Sweet honey with spicy cayenne pepper, let me introduce you to my crispy hot honey chicken salad. It’s my favorite, favorite, favorite salad inspired by my love of sweet and spicy flavors, crispy chicken, and super easy and nourishing high-protein meals. I have made this chicken salad no less than 10 times in the last month and I already can’t wait to make it again!
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Dan is not a salad person. He will make a salmon bowl, a California burger, pasta, and a dill pickle chicken salad for lunch before ordering a salad no matter how good it sounds. Except when I made this salad.
The crispy chicken, perfectly cooked, the sweet and spicy honey, the tang of ginger and garlic, and the bright green lettuce lured him into salad life. He took one bite and the look of happy surprise appeared. So if you too would like to enjoy the best salad of your life that also makes great meal prep, keep on reading because this high protein hot honey and crispy chicken salad will change your life.
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Recipe Quick Notes
The best part according to Mika: Everything - duh. Seriously, the flavor, the crunch, how easy it is to prepare, how great it is to pack for lunch, that it makes a lot to serve a crowd. It’s all my favorite.
Protein: 25 grams
Ingredients or special equipment: The recipe uses more ingredients than you might expect, but many are spices, olive oil, etc. Here are the main ingredients you need: lettuce, canned corn, red onion, avocado, green onions, cilantro, carrots, jalapeno, crispy chicken tenders, honey, ginger powder, cayenne, chili powder, and Greek yogurt or your favorite creamy dressing.
Time: 15 minutes
Best for: making a large batch for lunch for up to 4 days or a show-stopper salad for friends and family.
ingredients & substitutions
All substitutions are a 1:1 substitute unless otherwise noted. See recipe card for quantities.
- Honey: If you are using hot honey, you can omit the cayenne pepper
- Corn: I use canned corn for the ease of it, but frozen corn or diced bell pepper will work too
- Avocados: It's very helpful to use perfectly ripe or slightly underripe avocados so they don't soften too much while the salad is out. We love Avoha avocados, Fuerte or Hass. The lime juice also helps to keep them from turning brown.
- Chicken tenders: I like tenders because there is less breading and more meat while still having that delicious crunch, but you can use grilled chicken strips, rotisserie chicken, or 24 chicken nuggets. You can also make your own crispy chicken using chicken thighs, tenders, wings, etc.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you replace or add any ingredients, please let us know how it turned out in the comments below!
how to make this sweet & spicy chicken salad (with photo & video!)
Be sure to scroll to the recipe card for the full chicken salad recipe!
Step one: prep & dice
Make the chicken in the oven or air fry. While it cooks, chop and dice everything else, placing them into a large bowl.
Step two: make the dressings
In a medium bowl, mix the sauce ingredients. Make the Greek yogurt sauce in a separate small bowl or jar.
Step three: make the hot honey chicken
Dice the cooked chicken and add it to the bowl with the hot honey sauce. Toss to coat completely.
Step four: combine
Add the chicken to the large bowl of vegetables and a big pile of fresh romaine lettuce and then drizzle with Greek yogurt dressing or creamy dressing (ranch dressing works great!) of choice and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
video of how to make the recipe
helpful tips
- Don’t complicate it: Use whatever lettuce or crispy chicken you already have. Have dino nuggets - use those. Have a bag of half lettuce and some spinach - use that.
- Fully coat the chicken: This is where this recipe stands out. We don’t drizzle it over the salad, we fully coat the chicken so every bite of chicken is bursting with flavor.
- Dice everything really small: even smaller than you think is small. This is the key to a really great salad - every bite has a little bit of everything.
- Use all of the herbs and spices: Each and everyone adds so much flavor so please use them all!
- If you wash your lettuce, fully dry it with pap towels or a dish cloth before making the salad to make sure it doesn't turn everything soggy.
What is the best way to cook breaded chicken?
I prefer to cook them in the air fryer for the ease of it. Place in the basket and cook for 8 minutes at 375 degrees.
You can also cook in the oven according to the package directions.
common questions
This honey-hot chicken salad really is not spicy, it has spicy flavor. You can taste the heat but it won’t burn your mouth.
No, but it can be by using gluten free chicken tenders or nuggets.
No but it easily can be. To make it kid friendly, leave out the jalapenos, split the salad into two batches, and separate some of the chicken out prior to adding the sauce. Then use half of the sauce of the chicken and salad for the adults and the other half can be offered to your kids as a dressing in case they don’t like the spices.
Crispy chicken might not be as healthy as grilled chicken. But by making your own dressings, high protein Greek yogurt sauce, and including a ton of fresh chopped veggies, this salad is quite healthy with protein, fiber, and healthy fats in one meal.
troubleshooting & testing notes
Throughout our testing of this chicken salad, we learned what worked and didn't work. Here are the key takeaways!
- Using sriracha: My first rounds of testing used sriracha and hot sauce and while it was ok, it was flat but also too in your face. The chili powder and cayenne are the perfect mild heat to deliver a spicy flavor.
- Roasted versus not roasted corn: I tested this recipe both with roasting the corn and not. The taste difference was not enough to justify the additional step of sauteing corn.
- This salad has too much dressing: If this is your opinion you are entitled to it and while I obviously think it’s perfect, you can fix this. Simply mix in 1-2 more chicken tenders and ½ a stock of romaine lettuce.
how to store & meal prep it
Storage
Storing a salad with dressing already on it will be ok but the texture will not be the same. If everything is stored together, the salad will keep for 2 days in the fridge. Just a warning, the chicken and lettuce will be slightly soggy.
Meal prep
The key to meal prepping a salad is don’t put the chicken, salad, and dressing together. So, to store it.
- Make the chicken and toss it in the hot honey sauce. Store this in an airtight container.
- Dice all the salad ingredients and store in an airtight container.
- Make the Greek yogurt dressing and store in an airtight container.
- When ready to eat, combine the serving size you want of all the ingredients.
The chicken will keep for 3 days in the fridge and the salad and Greek yogurt dressing for 5 days.
what to serve with this salad
- Potato cheese bread because what's better than warm bread and a fresh salad??
- Spinach protein shake for loads and loads of delicious veggies and protein!
- Ginger matcha latte to sip alongside this delicious salad.
- Honey Roasted Everything Bagel Cashews for a pre-meal snack.
Recipe
crispy hot honey chicken salad with yogurt dressing
Equipment
- 1 large bowl
Ingredients
Chicken
- 8 breaded chicken tenders (or 24 chicken nuggets)
- ¼ cup honey
- ¼ cup olive oil (or avocado oil)
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon cayenne powder
- 2 teaspoon chili powder
- ½ teaspoon salt (and pepper to taste)
Vegetables
- 2 stocks romaine lettuce (chopped)
- ½ red onion (diced)
- 1 avocado (diced)
- 2 stocks green onions (diced)
- 1 handful cilantro (chopped, about ¼th cup chopped)
- ½ cup shredded carrots (about 6 baby carrots)
- ¼ jalapeno (finely chopped and deseeded)
- juice from ½ a lime
Yogurt Dressing (optional - can use any creamy dressing you like cilantro lime or ranch)
- ½ cup Greek yogurt (plain)
- ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper
- 1 ½ tablespoon mayonaise
- juice from ½ a lime
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
Before you start!
If you make this recipe, please take a moment to leave us a review. We love to hear from you!
Instructions
- Cook the 8 breaded chicken tenders in the oven or air fryer. While it cooks, dice and chop the 2 stocks romaine lettuce, ½ red onion, 1 avocado, 2 stocks green onions, 1 handful cilantro, ½ cup shredded carrots, and ¼ jalapeno. Put these into a large bowl.
- Make the hot honey sauce by mixing ¼ cup honey, ¼ cup olive oil, ¼ teaspoon ground ginger, ¼ teaspoon garlic powder, ¼ teaspoon cayenne powder, 2 teaspoon chili powder, and½ teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Dice the crispy chicken and add it to the sauce. Toss to completely coat.
- Make the yogurt sauce by mixing the ½ cup Greek yogurt, ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper, 1 ½ tablespoon mayonaise , juice from ½ a lime, and ½ teaspoon garlic powder in a small bowl or jar.
- Combine the salad with the chicken and yogurt dressing. Finish with a squeeze from the juice from ½ a lime. If making this salad as meal prep, see notes below, and don't put the dressing on!
Video
Notes
- Don’t complicate it: Use whatever lettuce or crispy chicken you already have. Have dino nuggets - use those. Have a bag of half lettuce and some spinach - use that.
- Fully coat the chicken: This is where this recipe stands out. We don’t drizzle it over the salad, we fully coat the chicken so every bite of chicken is bursting with flavor.
- Dice everything really small: even smaller than you think is small. This is the key to a really great salad - every bite has a little bit of everything.
- Use all of the herbs and spices: Each and every one adds so much flavor so please use them all!
- Using sriracha: My first round of testing used sriracha and while it was ok, it was flat but also in your face. The chili powder and cayenne is the perfect mild heat to deliver spicy flavor.
- Roasted versus not roasted corn: I tested this recipe both with roasting the corn and not. The taste difference was not enough to justify the additional step of sauteing corn.
- This salad has too much dressing: If this is your opinion you are entitled to it and while I obviously think it’s perfect, you can fix this. Simply mix in 1-2 more chicken tenders and ½ a stock of romaine lettuce.
- Make the chicken and toss it in the hot honey sauce. Store this in an airtight container.
- Dice all the salad ingredients and store in an airtight container.
- Make the Greek yogurt dressing and store in an airtight container.
- When ready to eat, combine the serving size you want of all the ingredients.
Looking for more information?
Additional substitution information can be found above in the substitution section of this post.
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate and for informational purposes only.
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