
Next, rotisserie chicken. This is why it’s so super easy. Just buy it, because we’re making some other fancy things for this salad. Get one fresh, pull it apart and chop it into cubes. It’s warm and ready to go. Now of course, you could always grill your own chicken. If you want to do that, I suggest making it like I do for this grilled chicken blueberry salad.
Grilled corn is next! Corn is key – so use it however you’d like. A steamfresh bag, grilled like I did or even cut fresh from the cob (it’s so sweet and crisp!).
I use pickled onions, which are something that I always have in the fridge. The truly do elevate every day meals. Also, dates! I love dates (but hate when they are used in desserts, claiming to taste like cookie dough, you feel me?) and they give the best shock of sweet here against the savory flavors.
Finally, goat cheese and avocado. For creamy, buttery tang. Use another cheese if you’re not into goat! Leave the avocado out if you want to make this ahead of time. No biggie.
This salad is inspired by one from a local restaurant, and there’s only one part I left off. It may be the best part, but it’s also a little high maintenance.
Traditionally, this is served with cornbread croutons. I’ve made those before and we love them. You could also just make classic cornbread to serve on the side, which is what my friend did when she brought it over. It was perfect.
We absolutely LOVE this salad for lunch or dinner. It’s not exactly simple and it’s not a fancy theme, but all of the ingredients together are just wonderful. They make such an impact and the dish is incredibly satisfying. You will not be disappointed!
Our Favorite Rotisserie Chicken Salad
Our Favorite Rotisserie Chicken Salad
Yield: 2 to 4 people
Total Time: 40 minutes mins
This rotisserie chicken salad may be my favorite greens salad ever! Loaded with flavor and crunch and drizzled with hot bacon dressing.
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5 from 56 votes
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Ingredients
- 2 ears of corn, grilled (roughly 1 cup of corn)
- 12 to 16 ounces spring greens, as much as you like!
- 1 rotisserie chicken, meat pulled and chopped (again, use as much or as little as you like here!)
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced
- 6 medjool dates, pitted and chopped
- 4 ounces goat cheese, crumbled
- ¼ cup pickled onions
- ¼ cup sliced almonds, toasted, if you wish
hot bacon dressing
- 3 slices bacon
- 3 tablespoons bacon fat
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 teaspoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon dijon mustard
- 1/4 teaspoon pepper
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
Note: if you want to make the pickled onions, I suggest making them the night before or doing it an hour or so before assembling and eating the salad. I also suggest making the dressing first and letting it stay warm on the stovetop.
Be sure to grill the corn as a first step if you want it grilled too! This is also a great recipe to use leftover grilled corn on the cob. You can use any kind of corn here that you like.
Since this salad calls for a lot of chopped ingredients, I chop the chicken, dates and corn off the cob first. I measure out goat cheese and almonds.
Toss the spring greens in a large bowl with a big pinch of salt and pepper. Assemble your salad by adding on the chicken, corn, dates, goat cheese, onions and almonds. Add on the avocado right before serving. Drizzle everything with the hot bacon dressing and eat!
hot bacon dressing
Fry the bacon in a skillet until it’s browned and crispy, reserving the bacon fat for the dressing. Of course, you can do this ahead of time and store the bacon fat in the fridge! If you use very lean bacon, you may need an extra piece or 2 to get the 3 tablespoons.
Add the bacon fat, minced garlic, vinegar, sugar and mustard to a saucepan over medium-low heat. Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the dressing slightly emulsifies. Season with the salt and pepper. Before serving, add in the crumbled bacon. You can keep this over low heat while stirring occasionally until ready to serve. You can also store it in the fridge. I suggest reheating it in a saucepan. This is the combo I’ve come to love over the years, but you can experiment with different vinegars, more bacon fat and other spices too!
Course: Salad
Cuisine: American
Author: How Sweet Eats
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I appreciate you so much!
Want to eat this for every meal.
