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This Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe is the perfect meal prep recipe for an easy lunch all week long. I love a salad that is hearty and filling. Salads get a bad reputation for just being a bowl of veggies that may taste good at the moment but leave you hungry in 30 minutes. The key is creating a salad that has filling, hearty ingredients like a healthy source of protein and grains. This recipe has just that!
Why You’ll Love This Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe
- Healthy: Just like the title states, this Chicken Salad is full of nourishing, healthy ingredients
- Versatile: You can swap the protein with a plant-based protein, and add (or subtract) any of the veggies for your fav
- Meal Prep: Meal prep this budget-friendly recipe for the week to have a healthy lunch to grab on those busy days
Ingredients
Pearl Barley – Pearl barley is harvested from ears of barley. Pearl barley is good for you and good for your heart health. It can help with your blood pressure, reduce your risk of heart disease, and so much more
Maria Koutsogiannia
Maria is the creator of FoodByMaria and your go-to Greek food expert for cozy, flavor-packed recipes. Inspired by her Mediterranean roots, she brings traditional Greek flavors, feel-good ingredients, and a whole lot of joy to everyday cooking.
Butter Beans – Butter beans are also known as lima beans and they are a healthy source of plant-based protein. You can easily swap these for other beans, but I love the buttery taste of butter beans
How to Make a Healthy Chicken Salad
- Cook the grains according to package instructions. While the grains are cooking, prepare the salad ingredients and make the dressing by whisking together all of the ingredients and set aside.
- Add all of the salad ingredients to a bowl, drizzle the dressing over, toss, and serve.
Tips and Tricks
- If you can’t find butter beans, cannellini or navy beans would be a delicious substitute
- Other delicious grains you could use in this salad are quinoa or brown rice
- Meal prep this Healthy Chicken Salad Recipe by keeping the dressing separate, and adding on top when you’re ready to consume
Substitutions
There are so many easy swaps you can make in this Chicken Salad, and here are just some I recommend:
- Butter Beans: Swap for any kind of bean you prefer such as kidney or black beans
- Chicken: You can use leftover rotisserie chicken, chicken breast, or chicken thighs. You can also substitute for any other protein you have on hand or eliminate all together
- Grains: Use whatever grains you like such as brown rice or quinoa
Best served with
- Greek Pita
- Chicken Souvlaki (remove the chicken from this recipe and just serve the salad as a side to this chicken souvlaki)
- Carrot Cake Smoothie (I love a salad paired with a smoothie for an extra healthy meal)
How to Store Leftovers
Store the dressing and salad separately to keep it longer in the fridge. If the salad is already mixed, it’ll still taste great for up to 3 days.
Common Questions
It’s important to load them up with protein. Try a lean protein like chicken and a plant-based protein like a bean. Adding in a grain can help make the salad feel more like a meal.
Hearts of palm can be a delicious alternative or sundried tomatoes. You can also omit them from this recipe completely.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup uncooked pearl barley or farro
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
- ½ cup crumbled feta cheese
- ¼ cup capers
- 1 cup marinated artichoke hearts, chopped in 1/2 inch pieces
- ½ cup diced green onion
- ½ cup diced shallots (about 2 shallots)
- 14 oz can butter beans, drained and rinsed
- ¼ cup chopped fresh dill
- ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
- Optional: Add 1 cup chopped cucumber for more freshness!
For the dressing
- ⅓ cup olive oil
- ½ tbsp dried oregano
- ½ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp pepper
- juice of one lemon
- ½ tbsp red wine vinegar
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 1 tbsp liquid honey
Instructions
Start Cooking- Cook the grains according to package instructions. While the grains are cooking, prepare the salad ingredients and make the dressing by whisking together all of the ingredients and set aside.
- Add all of the salad ingredients to a bowl, drizzle the dressing over, toss and serve.
Notes
- If you can’t find butter beans, cannellini or navy beans would be a delicious substitutes.
- This recipe would be delicious as a meal prep salad!
- Other delicious grains you could use in this salad are quinoa or brown rice.
- Optional: Add 1 cup chopped cucumber for more freshness!
74 people are discussing this recipe. Join in
I love it. Thanks for sharing!
you’re very welcome!
I could eat this everyday. Thanks for sharing. I love it.
You’re so welcome my friend!
Brilliant recipe! Absolutely delicious and filling, no notes! I did sub quinoa and unfortunately didn’t have feta on hand, but still amazing. You are my mommy now, Maria 🤣
hahahah so glad to be your mommy hunnie!!! so glad you loved this one!
Delicious, filling and tasty. A quick dinner with left over rotisserie chicken.
100% – ITS EPIC!
My favorite salad! So versatile and customizable.
oh wow, thank you so much hunnie!!!!
This is my new favorite salad recipe. I was looking for something filling, full of flavor and not ridiculously complex to put together and this recipe was that and so much more. The flavors of all the ingredients were so perfect (I did pearled barley for the grain and for the shredded chicken I seasoned it with salt, pepper, lil seasoning salt then threw it in a Dutch oven and baked at 350 for 35) and I am now obsessed with Maria’s dressing recipe for this too. I would never have thought to use marinated artichoke and capers in a salad so I’ve also loved the inspiration/education from her recipes. Would highly recommend as this is also the perfect meal prep for a few days this week!
Thank you so much sweetie, thank you so much for the love!!!
It was so good! I don’t love parsley so I opted out and it was incred! Would have never thought to make this and now it’s going to be on my monthly rotation.
Thank you so much, Jessica!
Everything looks so good…and wholesome too! Yum!!
thank you so much!!
Literally has become one of my most favorite salads and it’s so versatile you can add your own spin to it! I’ve tried roasted chickpeas, pearl couscous, cucumbers and literally everything goes so well with the base and dressing !!
thank you so much emma, I am so glad you enjoyed this salad!!
Very delicious, filling, and easy to make. The chopping was time consuming, but it wasn’t as difficult as a cooked meal.
So glad you enjoyed this Angie!!!